ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MINISTRY - WINTER 2026
Sunday Morning Faith Formation (Sunday School)
The Christmas Journey
November 1 through December 13* from 10:05-10:45 a.m.
*No Sunday School on November 29 - Join us for our Advent Wreath Workshop for all ages instead!
We cannot wait to continue Sunday School through November and December telling the Christmas Story. This year we are going to journey from Nazareth to Bethelem and beyond as we tell the Christmas Story. This session will conclude with our annual Christmas Pageant on Sunday, December 13 at both services (9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.).
We cannot wait to journey through the Christmas story with you for the next six weeks through November and December. If you have not already, please fill out our Children & Family Ministry Annual Event Sign-Up here.
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 six 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 Ms. Michaela, Children & Family Minister, at michaela@abidingpresence.net. NOTE: Workshops will plan to meet inside unless otherwise stated.
We hope you’ll join us for all the fun. Here’s a look at what we are offering this winter:
Prop Crafting (K-2nd Grade) - The Christmas Pageant is coming and we want you to help us create props. You’ll work with construction paper, glue, glitter and more to help us create props for each character in the pageant. From sheep ears to shining stars, gifts from the magi and more, this group will bring the Christmas Story to life in exciting ways.
Car Racing (K-2nd Grade) - Mary and Joseph would have loved a car to get them to Bethlehem, maybe you can create the path? Our Car Racing workshop will help create race tracks each week, stretching their creativity as we travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem and beyond in the Christmas story. Kids are invited to bring their own race cars, but we have ones for the kids to race with too.
Pokémon for Beginners (1st-3rd Grade) - Sunday School, I choose you! If you are a fan of the Pokémon card game, this is the workshop for you. In this workshop, our leaders are going to teach kids how to play Pokémon. New to the game? This is the perfect place for you to learn and have fun with friends while we also learn about the Christmas Story in our bibles. Kids are welcome to bring their own cards if they’d like, but we have decks built for kids to play with.
Christmas Comics (3rd-5th Grade) - You’ve heard of Dog Man and the Bad Guys, but have you heard of custom Christmas Story comics? Well we are creating them in this fun and creative workshop. Your kids are going to learn the Christmas story and then put it into comics for us to share during the Christmas Pageant. We are excited to see how they bring this story to life and how they can use comics to share God’s Good News with all of us.
Gaga Ball (4th-6th Grade) - Cold weather can’t keep us away from our favorite game: gaga ball! This winter join us for gaga ball in Classroom 6. We will have a ball while we learn all about the Christmas Story from our gaga ball (sheep) pen. Your kids will also help us shepherd community and grow as people of God together!
6th Grade Girls Hangout - Our 6th Grade girls have been having a great time building community together this fall and we are continuing the fun this winter. Join us for games, challenges and more as we foster friendship and grow our faith. All 6th graders will also get the opportunity to be narrators in our Christmas Pageant on December 13.
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 eight 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 5-8 weeks to help students engage in a wide variety of Bible stories, workshop options and themes throughout the school year. The themes are used to help guide the session, but you don’t have to be here every week to follow along. 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 badge, 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 dancing out their faith in Just Dance, hitting a home run in the Wiffle Ball workshop, or baking some delicious treats in the Culinary Chemistry 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 outdoors (weather permitting) with a few indoor options. 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 Silvis, 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.