Christian Education 
Children & Youth
Family Gathering
Wednesdays 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Wednesday evenings from 6-7 p.m. 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
5th-12th grade
Sundays 6-7:30 p.m.
Students gather for fellowship and 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.
Sunday School
Sunday School meets at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings followed by a time of Fellowship.
Children can be checked by family at the kiosk upstairs by the nursery or downstairs as you enter the classroom space.
Children & Youth
Nursery: 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: 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: 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: 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: Foundations class looks at the foundations of our faith, what we believe about God, about the Bible, and about ourselves.
8th-12th: 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.
Adult
We will have two adult Sunday School classes for the fall semester and a short New Member class.
Psalms Workshop:
Psalms are songs. Psalms are poems. Psalms are prayers. So, let’s get together to read, write, and pray. We will explore four major categories of psalms: praise, thanksgiving, lament, and wisdom. Each session, we will read 2-3 psalms, pray through them, talk about the poem’s structure and language, and then practice writing psalms. My hope is that we will cultivate the practice of writing as prayer with the Psalms as our guide.
Hebrews:
This class will walk through the book of Hebrews, a letter written to Jewish converts to Christianity that reiterates the main tenets of the Christian faith and encourages those converts not to revert to their former beliefs, because “Christ is better.”
New Member Class:
A two-part new member class will be offered during the Christian Education hour (9-10 a.m.) on Sunday, October 2 and 9. Anyone interested in joining the church must attend both parts of the class. A third “make-up” class will be offered on Sunday, October 16 at 9:00 a.m. Attending this class does not mean you must become a member, but you must attend this class if you want to join the church as a member. Please email Jonathan (jonathan@fpcsiloam.com) to express interest in the class.