Family Ministry and Religious Education for Children and Youth
UUCB has a vibrant family community, a soulful, fun and engaging religious education program for toddlers through teenagers, supportive and compassionate family ministry and pastoral care, and classes and groups for deeply sharing and exploring our paths as parents, partners, and families. UUCB families are LGBT and straight together, partnered and single, and are every color of the human rainbow.
Grounded in the rich tradition of Unitarian Universalist Religious Education, we seek not to imprint our beliefs on the minds of our children. Rather we affirm that each and every one of us is wise, that each and every one of us knows something about truth and beauty.
Our classes are empowering and honoring of each member. We seek to create a covenanted space in which facilitators and participants alike can become more loving, more whole and more connected.
Our classes are infused with exploration and wonder, that they are sometimes messy and always engaging, that they can hold complexity and flexibility, and that they are created as a singular reflection of those present on any given day.
It is our hope that this program helps our children, youth and families love one another into purpose and action.
We begin our childcare program with 1-4 year olds circling together to light a felt chalice and to explore the month’s worship theme in story and song. 
In the Fall…“Love Surrounds Us” - Children learn the Unitarian Universalist Principles as they focus on love’s expression in the communities that kindergarteners and first graders know well—their family, home, school, congregation, and neighborhood.
In the Fall…“Love Will Guide Us” - In this program, participants learn to seek guidance in life through the lens of our Unitarian Universalist Sources, with an emphasis on love. Together we ask questions such as, "Where did we come from?" "What is our relationship to the Earth and other creatures?" "How can we respond with love, even in bad situations?" "What happens when you die?" Sessions apply wisdom from our Sources to help participants answer these questions.
In the Fall…“Riddle and Mystery” - Each of the 16 sessions introduces and processes a Big Question. The first three echo Paul Gauguin’s famous triptych: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? The next ten, including Does God exist? and What happens when you die?, could be found on almost anyone’s list of basic life inquiries.
Our “MUUGS” group (Middle School UU Gatherings”) gathers for fellowship, community building, and fun. Our group is also connected to the PCD district-wide 
Every Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. our High School Youth Group meets for fellowship, discussion and ministry. A few times a year they plan and lead the whole community in worship. These services have reflected some of the topics they have been exploring in their group, and have been loved by the congregation. They also are involved in service projects and have raised money for various groups as well as participated in direct service opportunities. We have an amazing team of five adult facilitators who rotate facilitation of the group as well as some great youth leadership.
Coming of Age is a year-long program for youth entering the 8th and 9th grade at UUCB. We promote, honor and affirm our teenager’s passage towards the greater freedoms and responsibilities of adulthood, and seek to engage them with a deeper appreciation and experience as Unitarian Universalists. The UU Church of Berkeley Coming of Age program partners youth with adult mentors in the congregation, and the participants work together to articulate their beliefs and what it is they value and hold most dear. The program culminates in a worship service in the spring in which each participant shares their “creedo” statement with the congregation.