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Children's Ministry

0 to 10 years of age

Nursery

0 to 3 year olds

Our nursery is staffed by adults with youth volunteers. It provides the opportunity for young parents to worship in church withthout the distraction of their children and affords them the peace of mind knowing their infants are safe and well taken care of. The nursery opens about 15 minutes before the main service.

The Gathering

The Westminster ChapelSunday School students meet in the Wesminster Chapel 15 minutes before the main service to sing songs, share stories, and celebrate birthdays. From there, they are sent to their individual workshops in our Faith Quest program.

Young Children and Worship

3 to 5 year olds

This program is based on the Montessori Method to teach bible stories to young children through games, arts and crafts appropriate to this age group. These children return to church during The Offering to join with their families for communion.

Faith Quest Sunday School

Grades 1 to 5

One of the Sunday School rooms.Children in this age group follow the Faith Quest workshop rotation model of Sunday School. These children also return to church during The Offering to join with their families for communion. More on the Faith Quest program follows.

Faith Quest

Featuring the
Workshop Rotation Model
A New Educational Approach
for Children's Sunday School

Our Mission is
to Teach our Children
To Know God
To Love God
and to Serve God

Come Join Us!!

The Vision:

At St. James Faith Quest we envision the following:

A program that is fun and exciting for the children.
Excited children begging to come to church on Sunday morning.
Children who know the Bible stories and how they relate to their everyday lives.
Children developing a strong faith
Children who continue to grow in their faith as youth and adults.
A program that is fun and exciting for teachers.

What is the workshop Rotation Model? Faith Quest is a model for Sunday school based on the Workshop Rotation Model. It was developed by a number of churches seeking to solve their chronic Sunday School problems: boring curriculum, boring classrooms, boring teaching methods, bored kids, apathetic parents, and low Bible literacy. These churches wanted to teach Bible stories in a creative manner without the crushing burden of having to find and prepare new material each week. They also wanted to overhaul their classrooms to make them kid-friendly places to attract kids back to the classroom. The result was the Workshop Rotation Model. It reorganizes how you teach, not what you teach, with creative kid-friendly workshops: Drama, Art, Movies, Bible Games, Storytelling, Puppetry, Computers and Cooking.

Kids rotate by class into a different workshop each week for a five-week period. During that time, the story is the same in each workshop. Kids love repetition and need it to remember their lessons. Because each of the workshops teaches through a different style of learning, and a different aspect of the story, the kids don't get bored. Discipline problems go away. This multiple-intelligences approach enhances the learning process.

The workshop teachers stay put. They don't rotate with the kids (though each class has a shepherd who does stay with the kids). Teachers teach in the workshop of their strength and the lesson stays the same for several weeks in a row. This means they plan less and get better as the weeks go by.

Lesson plans are simple. The real difference between this model and the traditional classroom model is that each workshop takes its time teaching the story through one mode. Of course, each lesson includes Bible study and discussion. Teachers easily adjust the age appropriateness of their lesson from guidelines provided by the lesson plan. Faith Quest focuses the gifts and talents of our volunteers.

Our goal is to shape children into active Christians
who live the Bible
rather than just know it.

Curriculum Goals

Ensure familiarity with the key Bible stories and Bible memory verses.

Meaningful activity that reinforces the lesson's key concepts.
Incorporate critical thinking skills into the curriculum.
Provide links from the Bible to the present, making the Bible applicable to children's lives.
Teach faith practices, church history and beliefs as they relate to the Bible story.

Grades
Faith Quest is for grades 1 - 5.

Workshop Leadership Training

Active learning is for all ages.

Our Learning Environment - The Workshops

The attention to detail and how a child feels in God's house is a
Rotation Workshop philosophy

The Physical Space

Our classrooms are vibrant, fun places to learn.
We want our children to feel God's love and warmth even from the paint on the walls!
Workshops are designed to suit their function. No two workshops are alike.

Apostles' Playhouse -
       Drama Workshop

Praising Puppets -
       Puppet Workshop

Holywood -
       Video Workshop

Creation Station -
       Art Workshop

Antioch Arcade -
       Bible Games

Good News -
       Storytelling

Bread of Life Café -
       Kitchen Workshop

Mouse House -
       Computer Lab

For More Information
Please contact
Gerry Adam,
Director, Family Ministry
Saint James westminster Anglican Church
519-432-5761
Sunday School