Christ Church has an outstanding and vital Christian Education program! We are been blessed with excellent volunteer teachers with many years of experience. We also have a paid nursery attendant.
Every summer we have a Vacation Church School in which the children are engaged by means of arts, crafts, music and dramatic play in themes ranging from the childhood of Jesus to Creation to Narnia. We also have a lively Christmas Eve pageant, in which all children are welcome to participate, and we welcome All Saints Day with a Children’s Procession in saint’s attire.
The Nursery and the Sunday School Classroom are in the Parish House wing. There are three rooms downstairs which can be opened up into one large room or closed off by partitions. The Nursery is for infants and toddlers, to age 3. We suggest bringing your child to help him or her get acquainted with Rachel so that you will all be comfortable leaving him or her in the nursery.
There is also a preschool class and a kindergarten class in the downstairs Parish House. Their classes run from 9-9:45 from September-May. Older children and youth have classes in Musselman Hall, on the second floor of the Parish House. We have classroom dividers to allow us to accommodate grades 3-4 and 5-6. The children in Grade 1-2 meet in the “Pie” Room, which is off Musselman Hall near the kitchen. They use the Montessori-influenced Godly Play curriculum. Youth in grades 7-12 meet in the Teen Room, which is just off Musselman Hall across from the kitchen.
On the first Sunday of most months, instead of regular Sunday School, there is a special Youth meeting at 9 in the teen room for grades 7-12.
For adults, there is an Adult Ed Class in the Deppich Room, and most months, usually on the first Sunday, there is a “Koffee Klatch”—a time to chat informally with other adult members of the parish. Adult Ed also runs from 9-9:45 most Sundays from September-May.
A Christian Education Schedule for the year is available from your child’s teacher and at the Kick-Off party on September 13. An Adult Ed. schedule is also available.
Except for the Nursery, which is available continuously from 9-11, children of all ages are in Sunday School from 9:00-9:45 AM and generally picked up by their families at 9:45. If the family is attending the second service, they accompany their parents to church. Children aged about 8 and under generally leave for Children’s Chapel during the 10 AM service after the children’s sermon. in the downstairs Sunday School classroom. Children who have trouble with transitions may remain in the Sunday School classroom by arrangement with Sunday school teachers. Children over age 8 usually remain in the service. There are activity bags on a rack in the back, as well as coloring pages relating to the lessons of the day, that will help make it easier for your child to remain throughout the service. Please feel free to take a bag for your child—children are good at doing a quiet activity and listening, as every adult ought to remember, and it makes what is otherwise a difficult period of enforced inactivity and quiet more enjoyable for all. Please do not take the bag, or reusable items from the bag, like books or crayons, etc., home with you. We do ask that you take your child’s work home with you, and make sure any scraps are disposed of—there should be a bag in the bag for scraps.
There are a few Sundays during the year when there is no Sunday School, but there is almost always child care available from September-May even when Sunday School is not in session. If there is no one present to offer child care, parents are welcome to use the nursery if needed.
Please leave the room neat. Bins are labeled, and we request that puzzles be put back assembled.
You are welcome to go to get your child to bring them back into the church for Communion. In the Episcopal Church, all baptized persons are eligible to receive Communion simply by virtue of that baptism. This includes toddlers and small children. It is not necessary to have attended “Holy Communion” classes to receive Communion. However, we do offer these classes for children ages 5-8 who can read on a second grade level (they need not be in second grade) to help them understand more about the sacrament.
If your child wishes to receive Communion, please instruct your child on how to hold out his or her hands to take the host. If you do not wish your child to receive Communion, or you wish them to refuse the wine, instruct or help your child to fold their arms across their chest. They will be given a blessing instead. It is never necessary to receive the wine, for anyone. Communion in one element—bread or wine—is entirely sufficient. If your child does not signify that he or she is not to receive and is given a Communion wafer, please don’t snatch it away from him or her. Once a baptized person has received the bread, they are to consume it. If your child can’t or won’t finish it, it is all right for you to do so.
We now have a gluten-free option for Communion. Please speak to Judy Buck-Glenn for instructions on how to proceed.
