8 Unitarian Universalist Congregations of Greater Houston+

WHAT: A special workshop for all Houston Area UU’s who care about Religious Education RE: RE Teachers, RE Committee Members, and Parents
Sponsored by HARE (Houston Area Religious Educators)

TOPIC: Radical Hospitality: Creating Beloved Com-munity for All Children
Presented by Sally Patton, UU author of Welcoming Children with Special Needs, a Guidebook for Faith Communities

WHEN: Saturday, February 27, 9:15am – 1:30pm

WHERE: Emerson UU Church, 1900 Bering Drive, Houston 77057

COST: $10 for food and beverages

RSVP: by February 20 to dfd@tuuc.org

The purpose of this workshop is to train lay leaders and religious educators to minister to children with special challenges and insure their successful inclusion into the life of our UU congregations. The workshop will include assessment methods, teaching strategies, sensitivity training, hands-on training activities, and discussions concerning pastoral and congregational care.

Opening our hearts and minds to serving children with special needs strengthens our commitment to the Unitarian Universalist principle of affirming the worth and dignity of every person. Ministering to children with differences helps us not only to be more creative about ministry to all our children, but also helps us as adults to reassess or reaffirm our own beliefs. Lessons of compassion, caring and an acceptance of differences benefit all of us, young and old.

Workshop leader Sally Patton, Ed. M. Developmental Psychology, has advocated and worked for children with disabilities for over 35 years. For the past several years, she has written and conducted workshops on ministering to children with special needs in faith communities and on spiritual parenting of children who have been labeled. Sally is the mother of two children, one of whom has a special needs label.