Faith Formation Team meets monthly to coordinate programming for all ages, to review and develop curriculum, to plan fundraising efforts, and to support staff.

We have two guiding principles for our faith formation programs:

The first echoes our greeting in worship. All are welcome.

But continuing to maintain and expand our ability to include people different from us takes work. We work at educating the congregation so children of all ages are welcome in worship; we work at cultural competency for our staff, volunteers and parents; we work at building programs that include all ages and that target different ages groups and their needs.

The goal of faith formation is full participation in the life of the church for a life-time. We know that children who participate in the ministry of the church and whose passions and skills are valued stick around.

We continue to look for new ways to celebrate the gifts of young people in our church.

Faith formation begins with ensuring a safe environment where babies and children can learn that they belong here--that our church is full of people who love them.

It is also the front line of hospitality for new families who visit our church.

Because numbers in both rooms are growing (we had 19 in the toddler room one Sunday last month!), we have a dedicated staff member to manage these rooms, and we will be scheduling two adults in each room every week.

For two years we've been dreaming of starting this class for 3-4 year olds, and now it is becoming a reality! On April 23rd we will launch a class based on Young Children in Worship--a Montessori-based curriculum that teaching preschoolers the basics of worship.

The class is structured to mimic our worship service and teach children some of the language, songs, symbols and stories of our faith.

We have a dedicated staff member to supervise this class.

Elementary aged kids attend the first half of worship, but after the Children's Blessing, they come downstairs to the "Kids Chapel" for prayer, songs and a Bible Story.

From here they move to an activity room with stations for art, play, reading, service, and more.

Due to growing numbers in this age group (we had 24 last week), we are exploring ways to split the group so that half are in the Kids Chapel while the other half explore activity stations.

Each Thursday, between 10 and 15 youth gather for dinner, prayer, discussion, games and free time. We continue to incorporate about 2 new visitors every month. In the last year we have had 50 youth involved in youth group events.

Our current regulars are about to become an all high-school youth group, so we are beginning plans to create a middle school youth group in the fall.

Catechism is an intense two-year program to learn what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. We explore themes like liberation, incarnation, resurrection and spiritual health. We connect students with opportunities to develop experience and skills in advocacy, community organizing, direct action and we build community.

The growth we've experienced over the last two years is continuing steadily, and we continue to evaluate and restructure our programs so that we are well-positioned for continued growth.

This means that over the next year we will be doubling our volunteer base. We will need at least eight adult volunteers every Sunday plus an additional 4 volunteers with our two youth groups during the week. This does not take into account the nursery and child care we also hope to offer for parenting workshops and other special events.

If you are interested in working with kids at our church, sign up today and we will be in touch to help you plug into the program that will be the best fit for you!