Director of Christian Education’s Report

Director of Christian Education’s Report

I have enjoyed working here at First Church since I started on August 15^th. I have found First Church to be a very energetic and caring church. I am surprised at how active the church school, itself, is in outreach. This fall we were very involved in the Northern Berkshire Crop Walk, from apple picking and baking bread for the walkers to participating in the walk. In November the “Tween Group” decorated pumpkins for our shut-ins and baked 24 pumpkin pies for the food bank Thanksgiving dinner and cookies in December. We overcame bad weather and the congregation attended a Mexican posada complete with tacos, a piñata, and crafts. Weather once again threatened but the children stepped up and did a wonderful job on our Christmas pageant despite the weather and the change of venue.

Thanks to your help I have recently finished an online course from Andover Newton Theological School. The topic was Today’s Children’s Ministry. In the course we discussed where the church is headed in the future and how we can meet the needs of today’s families. The trend of many families across the country today seems who to be to turn away from church. Why? Families’ time together is getting shorter and shorter. Packed schedules means there is little or no real family time as both parents work outside the home. Today’s parents are busy and stressed. Parents tend to overbook children to compensate for not having quality time to spend with them. They want to keep children occupied for a period of time so they can have down time too. They want to spend quality time as families and in their quest they tend to ignore Sunday mornings in church. We need to help parents realize they need to nourish their spirituality. Sometimes this means supplying a place parents can feel safe leaving their children because they are confidant the children are cared for. Parents need the time to regroup and rejuvenate their spirits and church can be that safe heaven. Parents realize they need to be visible in the children’s lives and be role models. Therefore when they bring children to church for help and guidance in accomplishing these goals it is the church’s responsibility to be ready. We need to ignite the flame of faith with programs that can provide the support today’s families need. Across generational church can offer the support needed by young stressed families today by offering quality programs that allow parents to take that break. Otherwise families will stay home.

The family and the church are the safest places on earth. They are the only places where a children can be absolutely sure who they are and still know they will be accepted and forgiven. This acceptance should mirror the love and acceptance God feels for them. Churches need to encourage family participation in religion and, because faith is more caught then taught, a cross-generational church should be a nurturing setting where parents and families can find the things they need to flourish and  help families care for the souls of their children. While the soul of a child is a tender thing it is ready to be filled with the joys and wonders of life with God.  We need be intentional about shaping their faith.

Our churches need to lend that guidance and helping hands. A church is family, friends, neighbors and new acquaintances. It is people reaching out to each other and sharing their lives together.  We need to be a cross-generational church offering programs where each generation shares, honors, and respects each other, nurtures faith and gives us the feeling of belonging. The Holy Spirit spreading among us is an experiential faith. It is one of the best ways to catch faith: adults learning and sharing from children, parents learning from older generations and everyone learning through the children. Each generation brings their own unique outlooks to the circle. Open communication with legitimate listening promotes a sense of family and belonging that all churches need to survive. The youngest generation is our future; we need them just to stay alive. Their parents have specific needs and concerns just to provide for their families in today’s world and they need them met. The older generation will be the ones to help guide and advise them. There must be trust, empathy and caring between all generations for a church to flourish and prosper. Losing any one of our generations would be devastating and I fear we are in danger of losing the newest generation. Mostly, because of the turn that is being made away from the church on Sundays and into themselves and their homes, all for the need to destress. There is a quest to find an inner calm and a rest from the fast-paced lives led during the week.  We need to fan those warm sparks of love and belonging. We need to keep open lines of communication and explain why we do what we do in the church to children.

First Church has meet many of the needs we discussed in class. We have a warm, friendly environment and a well-balanced curriculum with Bible lessons and plenty of out reach.  We make learning fun and memorable, and appealing to everyone. We strive to teach children how to relate to others and to become good friends and strong caring adults who want to share what they know and be good citizens of the world. It may be time to rethink the time of the church school and the content of some of the family programming. It seems that the families of today are standing outside watching and wondering what to do, where to turn, and how will they fit in. We need cross-generational involvement to survive and bring in these new families. Do families need together time with “canned fun events” stress free and with no thought on their part? Do they need quality educational programs or parenting classes, event planned child care or a place for kids to come and be themselves with no pressures? Do parents need a place to come and chat with other families? What do they want? How will we fill that need? Can we give them what they want so they can become active caring involved church members? We need to inquire as to their needs and desires. This is our new mandate!

It is up to our congregation to be there to show them what faith is. Remembering that faith is caught, not taught, is the responsibility of the congregations to show the way, to bring families along and let them experience their faith as we do as adults. We need to be vigilant models of our faith.

Kathy Noble

Church School Director