A Summer Baptism service at Crystal Lake.

(Most of our baptisms take place in the sanctuary).

Over a period of years beginning around 2001, First Church developed our own Church School Curriculum - one of the most exciting and worthwhile religious education projects that our congregation has undertaken. The fact that we are able and willing to accomplish this task is a sign of spiritual vitality in our congregation.

Christians believe that we know about God through a particular story - a combination of actual historical events and the church’s reflection upon the meaning of these events, including some creative elaboration. This story does not describe God in a literal way, as if God were a being we could see and touch. Rather, this Biblical story tells us what God is like, how God acts, and God’s desire to be in relationship with creation.

Christians also believe that to live with the knowledge of this story, and to shape our individual and collective lives on the basis on what it reveals about God, is the right way to live. In designing our curriculum, we at First Church had to decide which parts of this larger story are the most important ones for children to learn about, and how best to engage children in learning the stories and what they mean for us. We also need to teach important things about the Christian tradition as a whole - What is the Church? How Do We Worship? We want to teach them how to sing hymns and other liturgical responses. We want them to know about time-honored bits of tradition like the 23rd Psalm, Ten Commandments, and Lord’s Prayer. We want them to know the meaning of Christian holidays and how these relate to the story.

Teachers need to have a variety of activities and approaches at hand to make the stories become memorable to children at various ages. We provide copies of famous paintings that depict the story and hang these in the classrooms, along with other resources for the teachers to use. We believe that teachers need and want to be learners too, so our curriculum includes short but substantive background material for each lesson.

Our approach to teaching children about the Christian faith indicates that 1.) we value the Christian story in its traditional form, and 2.) we are committed to teach the story creatively and in a way that is relevant to our own lives.