St. Luke’s Sunday Church School
St. Luke’s was originally founded as a Sunday School.
Our passion for teaching and encouraging children
is both our foundation and future.
What happens during that special hour between 10 -11a.m. in St. Luke’s newly-updated, upstairs classrooms?
In community with each other, children and youth are invited to strengthen their relationship with God. With loving adult support and patient teaching, they learn from Episcopal curriculum that also allows for wider exploration. They are gathering essential tools for their life-long spiritual journeys. In our busy lives, it is one powerful hour per week dedicated to exercising one’s spirit in community with peers and mentors.
What we hope, pray and work toward:
Our Children and Youth at St. Luke’s…
… feel welcome as an important members of the parish.
… connect with liturgy and Bible stories through age-appropriate learning.
…develop appreciation for worship in the sanctuary.
… feel safe to ask the big questions and to engage their minds.
…experience wonder and joy in God’s Creation and at church.
… identify themselves within the community of Christ.
… develop a foundation from which to make healthy life decisions, accessing the Episcopal values of ‘scripture, tradition and reason’.
… forge friendships with those who also value spiritual journeys.
…can rely on the St. Luke’s network of peer and adult support to reach out to the world as children of God.
How we try to achieve these goals in the Sunday hour:
Gathering Time
Each education hour kicks off with a short Gathering Time, where the community of young people and young at heart share in song, prayer, or other school-wide worship.
Primary Grades - “Godly Play”
The Godly Play curriculum uses the well-researched Montessori method of learning as applied to religious education. It uses storytelling, hands-on materials, and a worship routine of its own to make abstract Bible stories and liturgical concepts come alive. The children then can respond individually through art, music, play with the characters of the stories, or continued reading. They also participate in group response activities according to their ages.
The age range for this group is generally age 4 to age 8. However, some 3 year olds will be ready and able to participate, and some third graders will be ready to move on to the Intermediate group. We will consult with parents, teachers and children as to the best placement.
Intermediate Grades - Episcopal Children’s Curriculum (ECC)
2007-2008 is the ‘Shell’ year, in which the sacrament of Baptism is studied. It is organized into four units – study of Old Testament, New Testament, Sacraments and the Church. Storytelling is still part of the program, but learning at this level assumes that children are no longer limited to what they can see, hear, and touch. There is a lot of content learning at this level about the Bible, as well as our symbols and Sacraments. At this level, they are asked to apply scriptural understanding to their own lives and in their own participation in the Church and the world beyond.
The age range for the intermediate group is generally 4th through 7th grade. Much of the content is important to know as part of the teen groups. We will consult with parents, teachers, and children when placing young people.
Teens - Episcopal Curriculum for Youth.
At this level, youth are invited to hone and develop their faith in community with a consistent, passionate group of peers, through discussion about real-life situations within and outside the church. Community-building and a faith home is key at this time. They will also be using scripture to talk about ethics and day to day decisions, without literalism, and engage in prayer practices and explore their own spiritual identities.