Christian Education Report

Christian Education Report

In August the Board of Christian Education appointed Kathy Noble to be the new Director of Christian Education responsible for Infants through Eighth Grade. Due to the high number of our high school youth who are attending boarding schools, the search for Youth Minister was postponed. Another consequence of the decrease in the number of teens, the Habitat for Humanity trip, which was the core of Youth Ministry in the past, will not happen this spring. We are currently engaged in a process to actively imagine and re-create the position of Youth Minister. To fill the Youth Leadership gap, Brian Handspicker and Beth Davis are co-leading a “Tweens” and “Teens” group, and Carrie Bail is leading a Confirmation Class.  We are searching to expand the role of teens in the life of the church, particularly through mentoring relationships. For example, teens are filming Sunday services for local broadcast on WilliNet.

As an outcome of “restructuring,” two CE members , Elizabeth Smith and Ali Benjamin, are representatives to the Congregational Cluster.  The CE Board, renamed the CE TEAM, continues to meet monthly to plan ahead and support Kathy Noble.  The Team includes Ali Benjamin and Elizabeth Smith (the two Cluster Representatives), Youth Leaders Brian Handspicker and Beth Davis, all of the Sunday School Teachers and interested parents.

Highlights of Christian Education – Fall and Winter 2009

The church school participated for the second year in the Northern Berkshire CROP Walk, a community walk to raise money to fight world hunger. Activities focused on awareness and activism regarding world hunger and included soliciting donations from sponsors, picking apples, making signs to carry during the walk, baking bread and walking the three-mile route with families, church members and many others.  In preparation for Advent, we invited the congregation and families to attend a lunch and Advent Wreath Making Event during the Second Hour.   Members and families were also invited to attend a “Posada”  with a Mexican dinner, a piñata, crafts (Mexican “poppers” and Christ Candles) and singing as part of a ritual evoking Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter on the eve of Christ’s birth.

“The Posada ” was the theme for this year’s very successful Christmas Pageant, which was held in the Sanctuary following the Sunday Service and proceeded into Fellowship Hall for the Christmas Play.  The original plan was to follow Mary and Joseph through the front doors to a “living crèche” on the front lawn of the church, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate!

Plans for this winter include a Read-A-Thon to raise money for their Ethiopian foster sister Sarah.

The Tweens’ Youth Group Service Projects included decorating and personally delivering Halloween pumpkins to shut-ins, baking pumpkin pies for the Berkshire Food Project, decorating a tree for the Habitat for Humanity Tree Showcase, and baking Christmas cookies for the Berkshire Food Project. They plan on doing more for delivery to their new-found congregational (shut-in, elderly, etc.) friends, hoping to develop closer relationships with some of the more isolated members of the congregation. Also, as in previous years, they hope to provide support for Louison House.  Last year the Tweens worked on the Louison House garden in the spring.  Past year’s activities have included sorting/culling broken toys and redecorating the playroom. The Tweens look forward to learning from the residents of Louison House what their needs are for this year.

-         Elizabeth Smith