A faith of their own.
OMG! is a place for youth to discover whether and how Unitarian Universalism belongs to them, not simply to their parents. Adolescence brings increasing freedom to decide what they believe, who they want to become, which communities they will belong to, and how they will move through a world their families can no longer fully mediate for them.
Through religious exploration, field studies, community, leadership, serious conversations, ridiculous fun, and increasing responsibility for shaping the group itself, youth practice that independence while they still have a community committed to helping them navigate it. They encounter other religious and philosophical traditions, examine their own beliefs, practice meeting difference with humility, and discover what it means to live their values alongside people who may not share all of them.
Guides co-lead with youth and step back whenever youth are willing and able to step forward. The program provides a safe, covenantal container, but youth increasingly help determine what happens inside it. They’re not just imagining the communities they want to inhabit; they’re practicing how to co-create them with other people.
Our hope is that they eventually bridge from our care into the adult world able to say: I know who I am. I know what I value. I have practiced living it. And I know who I can call when the world makes those things hard to remember.
What Sundays look like
Youth usually begin in the sanctuary and leave together after Time for All Ages. In OMG!, our familiar rhythms of lantern lighting, check-in, covenant, relationship, and exploration continue—but religious studies increasingly take the place of the immersive stories of Seeker Space.About once each month, that exploration moves beyond our walls through Religious Field Studies.Youth also occasionally gather for overnights and events with UU youth from other congregations, creating opportunities to experience Unitarian Universalism as something much larger than the church their family happens to attend.
Religious Field Studies
This year our youth encounter Unitarian Universalism alongside religious and philosophical traditions including Paganism, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Humanism. We want them to develop religious literacy and cultural curiosity—but also something deeper.
Understanding other traditions helps youth more clearly understand what it means to be UU: where our tradition shares wisdom and aims with others, where meaningful differences remain, and what they actually believe.
On field studies, we practice being humble pilgrims. Youth prepare questions in advance, enter other communities in a posture of curiosity and learning, and consider how their words and actions might be experienced by the people welcoming us. They represent both our congregation and our faith tradition with respect and care.
We hope this practice helps them enter the wider adult world able to encounter difference with humility, without needing to abandon their own identity in order to honor someone else’s.
Fun is part of the formation
The overnights, games, food, adventures, and sheer silliness aren’t rewards for doing the “real” religious education.They are part of it.Experiencing joy in UU spaces beyond their home congregation helps youth discover that this faith and these values can belong to them in more than one context—even when nobody from their family is there watching their participation.And friendships matter.The people who support a teenager’s becoming now can become the people they call years later when they’re having trouble remembering who they are.
Trust and confidentiality
Young people need relationships with trustworthy adults beyond their immediate families. Our Guides take that trust seriously. Information youth share about their lives is treated with care and confidentiality within the Guide team so that the adults responsible for the group can support them well.
That trust has necessary safety limits. Guides follow our Safe Congregation practices and legal reporting responsibilities when someone’s safety is at risk.
Honoring both confidentiality and those responsibilities is part of how we build relational and institutional trust.
Good to know
Youth who are here are not expected to perform enthusiasm. They may observe, take time to warm up, question what we’re doing, and participate differently from one another. And increasingly, whether they come at all becomes their choice.
That’s part of why we work so hard to make OMG! a place worth choosing.
Helpful links
Register for Childen and Youth for Religious Exploration →
