Children & Family Ministry Listening Session Minutes

Strategic Planning Committee

Saint Michael and All Angels

Tuesday, June 14, 2005 ~ 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

at the home of Kathy and Gary Lawrence

          We had nine people for this meeting graciously hosted by Kathy Lawrence. We had Sunday School teachers, VBS teachers, catechesis teachers, and parents. The time was spent talking of ways to improve a program that is already very good. Whenever something negative was said, there was a solution offered as well. The overall theme throughout our discussion was that we needed to hook the children when they were young with a “golden experience” and then keep their interest with fun things while teaching them at the same time.

          We discussed Catechesis, Sunday school, and The Edge throughout the evening but for the sake of clarity, they will be divided into the three sections in these minutes.

Catechesis:

1.       We are working on improving numbers and revitalizing this program.

2.       We need teachers who are excited about Catechesis and really follow the program.

3.       Create excitement and urgency in parents so that they want to have their children involved in the program.

Sunday School:

1.       We need to be pulling children through high energy and fun things.

2.       There needs to be a better balance of the teaching parts with fun activities.

3.       The same craft for everyone is not good.

4.       Classes need to be a better mix of schools and gender because of cliques.

5.       We need to ignite excitement in parents about going to their own Sunday School classes for adults because this will get the children more excited (they learn by example).

6.       The children need more opportunities to get to know each other as a whole grade, not just Sunday school classes and also within Sunday school classes.

          a.        Use the gym on a rotational basis like with Make a Joyful Noise for time to play games together, have skits for the stories.

          b.        Use icebreaker games sometimes instead of word finds.

          c.        Play together for an hour to socialize and bond more.

          d.        Can order pizza afterwards with parents.

          e.        In nicer weather, have them outside.

7.       Children (older ones) can be assistants and be treated more like adults to keep them interested in going to Sunday School.

8.       The more forethought/planning put into the lessons by the teachers, the better they were.

          a.        Some people need/want to be more spoon-fed ideas of games, crafts, story-telling, etc.

          b.        Possibly have Sarah meet with Sunday school teachers for 5 minutes before or after Sunday school hour to talk about ideas for the next week’s lesson. Then email out the ideas too.

          c.        A 2 hour training doesn’t get the ideas to help people be better teachers across and some people don’t learn as well with a long stretch one time a year.

          d.        Have a professional teacher or someone gifted in the area of teaching as a lead teacher who has other volunteers to help with the lessons.

9.       Younger children might need lessons repeated for a few weeks to really learn the ideas.

10.     Music is necessary for all age groups-really like Make a Joyful Noise for the younger children but need something for the older ones.

11.     Sunday school teachers might meet quarterly to socialize by grade teach to swap ideas and get to know one another.

12.     Snacks could be cut out for the older children possibly.

13.     Curriculum is hard to teach from for the older ages because it is so dry and difficult to follow.

14.     Need more of a mix between Bible lessons and Episcopal Church/Saint Michael and All Angels tradition lessons or could possibly have the older children doing more Bible based and the younger children doing more Episcopal Church/Saint Michael and All Angels tradition based.

15.     Need to include geography of the Bible, parts of the church, traditions.

16.     Want children to learn parts that make us unique as Episcopalians-the Doxology, Lord’s Prayer, and other parts of the Episcopal service.

17.     Use Catechesis method in traditional Sunday school.

          a.        More hands on learning.

          b.        Acting out the stories and traditions (ie. Communion)

          c.        Have small sized altars, etc. for children to play with.

18.     Have each class do pictures the first three weeks of the individual children. Put them on a poster board with dates so they can see themselves and check in for attendance. Helps teachers and children to learn people better.

19.     Have a reward for attendance or knowledge of the Episcopal church

          a.        Children get a mark/star for learning the Lord’s Prayer, Doxology, Easter story, Christmas story.

          b.        Have the awards carry over from year to year for attendance.

          c.        If they have a certain number of things memorized or have attended for a certain number (100 classes over the years) of classes, they get a prayer book/Bible.

          d.        Have a Sunday school wall. When they have attended 50 times, they get to sign the wall, then another 50, they get to circle their name. The whole class goes together for the children to sign the wall when they reach the amount to create excitement about attending Sunday school and the reward. University Park schools does it for reading program.

20.     Phone calls and letters from the teachers to children in class.

          a.        Letters of welcome at the beginning of the year.

          b.        Miss you notes if a child hasn’t been in a while

21.     Create urgency and excitement.

          a.        Have older children call one another (like a phone tree) about events an when miss a classmate who hasn’t been in a while.

          b.        Have something the children have to do from week to week and reward them. For example, they must name a miracle of Jesus the next week and they get a candy bar.

The Edge

1.       Music is necessary.

2.       Have children call one another for events to create excitement about upcoming events.

3.       Rent Hawaiian Falls (also could do for VBS) for a day to have an event there.

4.       Need time to socialize outside of the hour of Sunday school and this is a good way to do it.

Family Ministry

1.       Have a Family Getaway for a weekend.

          a.        Have one-on-one time with children and time with other parents.

2.       One hour a week is not enough time to forge friendships for children and for families. Need more time to socialize in a church setting.

3.       Call people for help so they feel a part of it rather than just showing up to Sunday school or other events.

4.       Have once a month on Wednesday nights time with music, socializing, and teachable moments.

          a.        Like Mr. Willy to do music sometimes.

          b.        Can tie it into the Church calendar so lessons are tied into learning the Church calendar and seasons.

5.       Do seasonal programming or a 2 year rotation by family level so the same people are not hearing the same thing over and over again. They want to learn new things but keep pulling new people in and giving them the great knowledge others have already learned.

6.       Need to get the parents involved too. Have things for them to get involved in the Church life with their families.

Additional Comments

1.       Youth Sunday school needs work...only 5 people showing up in 8^th grade.

2.       Missed High schoolers at VBS and in Sunday school.

          a.        Possibly could help be teachers assistants for Sunday school if they are not interested in going to their own class (give them another option to stay involved with Church).