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| Infant & Toddler Care Children's Programs Confirmation Class Extras |
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| INFANT & TODDLER CARE We know how important it is for parents to have a time for worship together with other Christians on Sunday morning. To help parents of very small children we offer a special nursery. Care is provided just before the 10:00 a.m. Service of Worship until the completion of the service. Besides being a bright, light and spacious area, our nursery has its own silent pager system. A silent pager is given to the parent when the child is brought to the nursery. If there ever is any emergency, the parent will be paged at once. Parents are invited to check out our nursery in advance, or even to stay with the child one or two times in order to help the parent and child feel at ease. CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS For Children Age 3 through Grade 9 Each Sunday, children are invited to come to church with their parents and sit with them for the beginning part of the Morning Service of Worship. When they enter the Meeting House, ushers offer each child a clipboard with a picture to color and some crayons. The picture may be taken home, while the crayons and clipboard should be left in the pew to be collected by the ushers. There is a program for children every Sunday of the year, during the 10:00 a.m. Service of Worship. The only exceptions are Easter, Children's Sunday, and other special Sundays where worship is especially geared for famlies. Depending on the week, one of the following three programs will be running: Church School On most Sundays, children are dismissed early from the Service of Worship to graded classrooms, from Age 3 through Grade 8. Each class has a teacher and an assistant. Through Grade 8, teachers use the "Witness" curricculum published by Ausgburg Fortress Press (Lutheran). Grades 7 and 8 are Bible-based classes, reading and discussing specific Scriptures: Grade 7 is studying the New Testament, and Grade 8 is studying the Hebrew Testament. Children's Church On certain special Sundays -- World Communion Sunday, First Sundays in Advent and Lent -- the teachers, after taking attendance, bring their children to one large gathering place, where the Associate Minister leads the entire group in special worship. This is an opportunity for the teachers to have a day free from actual teaching, for children to understand more about a worship service, and for everyone to learn about a special topic. On these Sundays, Grades 7 through 9 remain in church to gain experience in regular worship. Adventure Bible Camp On three-day weekends, the regular teachers and assistants are given a "day off", and a special ministry team takes over. ABC can take many forms: a craft, a Veggie Tales video, games. It is an opportunity for teachers to have a day in adult worship, and for children to be together with all ages mixed together. Grades 7 through 9 remain in church. During the summer, the ABC format is used each Sunday. CONFIRMATION CLASS Ninth Graders are automatically part of the Confirmation class. For the 2003-2004 school year, Confirmation classes will be held at the same time as other church school classes—during the Morning Service of Worship. There will be some weeks, however, when the Confirmands will remain in church to experience the worship service. They will also visit at least three worship services at churches of other denominations. They also go on one overnight retreat. Confirmation Sunday is in May. A calendar of classes, assignments and events is given out at a parent/confirmand orientation before classes begin. EXTRAS Children's Sunday On a sunday in late May or early June, all of the children come together to lead the worship service at 10:00 on Sunday. This is a very special time, where children experience what they have been learning all year, and where the teachers and assistants are recognized and honored. Offering Envelopes To help children learn that, as their blessings come from God, it is important to give something back, we have special child-oriented offering envelopes available. They are "The S. S. Noah"; each envelope has a picture of an animal with information about it. Children enjoy reading the envelopes before putting in their offerings. The envelopes are available from the classroom teachers. Bibles Children entering Grade 3 receive their own Bibles in a special time during a worship service in September. Confirmands receive a Bible at the Confirmation service in May. Children in Grade 3 or above who do not have Bibles, may notify their teachers, and one will be provided. |
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