Welcome to St. Paul’s, Ivy and our ministry of Christian education and formation for all ages. We believe that Christian education and formation are a lifelong journey which enables us to deepen both our knowledge of the Christian faith and our life of faith. In order to facilitate this lifelong process, we are committed to offering engaging and innovative classes taught by caring, experienced teachers. We believe that Christian education enriches our worship of God, which is the foundation on which our church life rests.

Our program theme for youth and adult classes in 2009-2010 is “Jesus’ Ministry Today.” This theme speaks to our mission statement “to share openly the Good News of Jesus Christ.” As we study the Gospel stories about Jesus, we hope to find inspiration for living the Good News in our daily lives. The beauty of a common theme is that families who attend the education time will know that there is the possibility of a rich discussion to which everyone can contribute.

The Adult Forum, at 9:30 in the parish hall, will consider social justice topics in the fall, and then move toward a study of the subject of prayer and a Lenten lectionary-based Bible study of the Gospel of Luke. In addition, parents are welcome to join a small group discussion of books on parenting and spiritual growth in families. This group meets in the library at the 9:30 education time for 5-7 week periods in the fall and winter. The schedule will be posted on the website and in the church bulletin.

Our children have interesting classes planned as well and we hope that some of you will consider being involved with these programs. These take place on Sunday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. during the school year throughout our facilities. The nature of each age group’s plan is listed below:

Up through age 3: Nursery, located on our lower level
Age 4-Kindergarten: “Godly Play”, in the Godly Play room, lower level
Grades 1-6: “Spirit Movers”, our rotation workshop
Grades 7-8: Rite 13 class, meeting on the lower level
Grades 9-12: SPISH meeting upstairs in Kirklea

We hope that these programs will engage our children and give them a solid foundation for their faith journeys. Many thanks to those of you who are already involved in these programs and to those of you who soon will be helping (you just don’t know it yet!).