SOWING SEEDS OF FAITH

In just a matter of days, we kick off a new faith formation school year. This year, the Faith Formation Ministry Team is moving in an exciting new direction that will lead to new, engaging opportunities for members of our entire congregation to grow in their faith. To ensure that we continue to sow the seeds of faith in every child and adult, we must remember our promise that we have made to each other. 

It was only four months ago when we dedicated sweet little Sage Regino in our sanctuary. As part of our tradition in this church, each of us made a covenant — a promise — to support the faith formation of Sage and her mothers. What is even more beautiful is that this congregation has made that promise for every family who has dedicated their most precious blessings in our sanctuary. It’s wonderful to know that multiple generations of families have heard that promise from us. Although we are a smaller congregation now than we were a generation ago, our promises still hold, and our faith formation needs continue to grow. 

The Faith Formation Team’s hope for the start of our church school year is tempered with a dose of reality. The reality is that Union Avenue Christian Church has the most awesome children of God (of ALL ages) who are part of our congregation. The reality also is that we need many helpers to make our programs soar.

Our hope and prayer are to have a solid rotation of volunteers who will be teaching our children during Sunday School hour and another set of volunteers who will rotate during a special second-hour children’s worship program that will take place from the time they go upstairs between the Children’s message and communion. The new second-hour program, which is about 20-30 minutes per Sunday, will not be the entire school year — just long enough to give our kids a better understanding of “the what, the how, and the why” of worship. 

The best news is that we have awesome new curriculum for our children and youth for Sunday school, complete with leaders’ guides; the video-based program for second hour needs no prep ahead of time by the facilitator. Although we already have a good core of adults who have jumped on the bandwagon, we need a good handful more to join the rotation so it spreads out to helping only once every six weeks or so. 

We also plan to offer adult programs on Sunday mornings as well as small group studies on alternate days and times. If you would like to lead an adult Sunday school program or a small group that meets on an alternate day or evening, please let Richard Jones know. Let’s keep our covenant of fulfilling the faith formation needs of ALL of God’s children at Union Avenue — from our babies through our 90-year-old-plus crowd. We have to step up our game if we want to grow in ministry and be faithful to God’s call upon us as a church. 

Following is a list of current offerings and where they meet as we begin a new year:

The Homebuilders Class meets the second Sunday of the month in the Chapel. Members of the class welcome both temporary and permanent participants and contributors to its ongoing discussion.

The Second Floor Class meets weekly, gathering around a large table, in room 207. This class sometimes studies the weekly lectionary texts and other times reads and discusses topical books.

The Faith and Daily Life Class meets weekly  in room 213. This inter-generational class seeks to uncover answers as to how our faith interacts with and intersects the events around us, both locally and globally? 

Middle School Class — This class for middle school-age young disciples meets in room 210 on our second floor. 

Elementary Class – Our young ones meet in room 211 for age-apppropriate activities and lessons. 

Nursery/Toddlers – Our nursery is located on the first floor, adjacent to the sanctuary