ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MINISTRY - SPRING 2024
Sunday Morning Faith Formation (Sunday School)
The Walk - April 14 through May 19 from 10:05-10:50 a.m.
How do we walk with Jesus? We may know how to talk the “Jesus talk,” but do we know how to walk the “Jesus walk?” There are moments in our lives when we might not know which path to take, but the Bible teaches us how to keep moving with Jesus. Thanks to Jesus’ example in the Gospels, we know how to “walk the Jesus walk” and we will rediscover this through five spiritual practices for Christians. Over the next six weeks, kids will engage in Scripture and faith through hands-on, age appropriate activities that excite them. These lessons are inspired by Adam Hamilton’s, The Walk: Five Essential Practices of the Christian Life.
At Abiding Presence, our Sunday morning faith formation follows a workshop model. Kids get to pick an age-appropriate workshop to engage in for the seven week session. Read more about our innovative approach to Sunday School in this article from The Living Lutheran magazine and scroll down the page to read our FAQs.
Registration is LIVE! While pre-registration isn’t required, it helps us out with planning and means you can jump right into the fun when you arrive. Questions, contact Michaela Putnam-Kwon, Children & Family Minister, at michaela@abidingpresence.net.
We hope you’ll join us for all the fun. This spring we are changing this up with our workshops and allowing our younger students an opportunity to try a few new Sunday School opportunities. Here’s a look at what we are offering this spring:
Club K-1 Art (Kindergarten-1st Grade) - Our Kindergarten & 1st graders have had a blast building friendships together over the past seven months and now get to a chance to pick their own workshop like the older kids. Our art kids will explore the Bible’s creative side with some exciting craft projects.
Club K-1 Games (Kindergarten-1st Grade) - Our Kindergarten & 1st graders have had a blast building friendships together over the past seven months and now get to a chance to pick their own workshop like the older kids. Our games kids will explore what it really means to “Walk the Jesus Walk” through fun games in the sun. This workshop will be outside, weather permitting. Please dress for the weather, wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle.
Create Like Jesus (2nd-5th Grade) - From paint to paper mache, each week students will learn how to create like Jesus through different art projects that point them back to walking with Jesus. This workshop will meet outside, weather permitting, and students are encouraged to wear clothes that can get messy.
Play Like Jesus (2nd-5th Grade) - Jesus took time to rest, but Jesus also knew the importance of play! Join the games workshop and play games from Spikeball to soccer and more while we learn how to “Walk the Jesus Walk.” This workshop will meet outside, weather permitting. Please dress for the weather, wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle.
Minecraft Like Jesus (2nd-5th Grade) - Creative minds can thrive in our Minecraft workshop this spring. We will learn about how to walk like Jesus through various Minecraft challenges from building projects to games and more! Students are encouraged to bring their own devices (laptops/tablets) to Sunday School to play Minecraft on. Personal devices must have personal Minecraft accounts downloaded and logged-in to use during Sunday School.
Confirmation Kickstart (6th Grade) - During the final Sunday School Cycle this Spring all rising 7th graders are invited to join Pastor Kelsey for Confirmation Kickstart! We will get a head start on all things Confirmation, bond as a group, start exploring our Confirmation Bibles, and talk about what the next two years together will look like! On May 19th we are inviting parents to join their students for the education hour to hear more about the program. If you have questions, please email Pastor Kelsey.
Sunday School FAQ’s
Want to know more about our workshop model?
At Abiding Presence, we approach Sunday School by following Jesus’ example to meet people where they are and form faith through relatable experiences. This is exactly what Jesus did when he told parables about sheep, mustard seeds and sibling rivalries. Today, we do that through things kids know about like sports, art and computer games.
Our workshop-based model for Sunday School launched in the fall of 2021 and we’ve never looked back. Suddenly, kids who never wanted to go to Sunday School before were running into the church. Whether you’ve been doing Sunday School for years or this is your first time, we think your kids will love our workshop model.
For this first session, your kiddos will sign up for one workshop for the next seven weeks and engage with Scripture in hands-on ways. Each session, kids will have the opportunity to choose a new workshop (or stick with the same one).
What if we miss a Sunday during the session?
No problem! Our Sunday School workshops change topics about every 5 weeks to help students engage in a wide variety of Bible stories, workshop options and themes throughout the school year. Your family can come all five weeks in the session, or just once.
What does a “typical” Sunday morning look like?
On Sunday’s during our Faith Formation Hour, your kiddos will head directly to their workshop to check-in, receive a name tag, and open with an activity to help the group learn more about one another. There will be lots of people to help you find your way if you aren’t sure where to go.
After kids check in at their workshop, they will have a Bible lesson, which draws on the same Bible story for all the groups. Then, they will move into their workshop activity. Here they will engage in a hands-on way which could look like building the church in Minecraft, learning some soccer drills in the soccer workshop, or creating Jesus surprise boxes in the visual art workshop. Finally, each group will wrap up with a closing prayer. This prayer is the same each week with the hopes that the kids can memorize it and use it at home.
Where do the workshops take place?
We are planning for the vast majority of our workshops this session to be indoors with a few outdoor options (weather permitting). We encourage kids to come dressed to engage in their workshop activity. Some groups will require tennis shoes. At Abiding Presence, we believe you can worship in your sneakers or your dress shoes. Coming dressed for Sunday School is a perfect way to be ready to worship, too!
Who are the workshop leaders?
One of the amazing things about our Sunday School model is that the vast majority of our workshop leaders are 10th-12th grade high school students.
Our workshop choices draw on the passions and skills of the students teaching them. Why jump rope? Because we have a former Junior Olympian jump roper (which, by the way, we think is really cool). Why flag football? Because we have football players and part-time flag football coaches on our Abiding Fellows team. Our workshop leaders are passionate and knowledgeable about what they are teaching. That means they want to be here and cannot wait to share what they know with the kids.
To be a workshop leader, 10th-12th graders must participate in our Abiding Fellows program. Through this stipend program, they receive training in working with kids, how to teach bible stories and opportunities for faith formation. We think having older youth model faith and involvement in the church to our elementary school kids is incredibly powerful. Throughout the workshop time, we have adults walking around to jump in to offer support as needed.
What about kids with exceptional (special) needs?
If your child has exceptional needs, please be in touch with Michaela Putnam-Kwon, Children & Family Minister. We seek to make our Sunday School workshops as inclusive as possible. Often, we have enough workshop leaders that we can have someone working one-on-one with a kiddo who might need a little bit of special attention. We have several professionals in the congregation who work with kids on the autism spectrum who are on hand to coach our workshop leaders. If your child wants to give Sunday School a try, we will work with you to make it a positive experience.
What are you doing to keep kids healthy?
Our current COVID best practices include staying home if you feel sick. Your workshop will miss you, but our priority is keeping you and others safe and healthy. We encourage those who are able to be vaccinated to do so, and we will continue to follow CDC guidance for best practices.