A rich religious life is among the greatest gifts we can offer the growing child and their family. Our offerings are informed by a view of the child as a spiritual being incarnating into a physical body.  A child's consciousness changes through the years ,evolving during this holy process. Our offerings are shaped to support, guide and ultimately Christen the path of the becoming human being. 

Early Childhood: In early childhood, until about age 7, the young ones are wrapped in the bossom of family and community, and are naturally deeply embedded in the realities of the spiritual world. Our work with them is to encourage the natural awe and devotional reverence that is native to the young child. This can be done with simple experiences in nature, songs, stories, and festival traditions that mark the cycle of the year. Being in the presence of parents and community members who take praying seriously is a powerful gift to the young child, and experiencing themselves embedded in a community of faith can deepen a feeling of security and strength.

Baptism

When parents decide to baptize their chil­­dren in The Christian Community, then they are deciding to begin a path. Every re­spon­sible educator treads a path that helps the child later to find his or her own path in life. Even the baptism is de­signed to continue as a religious path. It be­gins with the cele­bra­tion of the Christian fes­tivals (Christmas, Eas­ter, etc.) It can permeate daily life with grace before meals or at bedtime, and with school age leads again to the altar in the Sunday Ser­vice for Children.

Grade School Children: For the grade-school child, between ages 7 and 14, we begin a more active role in the schooling of their moral sensabilities, not with rules and behavioral codes to follow, but through inspiring stories, biblical images, saintly biographies, and festival experiences. This approach cultivates a feeling for that which is good, beautiful and true. On Sunday mornings, after singing and listening to the story, the children are led into the chapel to stand before the altar for the Sunday Service for Children. During this service (about 10 minutes) they will hear that the spirit of God lives and works in all creation. They will hear liturgical prayers spoken by the priest that describe how the being of Christ seeks a dwelling in our hearts, and they will pray and sing together in a weekly rhythm that will strengthen them for life. 

Sunday Service for Children

Our children's service begins with a gathering of families for singing and a story.  Following the story, school aged children (grades 1-8) are invited to stand before the altar as a group and experience the service, which includes praying and singing together in a mood of deep reverence. This ritual is a powerful gift to growing children as they orient their hearts toward Christ through the cycle of the year in a manner that supports their specific needs and state of development. Parents with younger children are welcome to join and sit in the chapel during the service, lasting about 10-15 minutes.

Youth: With the transition from childhood to youth comes the preparation for Confirmation, which raises this important rite-of-passage into the sacramental sphere. The process typically spans the 7th and 8th grade school years, as children approach 14 years of age, and is an intensification and culmination of these young people’s experience as a child in the community.

 The Sacrament of Confirmation

Confirmation does not mean automatic membership in our church. In fact, we wait until a person is a fully fledged adult before we speak about formal membership in order to assure the choice is made in full freedom. At Confirmation the confirmands partake of their first communion as they experience their community's trust in the working of Christ in their life, following them with concern and interest in all that lies ahead.

Please reach out to Rev. Kate Kennedy at katekennedy856@gmail.com with any questions about our children’s program