06 Sep September Note from Dri
Moving Up Sunday
This past Sunday we had our Moving Up Sunday service where all of our students advanced to their new classrooms. We also recognized all of our new Kindergarteners who have graduated out of Young Children’s Worship, and our new 5th graders who have graduated into the youth group! We also took some time to introduce all of our Sunday school teachers AND what they’ll be teaching our children this fall. Take a look at that list below. We are also restarting Family Gathering on Wednesdays and Youth Group on Sunday evenings. Check out details below!
Sunday School Classes
Nursery: Kat Shaneck and Ellie Nelson – Mimi Takes a Walk and explores God’s good creation with lots of hands on features that let babies see and feel what God has made.
PreK: Tiffany Highfill and Audrey Campen – Starting in Genesis, through Play, Preschoolers experience God’s Big Story with their whole bodies as it leads them on a joyful discovery of God’s love.
K-2nd: Mollie Reddin and Rebs Woodson – At this level children get to use their vivid imaginations to experience the sights, sounds, and people in God’s story and to explore how they can live into and out of that story. Through the Patriarchs in Genesis they get to imagine being a part of God’s family. Then through Exodus, they get to imagine following God’s direction. And finally, during Advent, they get to imagine meeting Jesus.
3rd-4th: Sandy Van Thiel and Ryan Cowell – These students explore smaller portions of Scripture in more depth, allowing students to dig deep into and marvel at God’s Word. Through the stories of King David, they get to marvel at God’s faithfulness. Through the stories of Solomon, they get to marvel at God’s wisdom and strength.
5th-7th: Dri Bayer and Jarrod Heathcote – Foundations class looks at the foundations of our faith, what we believe about God, about the Bible, and about ourselves.
8th-12th: Jonathan Himes and Jonathon Wilson – A look at the history of the church using Know: Creeds and Councils. This accessible overview walks students through centuries of creeds, councils, catechisms, and confessions, not with a dry focus on dates and places, but with an emphasis on the living tradition of Christian belief and why it matters for our lives today
Reminders for Parents
Please be sure to preregister all children 18 and under with our yearly registration form. If you don’t, you will have to before you can check in your child next Sunday, and… you don’t want to do that.
This is a yearly medical release as well and is good for any of our regular children or youth ministry events, and also for special events, including next Summer’s trips and VBS. So fill it out once and you’re good until next fall.
All kids 4th grade and under are required to be checked in by a parent at one of the kiosks before they go to their class. You can check in the whole family at either kiosk all at the same time. One is located upstairs by the nursery. The other is downstairs as you enter the classroom space.
Remember, pick up time is 10am. We want to respect our Sunday School teacher’s time and allow them to enjoy fellowship time before service as well. So be sure to pause those wonderful post-class discussions for a prompt pick up, and resume them over coffee during the fellowship time from 10-10:30.
And don’t forget to take your little ones potty before dropping them off. It makes class time much smoother for our teachers.
Other Christian Education for Children and Youth
Family Gathering
Wednesday evenings from 6-7pm we explore Bible stories together as a families for children 4th grade and below. We sing silly songs, hear God’s word, and do a craft or activity to bring it home and help us connect the story to our lives. We want this to be a time where families are intentionally learning together and practicing spiritual disciplines together. It’s a great way to bridge the gap between church and home.
Youth Group
Sunday evenings from 6-7:30 our students 5th through 12th grade gather to study God’s word more deeply. We start with hang out time and large group games, then we transition into a time of large group lesson and small group grade-based discussion. This semester we will be looking at the book of Exodus and how God was faithful to grow his people from a small family in Genesis to a great nation, fulfilling his covenant promise to Abraham.