Welcome to Programs
Sunday Worship services are held at 11:00 a.m. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Join us on Sunday, February 26 at 11 a.m. for our Sunday Service
Sandy Branstiter: The Recovery Story
Sandy is an accredited GIFTS Lay Leader for the ELCA Synod in Eastern North Dakota. From Memphis, Tennessee, she moved to North Dakota with husband Ray in 1998. They served in the Hannaford Cooperstown area until 2007 when they moved to Fargo to assume leadership of the Lost and Found Ministry. They have five children and Sandy has a passion for quilting. She acknowledges that spiritual growth is an on-going process and respects the diversity and value of many traditions, while remaining comfortable in her Lutheran faith. Recovery Worship is a service that reaches out to individuals involved in 12 step programs that attempts to add a deeper dimension to their lives.
Religious Education Classes for Our Youth
Our Religious Education (RE) program for our youth includes classes for pre-readers through high school-age students. Classes are taught by volunteers from the church community and must have a background check done before teaching. Some of the content areas covered are world religions, diversity, and social justice.
The FMUU Youth RE Program continues to offer three different class groups: Children’s, Middle’s and Teen Group.
Our nursery will be available for children four years of age and younger at 10:45 a.m. before each Sunday service.
Our Children’s Group will attend the 11 a.m. service through the chalice lighting. At that point, they will follow their Religious Education teacher downstairs for class. There is no set age group for this class, although the children need to be able to follow instructions and cooperate with the teacher and other students. Activities will include sharing joys and concerns, singing songs, crafts, reading stories, games, and other fun. Children are not allowed to wander in and out of the nursery or class during the service. All nursery and RE participants are expected to cooperate with the teachers and other students.
Our Middles and Teen Group will meet after the service. The Middle’s Group is for our UU’s who have outgrown the Children’s Group, but are not quite teens yet. Students from both these groups will be able to attend the service and then attend RE class shortly after the service ends. Classes will involve some crafts and activities, and more in depth discussions and larger projects. Class will meet for 20-30 minutes. The year will be broken into units that last 3-6 weeks with a 1-2 week break between units. The Middles will meet in the room across from the sanctuary while the teens will be in the Teen room just off the kitchen.
As always, our RE program welcomes suggestions, resources, and VOLUNTEERS. The program will not survive without volunteers. Contact Katie Christensen, Religious Ed. Coordinator, at kt_christensen@yahoo.com to volunteer or offer suggestions. In addition, if you are not sure which group is best for your child she can help you find the right fit.
FMUU Church Calendar: 2011-12 FMUU Calendar pdf
Program Committee
The charter of the Program Committee is to enable FMUU members and friends to express through action the values and principles of our church. We do this by conceiving, developing, and delivering worship, religious education and other programs that seek to explore our deepest questions and provide a guide for our lives.
The Program Committee is an essential building block of our church organization. It nurtures the inner lives of the members, friends, and children of our community. The Program committee is responsible for
Education: Religious Education is over-arching, existing to support and facilitate the work of the three sub-committees: Adult, Teens, and Children. The Program committee is responsible for establishing a philosophy of religious instruction and implementing it by designing an overall curriculum plan. The committee undertakes RE related projects, such as Guest at Your Table; and it assists with ongoing RE concerns such as approving curricula and teacher selection. Adult Religious Education organizes classes and recruits teachers to meet the common interests of established as well as new members.
Worship: Plan Sunday services, forums, and special programs. It establishes themes for services, organizes intergenerational programs, and plans for rites of passages to be observed. It strives for balance among several types of program content, and generates ideas for program topics and speakers.
All of our committees assist with the following areas:
Social Justice: We educate congregation members and the public in areas of social concern; find ways and means to rectify social injustices; and sponsor or support groups organized to deal with social problems. The committees identify opportunities for church involvement in social change issues in the church and in the larger community.
Promotion: Each committee seeks new members with appropriately targeted publicity.
Fundraising: This is done with the goal of developing sources of revenue that reach beyond church membership into the larger community. The committees are encouraged to reach out to others in the congregation for help in conducting specific events as needs and skills warrant.
Long Range Planning: Committees have overall responsibility for the annual review, revision, and extension of the congregation's long-range plan. Each year, they identify major directions of the church for the ensuing five years; develop a plan of concrete steps that can be taken toward those goals, based on input from the congregation and monitors implementation of specific objectives in the current Five Year Plan.