Steph's Stuff

April 26, 2007

On Easter Sunday, two babies were baptized. The next Sunday, college students from NCSU shared their faith with us by leading our worship services. Last Sunday, we celebrated with the class of second graders who shared what they learned in Preparing Children for Participation in Worship (PCPW) class. And currently, thirty-two confirmands are preparing their Statements of Faith in order to be confirmed in a few weeks. Each of these children and youth are at different points in their faith journey.

At baptism, each person in the entire congregation makes a promise to the child to “guide and nurture them by word and deed, with love and prayer, encouraging her to know and follow Christ and to be a faithful member of Christ’s church.” When we make that promise, it can seem pretty abstract. It is the joy and privilege of Sunday school teachers and volunteers to help nurture each child along the way of their life. The lessons that are taught, Bible stories that are learned and relationships that are built help lay strong foundations for the rest of life.

I encourage you to consider helping our children and youth along their journey. There are two main ways to assist them. There are some volunteers who make commitments to build strong relationships with a group of children. They get to know the children and their families. There are other volunteers who make short-term commitments to teach a Bible story to the children. Both play an important role in shaping the spiritual life of the children. Sunday school truly is “for life”!

Stephanie