Sunday School is now Children’s Worship. |
All children and youth are welcome to remain with their families during the Traditional Worship service, but are also welcome to join us downstairs following Time with our Young People for a lively child-focussed worship experience.
We believe in the faith, depth and wisdom that children already have inside of them. We seek to encourage and nurture their natural curiosity by offering them a worship environment that offers them the choice to respond to scripture in ways that include them into the story. Our time together is definitely lively and creative but do not mistake our enthusiasm for anything but a joyous faith experience.
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Why are we changing the way Sunday School works? |
We believe that children already have an experience of God, and they require language to express these experiences as well as safe space to respond to the very real questions and challenges in their worlds. We are combining the resources of Seasons of the Spirit© curriculum with the Godly Play© philosophy of learning.
We also would like to make use of the gifts of our youth who are looking ways to give back and provide leadership within our community. Our youth will participate in Children’s Worship and offer their leadership to the children particularly during the Response activities. |
What does Sunday morning look like? |
For very young children we offer a nursery downstairs that is staffed by caring and experienced volunteers and is available throughout the entire Traditional Worship service. We also have a Quiet Room at the back of the sanctuary, if you would like to keep your young child(ren) with you upstairs but require a little extra space.
Our Traditional Worship service includes our whole family for approximately the first 10 minutes, at which time we invite the children to come to the front of the sanctuary for Time with our Young People, a time with either our minister, Rev. Glenn or with our Designated Lay Minister, Kyla. This time is a brief introduction to the scripture and a prayer. Now our children and youth are invited to go downstairs to continue their worship experience.
We gather in the Multi-Purpose Room downstairs for Children’s Worship, which will look something like the following: |
We gather in a circle, and light our Christ candle.
We give our offering as we sing together.
Then, we will tell the Story. (This is done with storytelling and usually with visuals)
The children are invited to Respond through a choice of activities. (Our youth offer leadership in these activities.)
Music will bring the children back to the circle, where we will pray our own Prayers of the People.
We offer each other a blessing, and then sing together until parents and grandparents arrive.
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What happens in Children’s Worship on Communion celebration days? |
We are fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with our children and youth during Time with our Young People, and we take opportunities to teach about communion during those times. We also take a lot of time in our Children’s Worship to explore why we celebrate communion. We also believe that it is important for parents to be comfortable with the timing of their children’s introduction to the sacrament of communion, and invite all parents to talk to either Rev. Glenn or Kyla about any of their questions or concerns.
With parent’s comfort in mind, we have decided that on the Sundays when we celebrate communion together as a church family the children will always come back to the sanctuary and sit with their families, so that each parent can choose whether or not they wish their child(ren) to participate.
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Other “stuff” to note... |
In Children’s Worship we celebrate offering as a way of saying thank you to God but more importantly as a way of celebrating God in our world. We do not want to place any pressure on you or your family to participate in a monetary way. We believe that offering is not about money; many of the ways that we can celebrate offering is by writing down a “good deed” either done in the previous week or intended for the following week. Helping with leadership tasks is another way we celebrate the offerings of our children and youth. If your child(ren) are bringing in money for their offering, we do have special envelopes for them to use.
Outside of the Friendship Room on Sunday mornings, we will have a bulletin board with information posted to help keep you up-to-date. Newsletters will be send home to you on a regular basis to keep you In the Loop.
For a variety of reasons, it is important for us to keep up-to-date information about your child(ren). One of the main ways in which we do this is by having you fill out each year a registration form. It is important for us to keep you In the Loop, as well as keep the child(ren) and youth informed. We also need to maintain current allergy and medical condition information. |
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