Sunday School was held for "Littles" only this week. Our Youth will be having a Youth Group Meeting after the worship service.
This Week in Sunday School - Theme - What Do We Do in Church? How Do We Worship? Littles - They heard the story, “Here is the Church” by Anita Reith Stohs. It begins with the familiar children’s rhyme and the hand gestures that go along with it. Then is continues to touch on the variety of things we do in church during a worship service. We talked about what we do when we go upstairs into church - praying, singing, listening to stories from the bible, participating in Holy Communion, etc. We practiced saying the Lord’s Prayer as well. Craft/Activity for Littles - They made wooden church’s and put themselves and some of our church family in the church. Upcoming Schedule (Possibly subject to change)
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Sunday School was held for ALL students today!
We are so excited to be starting another year learning and growing in faith together! Welcome back! This Week in Sunday School - Theme - Receiving God’s Love and spreading it out in the world around us. Littles - They heard the story, “Dear God, Thanks for Thinking of Love” by Annie Fitzgerald. It begins with, “Dear God, you fill the world with love as far as I can see. Thanks for giving all your love to boys and girls like me!” It goes on to talk about the ways we can see, feel and receive God’s love. Craft/Activity for Littles - They made “love boxes.” They decorated a wooden box and filled it with ways they feel God’s love and ways they can share love with others. Middles and Youth - Today we talked about “The 9 Fruits of the Spirit,” and what this concept means. (Galatians 5:22-23) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” In this scripture, Paul lists these nine specific behaviors that are the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life. During the weeks and months ahead, we will examine each of these, connect them to scripture, and to our daily lives. We also had a discussion about ideas our Middles and Youth have for what they would like to do in Sunday School and/or with Youth Group this year. Looking Ahead This year we are continuing with the way we organized our classes last year, to continue to meet the needs of our students as they grow and learn. We are also adding more meetings/activities for our Youth Group. Littles (students in PreSchool - Grade 2) will meet every Sunday Middles and Youth (students in Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-12) will meet on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. Youth (students in Grade 6 and above) will have some sort of Youth Group meeting or activity on the Sundays when they are not coming to Sunday School (the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month, as well as the 5th Sunday in months that have 5 Sundays). Upcoming Schedule (Possibly subject to change)
Sunday School will resume on Sunday, September 15th, during the 10:00 worship service. We will celebrate with a Blessing of the Backpacks during the service and ice cream sundaes for everyone following the service.
Sunday School was held for ALL students this week - Littles, Middles and Youth
This Week in Sunday School - Theme for All Students - Prayer Littles - We read A Very Happy Easter Prayer, by Bonnie Rickner Jensen. The book talks about why the Easter season is such a happy time of year - the weather is warming, flowers are blooming, and cuddly critters are leaving their nests. In the story, the woodland animals thank God for all the blessings of the season. It ends by saying, “Thank you, God, for Easter morning. Joyful news is here! Jesus lives forever. And His love is always near.” Littles Craft/Activity - Our Littles used cardboard tube bunny stamps to make a joyful spring picture. Middles and Youth - We talked about how we build a relationship with God through prayer. We also talked about how we pray with both words and actions, and what it means to live a life of unceasing prayer. How do we talk to God and how do we listen to God? Then we talked about 5 principal types of prayer - adoration, confession, thanksgiving, intercession and petition - and what they mean. We looked for places we find these types of prayer in our worship service and in our daily lives. They are bringing home a sheet with all of this information to share with their families as well. Middles and Youth Craft/Activity - We didn’t have a craft this week. We just took advantage of the time to talk together and to do some pencil and paper activities along with our discussion. Upcoming Schedule
Sunday School for held for our "Littles" only this week.
This Week in Sunday School - Theme - How Do We Celebrate Easter? Littles - This week we talked more about Easter and how we celebrate. We read the book, The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Sunday, a faith story by Mike Berenstain. The Bear Family, all of their friends and family, and even the nature all around them, get dressed in their Easter best for an Easter Sunday celebration at the Chapel in the Woods. They have an Easter service, have an Easter treasure hunt, and learn about the religious and non-religious ways Easter is celebrated. Littles Craft/Activity - After our story and discussion the children made a cross keychain. Our weekly Sunday School schedule is changing just a bit for the rest of April and May. Everything is listed below. Upcoming Schedule
Sunday School was held for ALL STUDENTS this week.
This Week in Sunday School - Theme for All Students - Holy Week Littles - We read The Very First Easter, a book based on selections from The Beginner’s Bible. It tells about the events of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter, in young child-friendly language. Littles Craft/Activity - Our Littles made a story wheel highlighting the most important days of Holy Week. Middles and Youth - We first talked about our Lenten homework that was assigned, what each student decided to give up or take on, and how it’s going so far. I’m encouraging them all to keep going with their Lenten challenge. Then we read about Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. We discussed the origin and meaning of these days/season, the colors associated with them, and how and why we worship in special ways on these days. They are bringing home a sheet with all of this information to share with their families as well. Middles and Youth Craft/Activity - We didn’t have a craft or activity this week. We just took advantage of the time to talk together. Upcoming Schedule
Sunday School was held for LITTLES ONLY this week.
This Week in Sunday School - Theme - What is Easter? This week we talked about Easter and why we celebrate. We read the book, What is Easter? by Michelle Medlock Adams. The story tells us to look beyond the bunnies, colored eggs and jelly beans; that Easter is about so much more than that. Easter is the day we celebrate the fact that Jesus, our Savior, rose again. Craft/Activity - After our story and discussion the children made an Easter mobile highlighting the things we celebrate, the true meaning of Easter. Upcoming Schedule
Sunday School was planned for LITTLES ONLY this week.
However, no "Littles" were in attendance. We'll catch up next week. Sunday School was held for ALL students this week.
This Week in Sunday School - Theme for All Students - St. Patrick’s Day Littles - We took a little break from bible stories and took advantage of the holiday and read a book called, Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute. In this story, Tom thinks he has outsmarted a leprechaun and will have made his fortune, but, in fact, the leprechaun has turned the tables on Tom and outsmarted him. Littles Craft/Activity - Our Littles had a St. Patrick’s Day themed mini booklet and they also played St. Patrick’s Day BINGO. Middles and Youth - We first talked about our Lenten homework that was assigned at our last Sunday School class, what each student decided to give up or take on, and how it’s going so far. I’m encouraging them all to keep going with their Lenten challenge. Then we read about the real St. Patrick and his ministry. Middles and Youth Craft/Activity - We didn’t have a craft or activity this week. We just took advantage of the time to talk together. Sunday School was held for "Littles" only this week.
Theme - Praying and The Lord's Prayer This week we talked about prayer and how Jesus taught us to pray. We read “The Lord’s Prayer” and talked about what each part of it means. Below is a copy of the lesson and how we explained each part. Each child is bringing home their own mini-book of The Lord’s Prayer so that they can continue to learn it and say it at home. Littles Craft/Activity - After our discussion and saying The Lord’s Prayer together, our Littles played a Bible Bingo game. This is what our lesson on prayer, and specifically The Lord's Prayer, looked like: Our Lesson on The Lord's Prayer Today we're learning about how God would like us to pray. Even Jesus' closest friends, the disciples wanted to know how to pray. The disciples were with Jesus all the time and were with him when he went to pray and heard his prayers to God as well, yet they still weren't sure how they were supposed to do it. Before Jesus teaches the prayer he has a few things to say first. He says that we should keep our prayers simple. God listens to us no matter if our prayers are long or short and if you just don't have the right words God knows what we mean (and we don't need to use fancy words either)! Jesus also mentions that we shouldn't 'show off' when we pray. He said this to the people that used to stand on the street corners praying so that everyone would see how 'great' they were. God doesn't want us to pray so people can see us or to hear how great we can pray. He wants us to pray in a quiet place with our own words our needs, thanks, praise, and what we're sorry for. This is the prayer Jesus taught us to say: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. This prayer might be a little tough to understand when you first hear it, but we're going to go through it and try to explain what it means. Our Father who art in heaven means we're praying to our father who is in heaven. We start the prayer out this way so we know that we're praying to God our father and we're not alone. God likes it when we call him father and he wants us to talk to him like we talk to our own father. God is our loving father and we are his special children. Hallowed be thy name is next and it means holy is your name. Even though God wants us to call him our father, he is still God. It's sometimes really hard to understand who God is and what he's like. How did he make us? How is he perfect and never makes mistakes? God just wants us to remember that we need to treat him super special because he is God and when we pray to him we need to be respectful. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. If we think about where God lives, we know it’s pretty great. The Bible says that in heaven there will be no more crying, God will live with us, and there will be no hunger or hurt there. This part of the prayer says let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. This means we are praying that people would live in peace and love with one another the way it is in heaven. It reminds us that we should be living the way God wants us to everyday. Give us this day our daily bread means give us today all that we need. Keep in mind that these are things that we can't live without. We don't need video games and princess dolls those are the things that we want, we need food, water and shelter. Even though we pray for things we need, that doesn't mean we'll get them. There are still people with no food in many parts of the world but that doesn't mean we stop praying for these things. When we ask God for things that means we trust Him and we'll leave the decision to God. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. This next part of the prayer is asking for forgiveness for our mistakes. Forgiveness means that we are sorry for something we've done and we don't want to do it anymore. But we also need to forgive people who have done wrong to us. Sometimes others hurt us very badly, so we need to ask God to help us forgive them because sometimes it's really hard to forgive someone, or we don't want to forgive them. If we forgive others, God will forgive us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Is it sometimes tempting to do something you're not supposed to? This part of the prayer is really neat because it asks God to help us to know the right thing to do. To protect us against the evil that is in the world and keep us away from it. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. The last part of the prayer is the best part! For yours is the kingdom means that Heaven will last forever and will always be God's. God also has all the power and all the glory FOREVER! It makes me happy knowing that God will never die and he's the strongest and greatest. With God we will always win! Anyone can read the Lord's prayer, so it's important to think about what you're saying. When you pray "give us this day your daily bread" think about all the things you have to be thankful for and how God has given you everything you need, or things you need to ask for or pray for others. When you pray "forgive us our trespasses" ask forgiveness for those things you did wrong. Prayer is our special way of talking to God so remember to pray as many times as you can. God loves you and wants to know everything about you and how you're doing. Upcoming Schedule
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OUR PROGRAMWe hold Sunday School every other Sunday, Sept. through May, during the 10:00 Worship Service. Our program includes students of all ages, from Preschool through Grade 6 Archives
November 2023
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