Church School
St John in the Wilderness has offered Sunday School programs for the children of the parish for many, many years. Currently we do not have an active Sunday School. We look forward to having one again. It’s been a time of reflection as we consider how to best address the following questions – “how do we reach out to our communities children in terms of Christian Education? Is the “traditional” Sunday School outdated, or possibly, just “not enough” anymore?
The traditional Sunday School setting may no longer be viable.
- Does it limit the impact we could have on the children of our community?
- How can we minister to the local children and their families?
We welcome and encourage members of the church and community to offer suggestions and thoughts on these questions. We understand that our demographics have changed, but at the same time, our approach to making contact with young families may need to change too. We look forward to constructing an updated and dynamic Christian Outreach and Education Program to fit our community needs.
Spread the Word
I am always grateful for the abundance of support given to the Sunday School program and its children. Please spread the word to local friends, family and neighbors about our Sunday School. It would be a joy to see an active, Sunday School resume here at Church of St John in the Wilderness.
Prior Church School Programs and Curriculums
Some of our prior programs and curriculums – The Jesus Story Book – Every Story Whispers His Name has been our most recent and loved curriculum. We’ve also used Weaving God’s Promises. I’ve researched the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as a possible future curriculum. Our Sunday School takes place during the 1-hour Sunday Service from 10:00-11:00am, followed by an all-parish coffee hour. The classes are from September through June.
Summer Programming
For a few years, we continued Sunday School through the summer months. Our summer program was primarily held outside and would involve outdoor games, crafts, story-telling and gardening. The most recent program was our Feed My Sheep vegetable and flower garden up on the hill. The purpose of the garden was to grow vegetables that could be shared with our church family and then, hopefully, the immediate community.
It was fun for the kids to plant the seed and watch it grow. We learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. We knew there would be a learning curve. We unfortunately waged war with a little animal that kept eating our veggies. That is a very frustrating thing when you have nurtured the plants from seed!
Holiday Programming
Over the last couple of years, we have hosted a Community Christmas Pageant – all the community, both children and adults, are invited to participate.