Sunday School

Ministries

Faith Formation for Youth

Sunday School

Friday, May 18, 2012

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the Sunday School Ministry at Good Shepherd is to guide children in the learning, understanding and living of our faith by providing a variety of educational and social opportunities.

Students, ages 3 through 18, have the opportunity to attend Sunday School and participate in other faith enrichment programs.

Sunday School Highlight: Rotation Students

      Our Rotation students have been forming their faith by studying Bible stories from the Old Testament so far this year. The Sunday morning Rotation format includes students in grades 1st through 3rd grade and each month, students are introduced to a new Bible story. During the course of each month, the students learn about that Bible story in a different way by traveling to a different rotation station each Sunday. Examples of such stations are science, art, stories, games, and computers. Our 9:30 Sunday School hour starts with an Assembly in L3 to highlight the monthly Scripture with either songs, puppets or other engaging activities. Our weekly Assembly time allows the younger and older children to come together as one smaller community group within our larger GSLC community to start to form relationships while studying the Word of God together. Weekly Assemblies would not happen without our fabulous Assembly Leader, Cathy Wilch. A HUGE thank you to Cathy for all of her weekly planning and leadership to our Rotation students.
      This past fall, Rotation students studied the following stories: the Creation story, Noah and the Flood and Abraham and Sarah. In December, students will learn about Joseph, including his coat and his brothers. A highlight from this fall was our Noah Progressive Dinner program on October 31st. During this program, Rotation students visited six snack stations to pray and make a snack that corresponded to part of the Noah story, such as Olive Flowers and Animal Nachos.
      The Rotation teachers continue to amaze me with their creativity in lesson planning and engaging the children in meaningful activities. At any time, you can see children eagerly participating in hands-on games, dramatizing and/or listening to the Bible story, creating works of art and experimenting through science activities. Thank you to all Christian educators who minister to this age group! You are truly teaching students not only about God, but instilling a love for God within them.

Announcements

You may now register your children for Sunday School online. The easy to use form is right here.

Welcome to the Lord's Table

During the month of October, our 4th grade students have prepared to receive their 1st Communion. Both students and their parents met weekly with leaders Pastor Pat and Barb Parton during the Sunday School hour to learn about the Lord’s Supper and how sharing the bread and wine together renews and nurtures us in God’s forgiving grace.
The students reviewed the importance of their baptism, learned how ordinary bread and wine combine with God’s Word to become the gifts of Jesus’ body and blood, actually taste the bread and wine and have the opportunity make Pastor Pat’s famous monkey bread as a symbol of how we are all connected at God’s table.
The sacrament of 1st Communion is part of our milestone ministry at Good Shepherd and is a wonderful example of how instrumental parents are in building the faith of their children. We are very proud to celebrate this faith milestone with our 4th grade students and look forward to our 3rd graders participating in 1st Communion instruction beginning in January as Good Shepherd moves 1st Communion instruction from the 4th grade to the 3rd grade level.

What Does Faith Formation for Youth look like at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church? Students learn about and experience faith in a variety of ways. At Good Shepherd, we encourage students to attend both Sunday School and worship with their parents regularly. Our Sunday School is offered at 9:30AM and 11:00AM for students ages 3 through High School during September - May. Preschool and Kindergarten students are grouped together is age-like classes to learn of God's love for them through age-appropriate Bible stories, songs, crafts, and guided playtime. 1st Grade - 3rd Grade students are grouped together by grade level and experience God's love for them through our Rotation model. In our Rotation model, students move among several dfferent classrooms over the course of a month to learn about the same Bible story through a variety of stations (or rotations). Monthly rotation stations include art, computers, drama, science, games and many others. 4th - 6th Grade students gather together to learn how to live out their faith 24/7. Students will experience both large-group and small-group relationships as they study one important Bible point each week and pick a Daily Challenge to help them apply their faith to their lives during the week. 7th & 8th Grade students study Bible stories from both the Old and New Testament as part of Good Shepherd's Confirmation Ministry. Senior High (9th - 12th grade) students meet with an adult leader to strengthen relationships and deepen their faith through discussion and small group activities around current issues related to teen life and the Bible. This class also functions as the weekly youth group meeting time for Senior High students at GSLC. Worship Without Worry Good Shepherd offers Special Needs Ministry for Sunday School-aged children at 11:00AM t. If you or someone you know has a child with special needs, or if you are interested in becoming involved in this program, please contact Jodi and Tim Kessler at kwrestle@fuse.net or 513.708.6837.
JAM (Jesus and Music) ... is a choir for children in grades K through 4. The choir rehearses on Sunday mornings from 10:30a.m. - 11:30a.m., September through May. The choir sings for the 11:00a.m. traditional services, the Christmas Concert, the Christmas Eve Children's service and 5:00p.m. Easter Saturday service.	Mission Projects Students in our Sunday School program have multiple opportunities to be Godly servants to others throughout the year. Each year, families of Sunday School students participate in Operation Christmas Child and the month of March is dedicated as mission month. Examples of mission projects are: Heifer International Pennies for Peace Pigs for Haiti "Serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13)	Little Lambs The Little Lambs Sunday Music program provides supplementary reading and musical activities for Preschool and Kindergarten students each Sunday morning. Students learn the joy of music by the playing of introductory musical instruments and begin to commit bible verses to memory by associating movement with specific words.

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