On Sunday, 21 Mar. 2010, the Church School children will be making pretzels for Coffee Hour – learn about the history of the pretzel and see the recipe we'll be using.
Ministries overseen by the Christian Education commission include:
All Saints’ Church offers a Christian Formation program for children each Sunday from 9:30 am until 10:45 (or the exchange of Peace in the service) – The Lower School serves families and children from age 3 to grade 5. We seek to support all children in their relationship with God and share with them our Christian traditions, liturgy and stories. We are committed to fostering a safe, engaging, and spiritual place for all children to be with God each Sunday. To this end, we are offering the following programs:
This program is for children aged 3 – Kindergarten year of school, our youngest students. We call our classroom the Atrium and it is a special place. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) is based on the assumption that children come to us spiritually intact and it is the work of the catechist to provide them with the stories and liturgical information of our faith and then to step back and let the children explore this through working with sensory materials, meditative practices, and joyful song. This is a program which has been practiced for over 30 years and has been working well in many parishes in our diocese – some for over 10 years. This is the 6th year for our Atrium and we are very excited for the coming year. The Catechists for this year are: Laura Marshall, Janice Lindstad, Anne Lane Schubert and Becky Malone.
The Firelight curriculum is specifically developed and taught according to age and grades of the children, beginning with grade 1 leading through to grade 5/6. It is from Augsburg Fortress and it is taught using the Workshop Rotation Model for Sunday School. Explained simply, the Workshop Rotation Model teaches major Bible stories and concepts through child-friendly (“Deeper Learning”) multimedia workshops: Art, Drama, Music, Games, A-V, Puppets, Storytelling, Computers, and any other educational media. Each Bible story is taught for three to four weeks rotating the children to different workshops each week. Each Bible story is taught by the same leaders(s) to provide consistency for the children. It also allows the leaders(s) to delve deeper into the Bible story and lessons because a given Bible story is looked at for more than just one week.
Note: Volunteers are needed to teach a 3-4 week lesson block.
- Firelight I — for children in grades 1st and 2nd
- The lesson focus for this school year will be Most Certainly True – Living the Catechism. Workshop themes are as follows:
Our teachers this year are: Linda Coles and Cindy Dussault
- Count on the Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)
- Believe the Creed (John 1:1-5; John 3:16; John 15:26-27)
- Practice the Prayer (Matthew 6:5-13)
- Splash in the Spirit (Matthew 3:1-17)
- Gather in Grace (Matthew 26:26-30)
- Firelight II — For children in grades 3rd and 4th
- The lesson focus for this school year will be Wonder Stories – Learning Jesus’ Miracles. Workshop themes are as follows:
Our teacher this year is: Elizabeth Danielli
- Wedding Wonders (John 2:1-11)
- Stormy Seas (Mark 4:35-41)
- Sharing Lunch (John 6:1-15)
- Healing the 10 (Luke 17:11-19)
- Little Girl, Get Up! (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43)
- Firelight III — For children in grade 5
- The lesson focus for this school year will be Wonder Stories – Learning Jesus’ Miracles. Workshop themes are as follows:
Our teacher this year is: Melissa Flewelling
- Wedding Wonders (John 2:1-11)
- Stormy Seas (Mark 4:35-41)
- Sharing Lunch (John 6:1-15)
- Healing the 10 (Luke 17:11-19)
- Little Girl, Get Up! (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43)
Organization, staffing and planning for the various activities and events that the children participate in throughout the school year is done by the Children’s Christian Formation Co-Operative (CCF) Co-op.
For more information or to become involved please contact the Childrens Christian Education Directors.
The All Saints' Youth Group is open to all youth, both members of All Saints and non-members, in Senior High School who want to learn about experience the love of Christ through activities, service projects, discussions, games, prayer and worship. The group usually meets every other week on Sunday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The Youth Group membership is about 20 youth.
The highlights of this past year included:
For more information, please contact our Youth Group Director.
For many of the past summers All Saints has had remarkable success in keeping the youth of the parish enthusiastic about coming to church on Sundays to participate in the Summer Mystery Club. Check out the Summer Mystery Club Web site.
This ministry, primarily directed by the Associate to the Rector, is defined as the parish's ministry for the education, formation, spiritual development and empowerment of parish adults. Adult formation has included small groups with various focuses, as well as programs and classes. This ministry has targeted ways that we, as individuals and as a congregation, are nurtured in our spiritual journeys, particularly through spiritual life and contemplative practice.
In 2005 this parish plans on engage in the process laid out in Alice Mann’s Raising the Roof: The Pastoral-to-Program Size Transition. As we engage in deliberate conversation about who we are and how we are in relationship with God, one another, and our neighbors, we will be able to identify and preserve what we treasure about this community, while deepening and growing in our Christian mission and faithfulness to God’s call to us.
Adult Formation at All Saints’ continues to flourish and grow: