Below is the schedule for our Rite II class this year. Following the dates are documents that explain what is covered in each of the curriculum tools we will use – Re:form, Echo, Animate Bible Sessions, and Current.
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Category: Children and Youth
Blog posts from our children and youth groups
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Rite Stuff Formation Calendar
Below is the schedule for our Rite Stuff class this year. Following the dates are documents that explain what is covered in each of the curriculum tools we will use – Re:form, Echo, Animate Bible Sessions, and Current.
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Fixers Formation Calendar
Below is the schedule for our Fixers class this year. Following the dates are documents that explain what is covered in each of the curriculum tools we will use – Re:form, Echo, Animate Bible Sessions, and Current.
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Children’s Formation
It will be so exciting to see our kids back in Curry Hall on Sunday mornings! Children’s formation time will start on Sunday, September 11. We will meet at 9:15 am in Curry Hall aka the Education Building.
Rev. Stephanie has found a fun, colorful, creative way for our kids to enter into the story of scripture. During most of our Sunday morning meeting times, we will be using “Storymakers,” a ‘zine that focuses on a story in scripture and helps young ones engage with the story and use their imaginations.
Our pre-readers will hear the story using puppets and story. We will also spend time teaching them the basics of our faith – the Faith Guide for Littles. This series covers the Ten Rules, the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Signs of Grace.
Our readers will all receive their own ‘zine. In the fall and during Epiphany, we will focus on the story of the Exodus, and then we will have a new ‘zine for Lent, and another for Easter. Each ‘zine is fun, colorful, and creative. The young people tell the story, teachers help fill in the story with “Field Notes,” and then the children spend time responding to the emotional and spiritual connections in the story, and finish with time to play with art supplies – coloring, painting, drawing, comics, play dough – any medium they chose to help tell the story.
To see examples of the different ‘zines, called Adventures, click here. Rev. Stephanie will also have a sample available at church for you to see.
Starting Sunday, September 11
Fixers – 5th & 6th graders
Our Fixers will start their journey in the youth program with a year of CONNECTION.
Connecting with community through fun and fellowship.
Connecting with others through service.
Connecting with our faith tradition through scripture.
Connecting with themselves as they move away from childhood towards adolescence.
The Fixers will meet on Sunday mornings at 9:15am.
Sunday, June 12 at 12:00 pm (after church), Fixers and their parents are invited to join Rev. Stephanie for a meeting to talk about the fall and get oriented into the youth program.
Rite Stuff – 7th & 8th Graders
These young people, our Luminaries, have got the right stuff to be ready for moving further into adolescence. EVERYTHING is changing for them – bodies, minds, souls, and faith. Drawing from the Episcopal Church’s curriculum “These Are Our Bodies” and the Lutheran curriculum, “Echo the Story,” these young people will begin the journey of placing themselves within the saving history of God as they grow and discover who they are as children of God. The Rite Stuff will meet on Sunday mornings at 9:15am.
We will have 3 or 4 “Rites of Passage” ceremonies for this group. That includes a special dinner where we celebrate them as “Luminaries” – lights in the world – and we honor their parents as well. Parents share memories and stories of the Luminary that night, and then the next morning during church, the Luminaries re-affirm their baptismal covenant and move liturgically from childhood towards adulthood.
Finally, we will end the year with a special beach weekend retreat!
Sunday June 12 at 1 pm, Luminaries and parents, please join Rev. Stephanie for a meeting to talk about the Fall and to set the dates for the Rites of Passage ceremonies. We will also have a re-orientation to the youth program.
Rite 2 – 9th, 10th, & 11th Graders
We’ve got a great year planned for the Rite 2 group. First, we have the remaining Rites of Passage ceremony so that all our Rite 2-ers have been fully celebrated. Then we will spend the year focusing on:
- How do EPISCOPALIANS read the bible? Why would an Episcopal bible study be different then Young Life? What does the bible actually say about the issues that are out in the world right now? Why is the Episcopal way of reading scripture even important?
- Why do Episcopalians talk so much about justice? What does the bible say about it? What do we do to make things right in our world?
These two areas of focus will prepare us for an Urban Mission at the end of the school year in 2023, and getting ready for a pilgrimage at the end of the school year in 2024.
Since this group is in high school, they will be responsible for helping Rev. Stephanie with some key decisions about their year, including, when do they want to meet, what fun and fellowship events would they like to do, and what would they like their urban mission to look like? Sunday, June 12 at 3 pm, parents and Rite 2-ers are invited to join Stephanie to answer these questions, talk more about the year, and re-orient into the youth program.
Seniors – 12th grade
Our theme for our seniors is REST and GO! Rather than meeting weekly, we will schedule monthly dinners, weekend retreats, a Fall program on spiritual wellness, and even a weekend at Busch Gardens (with Jeremy!). We will have our congregation blessing and celebration of our seniors at the end of the school year. Rev. Stephanie and Jeremy will arrange a time to meet with the seniors to set dates for these events, and get their feedback.
Confirmation
The Rite of Confirmation is open to any young person 12 and older. Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple will be with us on Sunday, December 4 for confirmation. Class will be held on Sunday afternoon or evenings for six weeks mid-October though November. Dates and specifics coming soon.
If you aren’t able to attend the meetings on June 12, Rev. Stephanie will host a zoom meeting for parents on Wednesday, June 22 at 7 pm.
With Covid-19 still making its way into our everyday lives, Nativity’s Children’s and Youth programs kicked off the year in September virtually. Children’s offerings included a Wednesday night jungle-themed social, a worship service just for kids featuring the piano playing and singing of Jason Pace, a few Kids Club Formation lessons, and a Backyard Bible Club gathering to talk about how God created the world. With hopeful hearts, the children will be able to re-gather in November (depending on the Bishop’s recommendations).
The Youth program had some awesome Zoom-based gatherings and even some in-person ones as well. The youth dived into a three-week Formation series focused on exploring faith with games, activities, and small groups, in addition to being able to gather for their monthly Grub Group outdoors and socially distanced at North Hills, and played a few silly games on Zoom to recreate Youth Group. The Youth program has moved back to in-person weekly gatherings, with proper protocols and distancing, on Sunday evenings outdoors under the oak.
Congratulations to Berkley Sumner for being accepted onto the Chartered Committee for Youth for the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. This committee is a team of selected youth all across the Diocese who help plan, implement and run all Diocesan events