ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MINISTRY - SPRING 2025
Sunday Morning Faith Formation (Sunday School)
Animals in the Bible
April 27 through May 18 from 10:05-10:45 a.m.
God created the sun, moon and stars. God also created hippos, sheep and whales! From the smallest critters walking the earth to the broadest wings soaring the sky, God created them all and called them good. For four weeks, we will dive into key stories in the Bible that included animals and what those animals taught God's people. Then, we'll bring those animals to life through art, games and more!
At Abiding Presence, our Sunday morning faith formation follows a workshop model. Kids get to pick an age-appropriate workshop to engage in for the seven week session. Read more about our innovative approach to Sunday School in this article from The Living Lutheran magazine and scroll down the page to read our FAQs.
Registration is LIVE! While pre-registration isn’t required, it helps us out with planning and means you can jump right into the fun when you arrive. Questions, contact Michaela Putnam-Kwon, Children & Family Minister, at michaela@abidingpresence.net.
We hope you’ll join us for all the fun. Here’s a look at what we are offering this spring:
The Kindergarten Clubhouse - Our Kindergarteners are continuing the fun in a Sunday School workshop just for them. Here we are going to build relationships while growing in our faith. We will do this through games, art projects, and LEGO building. This workshop will meet inside. Students are encouraged to wear clothes that can get messy and that they can move around in.
Artful Animals (1st-2nd Grade) - On May 18, we are hosting an Art Auction with art donated by the kids and youth of Abiding Presence to raise money for the church mortgage. Kids in our art workshops will have a creative space to make art for the auction (or to take home!). Maybe they’ll make a clay scuplture giraffe or paint pandas like picasso! Here their creative can run free and wild like all the animals in the Bible. This workshop will meet inside.
AP Running Club (1st-2nd Grade) - Get ready to lace up your sneakers and get moving by joining the AP Running Club. Kids will get to learn warm-ups from a high school track and cross country runner and have some fun along the way. This workshop will include drills, running, and lots of games! We will meet outside (weather permitting). Please dress for the weather, wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle.
Minecraft Miracles (3rd-5th Grade) - God shows up in miraculous ways all throughout the Bible and sometimes those miracles include animals too. Through Minecraft, kids will explore how God shows up for us and uses even the wildest of animals to help us along the way. Students are encouraged to bring their own devices (laptops/tablets) to Sunday School to play Minecraft on. Personal devices must have personal Minecraft accounts downloaded and logged-in to use during Sunday School.
Auction Art (3rd-5th Grade) - On May 18, we are hosting an Art Auction with art donated by the kids and youth of Abiding Presence to raise money for the church mortgage. Kids in our art workshops will have a creative space to make art for the auction (or to take home!). Maybe they’ll make a clay scuplture giraffe or paint pandas like picasso! Here their creative can run free and wild like all the animals in the Bible. This workshop will meet inside.
Basketball and the Bible (3rd-5th Grade) - Running fast like a cheetah, jumping high like a kangaroo, animals give us great examples for how to dominate on the basketball court. But, basketball is not just about being the best, it’s about working on a team, and the Bible has a lot to teach us about that. So get ready to shoot some hoops and learn to work as a team this spring. This workshop will meet inside for their lesson, move outside for basketball (weather permitting), then come back inside for pick-up. Please dress for the weather, wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle.
6th Grade Hangout - This spring we are continuing the fun for our 6th grade students in the 6th Grade Hangout workshop. This is a great space to build friendship and grow in faith before starting Confirmation in Middle School with Pastor Kesley. There will be fun challenges, experiences, and “big kid” fun each week for our tweens. This workshop will occasionally meet outside, so please dress for the weather.
Sunday School FAQ’s
Want to know more about our workshop model?
At Abiding Presence, we approach Sunday School by following Jesus’ example to meet people where they are and form faith through relatable experiences. This is exactly what Jesus did when he told parables about sheep, mustard seeds and sibling rivalries. Today, we do that through things kids know about like sports, art and computer games.
Our workshop-based model for Sunday School launched in the fall of 2021 and we’ve never looked back. Suddenly, kids who never wanted to go to Sunday School before were running into the church. Whether you’ve been doing Sunday School for years or this is your first time, we think your kids will love our workshop model.
For this first session, your kiddos will sign up for one workshop for the next seven weeks and engage with Scripture in hands-on ways. Each session, kids will have the opportunity to choose a new workshop (or stick with the same one).
What if we miss a Sunday during the session?
No problem! Our Sunday School workshops change topics about every 5 weeks to help students engage in a wide variety of Bible stories, workshop options and themes throughout the school year. Your family can come all five weeks in the session, or just once.
What does a “typical” Sunday morning look like?
On Sunday’s during our Faith Formation Hour, your kiddos will head directly to their workshop to check-in, receive a name tag, and open with an activity to help the group learn more about one another. There will be lots of people to help you find your way if you aren’t sure where to go.
After kids check in at their workshop, they will have a Bible lesson, which draws on the same Bible story for all the groups. Then, they will move into their workshop activity. Here they will engage in a hands-on way which could look like building the church in Minecraft, learning some soccer drills in the soccer workshop, or creating Jesus surprise boxes in the visual art workshop. Finally, each group will wrap up with a closing prayer. This prayer is the same each week with the hopes that the kids can memorize it and use it at home.
Where do the workshops take place?
We are planning for the vast majority of our workshops this session to be indoors with a few outdoor options (weather permitting). We encourage kids to come dressed to engage in their workshop activity. Some groups will require tennis shoes. At Abiding Presence, we believe you can worship in your sneakers or your dress shoes. Coming dressed for Sunday School is a perfect way to be ready to worship, too!
Who are the workshop leaders?
One of the amazing things about our Sunday School model is that the vast majority of our workshop leaders are 10th-12th grade high school students.
Our workshop choices draw on the passions and skills of the students teaching them. Why jump rope? Because we have a former Junior Olympian jump roper (which, by the way, we think is really cool). Why flag football? Because we have football players and part-time flag football coaches on our Abiding Fellows team. Our workshop leaders are passionate and knowledgeable about what they are teaching. That means they want to be here and cannot wait to share what they know with the kids.
To be a workshop leader, 10th-12th graders must participate in our Abiding Fellows program. Through this stipend program, they receive training in working with kids, how to teach bible stories and opportunities for faith formation. We think having older youth model faith and involvement in the church to our elementary school kids is incredibly powerful. Throughout the workshop time, we have adults walking around to jump in to offer support as needed.
What about kids with exceptional (special) needs?
If your child has exceptional needs, please be in touch with Michaela Putnam-Kwon, Children & Family Minister. We seek to make our Sunday School workshops as inclusive as possible. Often, we have enough workshop leaders that we can have someone working one-on-one with a kiddo who might need a little bit of special attention. We have several professionals in the congregation who work with kids on the autism spectrum who are on hand to coach our workshop leaders. If your child wants to give Sunday School a try, we will work with you to make it a positive experience.
What are you doing to keep kids healthy?
Our current COVID best practices include staying home if you feel sick. Your workshop will miss you, but our priority is keeping you and others safe and healthy. We encourage those who are able to be vaccinated to do so, and we will continue to follow CDC guidance for best practices.