Summary: Episode Eleven in the "A Religion for Our Time" series features the outdoor education program for 9-12-year-olds at Jefferson Unitarian Church (JUC) in Golden, Colorado. How do you keep pre-teens interested in going to church? Parents at JUC came up with an idea that puts enthusiastic young people right in the middle of the seventh principle. With the motto of “Connect, Respect, Protect,” the Nature’s Keepers religious education program helps participants engage with and learn about the great outdoors. According to Nature’s Keepers Co-Founder Kristi Reeves, “There’s no curriculum except ‘nature happens.’” She adds, “One of the things we learned was that it was not so much about figuring out a big, fancy activity. It was just getting out in the interconnected web of which we are all a part.”
