Our Children’s Spiritual Formation (CSF) program year coincides with the school year. We offer programming and nursery care mid-September through early June. Program offerings include:
- Nursery care for children younger than Pre-School age
- Sunday morning CSF workshops for Grades Pre- K-7
- Youth programs for grades 8-12
- Multigenerational events, activities and worship services
- Multi-age activities and projects
The Nursery is open at 9:45 and nursery staff arrives at 9:50. On occasion, the Nursery will be open but unstaffed. Parents and caregivers are invited to use the Nursery during the worship service as needed. The worship service can be seen and heard from inside the Nursery. With the exception of Nursery age children, everyone typically begins Sunday mornings in the Sanctuary. Early in each service, there is a Time for all Ages story shared by the Lifelong Spiritual Formation Director (LSFD), the minister, or a volunteer storyteller. After the Time For All Ages Story, the CSF meeting leaders and children will be sung out to to participate their in workshops in the CSF area. This generally happens around 10:15.
Our Sunday morning CSF meetings are divided into color coded groups:
The Groups are organized by grades.
Red Group (Nursery): Below Preschool Age
Orange Group: Preschool- 1st Grade
Yellow Group: 2nd- 4th Grade
Green Group: 5th- 7th Grade
Blue Group (Youth Group): 8th- 12th Grade
All of the CSF meetings begin with a Chalice Lighting and a collection of the offering. The money collected in the CSF meetings gets added to the money in the Sunday basket. We offer this as a way for children and youth to contribute.
Most weeks, parents and caregivers have a little time to gather for coffee during Hospitality Hour following the worship service before CSF meetings end.
Children in the Red and Orange group must be picked up by a parent or caregiver at the end of their CSF. Children and youth in the Yellow, Green and Blue groups will be released to find their families at the end of their CSF meeting. Parents and caregivers are responsible for their children before and after CSF programming.
Children of all ages are always welcome in the sanctuary throughout any service as a valued part of our multi-generational community. Coloring and activity pages are available near the entrance of the sanctuary.
Children’s Chapel- On the last Sunday of most months, all of our children will come together as one large group for Children’s Chapel. These gatherings will give us an opportunity to build community across age groups and explore our faith together.
This year, Children’s Chapel will center around the Rings of Love, a series of lessons from the UUA’s common read, Love at the Center.