Ministry with Children and Youth
Second Baptist welcomes children into the life of the congregation, to learn and worship with us on Sunday mornings. Church school begins at 9:15 a.m.and will resume on September 7, 2008, after a break for the summer.
Church School Classes
Nursery (0 - 3)
Education Wing
Primaries (Ages 4 - 7)
Education Wing
Children in preschool through first grade experience Bible stories and teachings through movement, song, art, and games in our Primary classroom. Leading them through these foundational lessons about God and our relationship to God is teacher Kathryn Nall, a 16-year educator with the Special School District.
Juniors (Ages 8 - 10)
Education Wing
Older elementary-aged children in second through fifth grade gather in the Junior classroom under the lively instruction of Dotty Daily to study the traditional stories of our faith and to try to apply them to their own contemporary lives. Mrs. Daily, a retired educator who taught third grade for many years in the public schools, engages the class with puzzles, crafts, and small service projects to teach basic Bible skills and to help the children find their place in the life and work of the church.
Middle School (Grades 6 - 8 )
Education Wing
The middle school class challenges sixth- through eighth-grade youth to think of themselves as worthy inheritors of the Scripture by encouraging them to ask questions of both familiar and unfamiliar Biblical texts. Led by Shari Nelson-Faulkner, Second Baptist’s children education director, the students engage in creative, gross motor, and fine motor activities as well as employ their budding academic skills to come to a fuller and more personal understanding of God’s work in our world and their lives.
Youth (Grades 9 - 12)
Education Wing
The senior high class, led by Melanie Keeney and Eden Seminary intern Kara Reagan, encourages youth to look critically at their world and their own lives in light of scripture, and through discussions to arrive at their own personal sense of faith and convictions.
Worship and Second Hour
Children over the age of two or three worship with the congregation for half an hour every Sunday in expectation that they will learn the rhythms and rituals of worship while growing to see themselves as part of our community of faith. After the children’s conversation, the pre-K to first-grade children accompany Melissa Bancks, an educator and mother of two, to the primary classroom where they experience “hands-on” object lessons. Children second through fifth grade withdraw to the junior classroom with children’s education director Shari Nelson-Faulkner to undertake extended service, art, or learning projects.
Music
Music has long been a special part of the children’s program. The younger children usually start their class time in the sanctuary, learning songs that they perform in the worship service several times a year.
Music also forms a part of the youth program. Periodically, the youth, with the assistance of a few adults, sing and play in a contemporary music band during worship.
Vacation Bible School
Every year Second Baptist forms an ecumenical partnership with other local congregations to provide a summer learning and fellowship opportunity for our children.
Young Youth Cluster
Seven area churches, two American Baptist churches, two United Churches of Christ, and three Presbyterian congregations joined together in 2005 to form a combined youth group for children in fourth through seventh grades. The kids come together six times annually for fun, fellowship, devotionals, and service. In the 2006-07 school year the YYC expanded to two groups, one for third to fifth graders and another for those in sixth through eighth grade.
Posted by Linda Novak on Feb 23, 2008 at 22:9:39 | Article Path: Home: Learning: Ministry with Children and Youth
