OWL & Coming of Age
At UUFC, we offer OWL (Our Whole Lives) and Coming of Age on an alternating annual basis, and encourage 7th and 8th graders to participate in both programs. Together, these two programs serve the whole, developing humans. More information about each of these classic programs can be found below.
2025/26 is a Coming of Age year at the Fellowship! Please contact the Director of Religious Exploration at dre@uucorvallis.org to join the mailing list to be contacted when registration for either OWL or CoA opens.
Honest, accurate information about sexuality changes lives. It dismantles stereotypes and assumptions, builds self-acceptance and self-esteem, fosters healthy relationships, improves decision-making, and has the potential to save lives. For these reasons and more, we are proud to offer Our Whole Lives (OWL), a comprehensive, lifespan sexuality education curriculum for use in both secular settings and faith communities.
Our Whole Lives helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their relationships, sexual health and behavior. With a holistic approach, Our Whole Lives provides accurate, developmentally appropriate information about a range of topics, including relationships, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, sexual health, and cultural influences on sexuality.
Because we aim, as people of faith, to never stop growing and evolving, UUFC doesn’t stop offering OWL just because you’ve become an adult. Adult OWL is not a children’s program made available to adults. Instead, we expand the conversation to include information about up-to-date terminology that may have changed in your lifetime and what that means for your conversations about sex and sexuality, as well as discussions around how our identities and challenges shift as we become sexual beings in aging human bodies.
OWL is only taught by teams of background-checked adults who have completed extensive training offered jointly by the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ. You can find more information about the complete program by visiting this website.
Coming of Age is a core UU program that asks participants to explore what it means to become an adult in a Unitarian Universalist context. A lot of cultures have this kind of event in the life of their congregation or community. Close to home, our Jewish neighbors have bat and bar mitzvahs where young people are asked to learn a language and be able to reflect on a text. In other cultures, there are walkabouts, solo experiences in the wilderness, or even rounds of combat. In each of these examples, the community is expressing what is important to it. In our faith, we ask our members to reflect deeply on who they are as spiritual people, to be able to think metaphorically, and to express themselves as soulful, connected beings, capable of experiencing a spiritual passion and transforming that passion into service and dedication to a common good.
Because we aim, as people of faith, to never stop growing and evolving, UUFC doesn’t stop offering the Coming of Age program just because you’ve become an adult. Adult Coming of Age invites adults to explore the same themes in a small group setting, where they can reflect deeply on their personal history, current spiritual development, and future aspirations in community and as individuals of faith.
If you have questions about either of these programs, please contact the Director of Religious Exploration, Skyla King-Christison, at dre@uucorvallis.org.