One Sunday morning, the elementary school children were
cooking soup and bread sticks as both response to the
story of Zacchaus and as their contribution to Soup and
Something Simple. As they finished up their project,
they got in line to go back to the sanctuary to take
communion with their families. We were doing typical
“getting ourselves quiet” things and then began to walk
toward the sanctuary. One little girl called to me,
“Ms. Debe, when are we going to Sunday school?”
Stephanie Bento, the teacher for March, and I looked at
each other and laughed. I responded to the girl,
saying, “We just did!” She looked surprised, smiled and
laughed, too.
That reaction from a student is one of
our goals. We always hope the children will have fun
learning. We strive to teach the stories that are the
basis of our faith from a progressive perspective.
Using a model based on the multiple intelligences
theory, a typical “Sunday School” morning is like that
morning in the kitchen. We either cook or create an art
project, or act out the story, or sometimes we watch a
video on the story. Each month there is a new story to
explore.
We introduced a new activity in March.
The 4-7th graders, taught by Burt Jackson, wrote prayers
of forgiveness, and the high school youth found a quote
on “letting go.” The prayer and the quote were then
used in worship on the last Sunday.
In April, the elementary school children
will create something from their learning’s to share in
worship. Our goal for involving the children in worship
is to teach them to connect their learning to worship
and to provide an opportunity to learn about worship
itself. Since we leave worship after the children’s
message, an intentional connection to worship is
necessary in order for the children to learn how we
worship here at Suquamish United Church.
Kids
'n Youth
