Children's Ministries  ...our philosophy, goals, and hopes in working with the children of this community of faith. 

• Children's Conversation
• Church School and Children's Choir
• Goals of Children's Ministry
• Curriculum & Church School Newsletter
• Children in Worship
• Church Friends

Church School Classes & Children's Choir

Sundays 9:30am - 10:20am

Church School in a New Key: Who Am I?

Come explore stories in sacred texts through art, science, drama, and the computer lab. This school year we will focus on the theme of identity in today's world. We will learn about people like Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene, Buddha, Muhammad, Martin Luther King Jr., Delores Huerta, & Mother Theresa.

Winter-Spring Schedule for K-5

Jesus' baptism (January 21 - January 28)

Jonah (February 4th, February, 11th & February 18th)

Environmental Workshop

Esther "Purim" (March 4th)

The Last Supper & Easter (March 11th, March 18th, & March 25th)

April 8th/ No church school

Mary Magdalene (April 15th - April 22nd)

Buddha & Muhammad (April 29th - May 6)

Mother's Day Workshop & Remembering Mother Teresa (May 13th)

Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta (May 20th)

Children & Youth Church School

Godly Play Church School w/ Heather Titterton (Ages 3-5) - Sundays (9:30am - 10:20am) in Classroom 1

Workshop Rotation Model Church School (K-5 grade) - Sundays (9:30am - 10:20am) in the Chapel

The K-5 church school classes meet promptly at 9:30am for Opening Act before splitting into K-2 and 3-5 grade classes. "Opening Act" is the first 10-15min of the church school program, which will be a combination of singing, drama, and an introduction to the scripture or theme of the day. "Opening Act" will be led, at times, by either the middle school or high school youth and will be facilitated by Rev. Jonas M. Hayes, Family Minister.

9:30am-9:40am (Opening Act)
9:40am-10:20am (Drama, Art, Computer Lab, Audio/Video, Bible Skills, and Storytelling Workshops)

Middle School Church School (Grades 6-8) - Sundays (9:30am - 10:20am) in the Youth House

High School Church School (Grades 9-12) - Sundays (9:30am - 10:30am) in the Chapel

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What are the Goals of our Children's Ministry?

To build nurturing relationships among children, youth and adults in our congregation.

To create an awareness of the uniqueness of each child in our church community.

To contribute to the children's faith and overall development by providing opportunities for them to:

• know themselves as unique and loved children of God

• learn and apply faith stories

• feel a part of our community of faith

• participate in worship

• contribute to our church and its work in meaningful and creative ways

• increase their awareness of God's presence and love in the world

• help them grow as inclusive, fair, happy, and peaceful children of God.

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Curriculum

We use the Workshop Rotation Model (WoRM) for Sunday School.

Check out some of the most recent curriculum materials we used (written by Rev. Nan Swanson on the subject of women in the Bible):

• Woman At the Well
• Mary Magdalene
• Women Leaders of the Church After Jesus
• Woman Annointing Jesus' Feet

Students rotate with their class through different workshops. Each workshop tells a Bible story a different way, using actitivies that appeal to different styles of learning (art, dance, games, theater, outreach projects, video, computer, science, and cooking).

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Socks for Afghanistan

In January 2003, the children learned about the lives of people in Afghanistan through a presentation done by Craig Wiesner, Derrick Kikuchi and David Mineau, all of whom visited Afghanistan in June of this year. 1st Pres families had gathered socks and other warm clothes to be sent to people in Afghanistan and after the presentation, the kids made cards and wrapped the clothes so that they could be sent with a touch of love from our community.

The rest of the images on this page are from the day of wrapping socks!

Children and Worship

Our goal is to integrate children in worship in meaningful ways.  Studies in spiritual development indicate that the worship ritual is intrinsic to faith formation for children, long before they have the intellectual capacity to understand everything we say or do.  We also believe that children's presence in worship enriches our whole community's growth as the full body of Christ.  We encourage you to bring your child with you into the worship service.

Children's books, activity sheets, and drawing paper are available every Sunday in the narthex.  And yes, a little movement and whispering during the service in expected and acceptable.   

Since 2003, we've been operating on a schedule for Church school with children leaving the service after a short while and attending class during a portion of worship, returning most Sundays at 12:15 for the prayer circle.

Communion Sunday is another wonderful opportunity for children to participate in worship.  The sharing of bread and juice is a ritual very accessible to children.  We seek their participation in the Communion service by asking them to follow along behind the servers and collect the juice cups in little baskets . . . there's usually a great, rousing hustle to be the first to get started. 

Church school classes include introductions to worship and the sacraments in age-appropriate ways.  Nursery care is available for smaller children during adult study and worship.

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Fostering community between all generations is important to our congregation. That's why we launched a "Church Friends" program. Click here to learn more about that.

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