At St. Paul’s, we love kids! We love their enthusiasm when praising God, their earnest prayer requests, their hunger to explore Bible stories, their desire to help the less fortunate, and their wide smiles when having fun!
Sunday Morning Children’s Ministry
Children’s Ministry takes place Sunday mornings during the 9:30 am worship service. Every Sunday, children start in worship with their families. On the 1st Sunday of the month, when we hold Feast & Celebration Sundays, kids and youth stay in worship and help out as acolytes, lectors, communion assistants and ushers. Two Sundays a month they are invited downstairs to Children’s ministry after the Children’s Message. One week during the month we gather in the Fellowship Hall for a seasonal activity: GR8 ADVENTure, Secret Pals, Journey Through Holy Week & Easter, Earth Day, God’s Work/Our Hands Day, filling Halloween bags for our community outreach and filling College Care boxes!
Our theme for the 2023-2024 school year is “Lord let my heart be good soil, open to the seed of your word.”
Just like the farmer carefully prepares the soil for seed, the soil of our hearts need to be carefully tended so that the word of God can take root and grow.
It’s important for us to listen to Jesus’ stories because that’s how God’s love, the gospel, is planted within us.
When God’s love takes root and grows up within us we have more than enough love to face hard challenges and share with others.
God’s Word is for everyone, even kids!
Children’s Groups
WEDNESDAY NIGHT KIDS CLUB
Kids Club is held on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Wednesdays of the month from mid-September until the Lent season starts. We start at 6:00 pm with a pizza dinner in the Fellowship Hall. After dinner, kids meet with Mrs. Fosbenner, our Director of Music, for a time of music enrichment. That is followed by Bible time with Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Cassel where kids will dig into the Parable of the Sower, finishing with dessert at 7:40pm.
Milestone Events
Let’s be honest…faith beings at home: dinner and bedtime prayers, reading the Bible together, commitment to church activities, serving together and shaping young moral values. It all starts at home! But we are aware that parents need help with this important job! The goal of our Children’s Ministry program is to not only provide faith developing activities for kids, but also for parents! We think it’s just as important to empower parents in their job as primary faith educators as it is to provide programs for kids!
WELCOME TO CHILDREN’S MINISTRY & MY FIRST BIBLE
Held mid-September, this open house event welcomes our newest preschool friends and their parents. Each child is given their own Spark Storybible to take home!
3RD GRADE BIBLE EXPLORERS
Each November, St. Paul’s presents a gift Spark NRSV Bible to 3rd graders. Prior to receiving their Bibles, our 3rd graders and their parents spend time with our Director of Education exploring all the cool features of the Bible, learning about its history and how to look up Bible verses. Children officially receive their Bibles on Reformation Sunday.
FIRST COMMUNION
Offered on three Sundays during Lent each year, this milestone event is for 3rd graders or older children who have not previously attended the class. Children learn about the first Passover and its relationship to the Last Supper that Jesus celebrates with his disciples befor his death. Children received their 1st Communion on Maundy Thursday.
God’s Work, Our Hands
Throughout the year, children and youth of St. Paul’s participate in many different types of service projects, learning to do “God’s Work with Our Hands”
Service Projects
Seasonal service projects have provided Christmas presents for boys and girls living at Silver Springs School, collecting soup for our annual Souper Bowl Day of Caring, bringing in nonperishable items for our Blessing Box, planting a garden to produce fresh produce for our Blessing Box and filling goodies bags for our Halloween Night outreach event.
Mini Summer Work Camps
Each summer we hold a 3-day work camp are for 4th – 12th graders. These campers spend their days volunteering with Emmanuel Lutheran’s E-Meal program, Grace’s Closet, Generations of Indian Valley, Zion Mennonite’s Table of Plenty and The Lutheran Community at Telford.
Vacation Bible School
Vacation Bible School takes place every summer to the delight of children. We come together for a week-long camp experience that includes upbeat songs, games, crafts, science, Bible storytelling skits and snacks. This yearly event is a combined event with several local churches.