Sunday School

With a growing number of young families in our midst, Crossroads is dedicated to providing spiritual nurture for children and to supporting parents in their primary role as providers of Christian formation. We are quite aware that 45 minutes on a Sunday morning is nowhere near ample time to offer a deep engagement with the Christian tradition, but we trust the power of Sacred story, Christian community and the strong symbols of worship to deepen the spiritual life of the children in our midst. We do not currently use a packaged curriculum for our Sunday School program, but sew together a variety of components including a story-telling and reflection practice from "Godly Play," as well as a "rotation model" practice which honours the gifts and skills of adult leaders, rather than relying on them to be Bible/craft/song experts as so many curricula seem to require. Combining this with regular participation in worship, we find the children of Crossroads United Church are quite clear that this is their church, that they are participants in the important and holy things that occur, and that they know God and Jesus love them as they are, while calling them to offer their own gifts and skills to the world.

Currently, children aged 1 to 3 or 4 (parents' discretion) are welcome in the Nursery during worship, children who are "ready" for Sunday School (age 3 or 4) to grade 3 come out to the "Story and Response centre" in the CE Hall after the storytelling in worship, and children grade 4-6 move after the storytelling to the back corner of the CE Hall where there are tables & chairs set up. Gentle and compassionate volunteer leaders, all of whom have shown a current Criminal Records Check to our minister, offer leadership in our Sunday School.