Sunday School
St. James’ Sunday School begins with a Nursery which serves infants and toddlers up to age three. After that, the following classes are available: Pre-K, K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12. Sunday school starts in the classrooms in the Parish Hall and then moves over to the church to join their families for communion. Sunday School follows the public-school schedule, beginning in September and ending in early June.
The head teacher of our Sunday School program is Patty Glancey, pattyglancey78@gmail.com
The current curriculum is Weaving God’s Promises, named after the process of faith formation in which we learn how God’s promises of salvation are inextricably woven into our lives. The two programs are comprehensive, 3-year Christian education curriculums; the children’s program is for children ages 3 (preschool) to 11 (5th grade), while the youth program is for children ages 12-14.
The “Mission” of Weaving God’s Promises
- To help children and youth experience how God’s promises of salvation are woven into our lives.
- To show youth the way of Christ, not only in the church but also in the world as Christ’s ambassadors.
- To give children and youth a solid grounding for future youth and high-school formation programs, preparing them for Christian adulthood.
- To foster the spiritual formation and growth of our children in Christ’s love and mercy and to teach the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.
The Three Years of Weaving God’s Promises
Year One: Weaving our Faith
- The story of our salvation and our story from the fall of humankind to our redemption by Jesus Christ and how we fit into this story.
- THEME: God loves us and stays with us—no matter what—to bring us back to God’s divine love.
- Focuses on the Gospel of Matthew, emphasizing the Kingdom of God and our Anglican tradition and faith.
Year Two: Weaving Together the Family of God
- How we became God’s people and part of the household of God, the Communion of Saints.
- THEME: Once we were no people, but now we are God’s people.
- Focuses on the Gospel of John, with stories of individual encounters with Jesus, transformation in God’s love, and the saints of the church.
Year Three: Weaving God’s Beloved Community
- How we are called by God to live in loving community with one another and fulfill God’s promises for us in the healing of all creation.
- THEME: We are called by God to live as One Body in Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves.
- Focuses on the Gospel of Luke, with emphasis on our holy calling to care for others and the gospel values of welcome, inclusion, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, justice, and liberation.
Building a Faith Foundation
Weaving God’s Promises provides children with basic exposure to Church teachings in the three elements essential to the practice of our faith. Each is dependent on the other in order for the faith to stand firmly:
- Christian education
- Worship
- Service
These areas are covered in Weaving God’s Promises to help build this faith foundation:
- Holy Scripture: the great stories of the Old and New Testaments are the core of the lessons, with special emphasis on the life and teachings of Jesus.
- The Church: the curriculum includes information about church history, seasons of the Church year, church practices, use of the Book of Common Prayer, our Anglican and Episcopal tradition, and the principal sacraments of our Church: Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist.
- Christian Living: applying Christian principles to our lives as essential to faith. Includes the principles
and practices of prayer, outreach and service, Christian ethics, and contemporary issues.
More than Stories
In addition to the Bible stories, special themes are also covered:
- Church seasons: lessons on Advent, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter.
- Special holidays and feast days.
- The church and its sacraments: lessons cover the Anglican and Episcopal faith tradition, including the church, its
ministries, and the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist.
Age Groupings
For children, activities are provided for the following age breakdown:
- Preschool (up to age 4)
- Primary (kindergarten-first grade)
- Elementary (second & third grades)
- Intermediate (fourth & fifth grade)
Weekly Activities
Specific age-appropriate activities are provided each week. There is something for every learning style. Activity types are varied and include arts, crafts, dramas, pencil/paper activities, games, and others. In addition, a variety of general activities that can be adapted to any lesson can be found in the material.
Summary of Features
- Each lesson of Weaving God’s Promises for Children includes Threads, a take-home for families, bringing each week’s Weaving God’s Promises experience home with additional reflections and activities. Also included in each lesson are scripted stories for leaders.
- Several hundred pages of content each year which you reproduce as needed.
- Easy-to-use-and-understand session plans each week, making preparation simple and easy for all of your teachers.
- Wide range of usable age-appropriate activities in each session.
- Theological and historical information on our Anglican/Episcopal history and heritage.
DELIVERY AND FORMAT
Weaving God’s Promises is an online resource that is purchased each year as an annually licensed program and is available to your teachers and leaders via online access.
Benefits of online access:
- All of your leaders/teachers can have access to all three years of Weaving God’s Promises any time of day or night; all they need is a computer.
- No need to worry about how many student or leader books to purchase. Only print what you need.
- Leaders/teachers can e-mail current, past, or upcoming sessions to other teachers, students, or home to families.
- You can give your teachers their own unique passwords so they can logon no matter where they happen to be.
