At first UCC, we believe that education is a life-ling task. Please join us on the journey…

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Sunday School

We offer Sunday School classes for children from Pre-K through 6th grade. Sunday School classes are key places where mission and ministry come alive! The Sunday School uses Spark Faith curriculum. We reach out to others in our community and beyond by collecting for the SP Food Pantry, gather and clean items for our Help Excite Little People Project, make cards for assisted living facilities and veterans, and each Lent raise money for projects like Mabel’s Building Mission, which builds homes for those in need in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico. Students serve the church with singing, greeting, lighting candles, the annual Christmas program, and more. The kids build community with fun activities like fall festival, birthday party for Jesus, Easter party, Sundae Sunday. Staff open their hearts and ears to make connection where nurture and care may be given and received, a safe environment promoting mutual respect. Contact the church of more information or to enroll your kid(s) in Sunday School!

Confirmation

Confirmation is a two-year program, which many youth begin in 7th grade. Pastor Jennifer is the confirmation leader. As part of confirmation, youth attend church and participate- helping in the broadcast room, serving as greeters, volunteering with activities for the Sunday School, or assisting at church events and fundraisers. They meet together with the pastor through the year for Confirmation “mini-retreats” to discuss faith, scripture, community, and much more. Confirmation is a key time of exploration and growth for teens, providing a safe space to learn about Christianity, UCC faith and tradition, and deepen in their own spiritual journeys. It’s an age of gaining more independence, asking questions, and self-discovery. Confirmation is part of that journey. Confirmands claim for themselves the commitments that were made on their behalf by parents at baptism; they engage the deep questions of meaning, discipleship, and transformation. Please contact the church office to learn more about confirmation for youth.

“The basis of our life with others is twofold, and it is one – the wish of every person to be confirmed as what he or she is, even as what she or he can become, by other persons; and the innate capacity in us to confirm other persons in this way. That this capacity lies so immeasurably fallow constitutes the real weakness and questionableness of the human race: actual humanity exists only where this capacity unfolds. . . .We wish to be confirmed in our being by another person, and we wish to have a presence in the presence of the other. The human person needs a confirmation, because we as human beings need it . . . secretly and bashfully we watch for a Yes which allows us to be and which can come to us only from one human person to another. It is from one person to another that the heavenly bread of self-being is passed”. – from To Hallow This Life, Martin Buber

Adult Education

Adult education happens in multiple formats and diverse ways. After church each week during the academic year, a group gathers after church and coffee hospitality for sermon talkback. They discuss the scripture of the day, respond to ideas raised in the sermon and liturgy, and consider discussion questions included in the bulletin each week. The conversation is far-reaching. Over the summer, small groups met monthly over dinner to discuss “Faith in Turbulent Times”. In Lent, we have Wednesday evening soup and discussion suppers. Information on adult education offerings is available on the website and from the church office.