ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MINISTRY - SPRING 2025
Sunday Morning Faith Formation (Sunday School)
Holy Week: Jesus’ Last Week on Earth - March 9 through April 6 from 10:05-10:45 a.m.
Lent is a time of reflection, it can even feel a bit like New Year’s. We look back at what we have done and set goals for what we hope to do moving forward. The key difference however is rooting that reflection in Jesus’ life and death. When we do this, we make changes that help draw us closer to him. That is what we are doing for 5 weeks with our Elementary students, but instead of reflecting on our past year, we are reflecting on Jesus last week on earth: Holy Week. Exploring key events and days like Palm Sunday and Good Friday we will reflect on Jesus’ life and death as we prepare for Easter. From Holy Communion to mural art projects and soccer games, we will find ways to make changes that will help draw us closer to God.
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. Here’s a look at what we are offering this spring:
Holy Communion with Ms. Michaela (Kindergarten-5th Grade) - Sacraments are special and we love getting to welcome kids into the practice of Holy Communion at Abiding Presence. This spring we are offering our annual Holy Communion workshop to help welcome kids into the sacrament of Holy Communion. Kids will learn about the importance of sacraments in hands on and engaging ways as they prepare to take part in this special way to experience God’s love. The Rite of Holy Communion will be offered on Sunday, March 30 during the 9:00 a.m. worship service. You can reach out to Ms. Michaela with questions.
The Kindergarten Clubhouse - Our Kindergarteners are continuing the fun in a Sunday School workshop just for them. Here we are going to build relationships while growing in our faith. We will do this through games, art projects, and LEGO building. This workshop will meet inside. Students are encouraged to wear clothes that can get messy and that they can move around in.
Amazing Mural Art (1st-2nd Grade) - One thing Jesus emphasized in his ministry was community. We are taking that to heart over the next few weeks as we work together to create a lenten mural to share with the church for Easter. Your kids will get to explore their creative side, while helping share the hope of Jesus’ resurrection with their church family. This workshop will meet inside.
Triumphal Games (1st-2nd Grade) - Jesus spent his adult life on the move constantly and we can too! Join our games workshop while they play games that help bring our Bible stories to life. This workshop will meet inside until the weather warms up to go outside. Please dress for the weather, wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle.
Holy Week in Minecraft (3rd-5th Grade) - There is no where better to visualize Holy Week than in Minecraft, where imaginations come to life and we can try to recreate Jesus’ triumphal entry and more. Here we will learn how to draw closer to 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.
A Lenten Mural (3rd-5th Grade Art) - One thing Jesus emphasized in his ministry was community. We are taking that to heart over the next few weeks as we work together to create a lenten mural to share with the church for Easter. Your kids will get to explore their creative side, while helping share the hope of Jesus’ resurrection with their church family. This workshop will meet inside.
Gethsemane Games (3rd-5th Grade) - Lace up your tennis shoes and get ready to move with our older games group. This workshop will grow faith while getting active this spring. Each Sunday we will play games from trashketball to flag football that will bring our Bible stories to life! We will meet inside until the weather warms up to go outside. Please dress for the weather, wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle.
6th Grade Hangout - This spring we are continuing the fun for our 6th grade students in the 6th Grade Hangout workshop. This is a great space to build friendship and grow in faith before starting Confirmation in Middle School with Pastor Kesley. There will be fun challenges, experiences, and “big kid” fun each week for our tweens.
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.