© Causes 2012. Anyone can change the world.
Starting a Sunday School Program from Scratch
Starting a Sunday School Program from Scratch
For those of you who haven’t yet heard, I have been spending my second year at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York working at Greenpoint Reformed Church in Brooklyn. This is an amazing church with a vibrant and growing community, and this year I have been tasked with starting a Sunday School program for children anywhere from 3 to 9 years old.
Initiating a plan like this is never easy, particularly within a smaller congregation, but we are thinking big and long term. We plan on offering our Sunday School to the community at large, something that we believe would benefit this area greatly, in addition to creating a sustainable program that will carry on for years to come.
As we are planning the unveiling of our program January 2012 (only a couple months away!), in addition to my birthday being this month, I thought it would be an ideal time to reach out to friends, family, acquaintances, and sympathetic strangers for support. Currently, Greenpoint Reformed Church does not have quite large enough of a budget to meet our ultimate goal of a sustainable youth room and Sunday School program, and thus, items to be bought at the moment will likely be coming from my personal budget. And as I’ve yet to develop into a real person with an actual income, I was hoping to rely on “the kindness of strangers” for this project.
If you could make a donation, large or small, words could not express the gratitude I would feel. I’ve currently uploaded pictures of the youth room as it appears in the initial stage of development. As donations come in, I will continue to show progress we’re making to create a space where children will actually want to learn, play, or hang out (details about that and the program below). Words, thoughts, or prayers of encouragement are also greatly appreciated as we continue this endeavor.
Much thanks and peace to you wherever you are in this holiday season,
Rix
rix@greenpointchurch.org
About Greenpoint Reformed Church and the youth program:
For over one hundred and fifty years, the people of the Greenpoint Church have faithfully served the neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This is a congregation of young and old from a variety of backgrounds with a myriad of interests. The smaller size allows everyone to get to know one another and care for one another. You can find out more about GRC and its food program at http://greenpointchurch.org/about/, or contact the co-pastors Ann Kansfield at ann@greenpointchurch.org or Jennifer Aull at jen@greenpointchurch.org. Worship and Sunday School take place at 11:00 am every Sunday.
Directions
136 Milton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
Phone: 718.383.5941
The Program itself:
“Building Blocks” Youth Program is currently our working title for Sunday School, although this will be modified as we get feedback. Because Greenpoint Reformed Church has never had a Sunday School program before, we are currently in our beta test group, working with a couple of children who attend service regularly to determine how to best go forward with our lesson plans. Ultimately, our goal is to have a thriving Sunday School where all age ranges are welcome and able to participate by either attending or (for older kids and teens) helping teach each Sunday.
The space we are using is currently relatively barren; we are working on improving the aesthetics however and will continue to post our improvements as they happen. Please contact me if you would like to donate something more to the room.