Church School
Church School
Our Church School students attend classes from the Sunday after Labor Day until the first Sunday in June. In addition to Church School classes the children are afforded an opportunity to participate in a music program. The students are also given the opportunity to help others by walking in the CROP Walk and to "sell" animals to support Heifer Project International during the Heifer Fair. There is also a party near All Saints' Day for the children. The culminating Church School activity is the parish picnic, usually held on the second Sunday of June.
We offer classes for everyone using age-appropriate curriculum. All classes are on two-year cycles, based on birth date.
Church School Programs:
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Nursery (infants to 4 years) Each Sunday we have loving volunteers who staff our nursery to care for our youngest members.
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Early Elementary (children 4-7yrs old) This class uses the HeartShaper Curriculum. The curriculum is non-denominational and biblically based. The children not only learn the stories of the Old and New Testament, but how to apply what they learn to their lives today.
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Middle Elementary (children 7-9yrs old) This class also uses the HeartShaper Curriculum. These children continue to learn about the Bible and how it is arranged, as well as what it means in today's world.
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Pre-teen (children 9-11yrs old) This class uses a combination of lessons from Group Publishing and the Episcopal Children's Curriculum (ECC). In the lessons from Group, the students delve deeper into who God and Jesus are and their relationship with them. ECC teaches the traditions of the Episcopal Church and the seasons of the church year.
Youth Programs:
Journey to Adulthood is a six-year faith formation program for 11 to 18 year-olds. This program offers our youth a safe place to question, learn and grown into mature Christian adults.
It explores the four major ares: self, society, sexuality, and spirituality , based on the tenant that manhood and womanhood are gifts from God and that adulthood must be earned. The program is divided into three two-year phases:
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Rite 13: The youth in this phase must turn 13 by the end of the second year. Rite - 13 recognizes the passage from childhood to manhood and womanhood with a ceremony recognizing the need for help for the young people and their parents from their peers, the congregation and God.
- J2A: ( youth 13 to 16 years of age) - This class works with young people as they practice adult skills. The second year incorporates Confirmation preparation, with emphasis on each young person deciding whether he or she is ready to make an adult pronouncement of faith. This program helps to establish that Confirmation is not a rite of passage, nor a "graduation" from church , but a sacrament. In order to practice their adult skills and to encounter God, the youth go on an Urban Adventure at the end of the first year and a Pilgrimage at the end of the second year.
