It’s been a busy winter in Children, Youth and Family programming! The 9am Children’s Chapel kids have worked their way through many of Jesus’ parables through art, storytelling, acting and sharing. The Sunday School classes have spent time learning about Jesus’ birth through His parables with highlights such as creating a 3-D map of Jesus’ birth journey, taking a trip to serve at First Nations Kitchen and making and sending Valentine’s Day cards to our senior citizens. If you get a chance, chat with any of our Sunday School and Godly Play teachers and they will share with you stories of kids learning, asking questions and growing in their faith and in community!
Our youth are equally as busy! We are about 5 months away from our Greece Pilgrimage and our pilgrims have been studying the life of the Apostle Paul as well as learning more about modern day refugees and immigrants. Our Youth Group is WILD and WONDERFUL! They have put together a mix of service and justice projects focusing on homelessness and hunger in Minnesota. Look for their food drive for St. Nick’s starting on 3/5, complete with an opportunity to vote for a song they must sing if they meet their food drive goals! They will be doing a TED talk at the adult forum later in April – date TBD. The Centennial Fund juniors and seniors have been researching local charities with Mark Lindberg and Roger Rose. Their focus has been around mental health, education and gun violence prevention. Stay tuned to learn about the groups they choose to support in April!
St. John’s is blessed with opportunities for our children and youth to engage, serve and connect. The following programs are all coming up and we ALWAYS need adults to join us. The support we get from St. John’s can come in so many ways – prayers, funds and service to our youth and children – take a look at all of the following opportunities (all in addition to weekly programming) and pray about how you can connect with and strengthen our children and youth programs at St. John’s this winter and spring!
- Haitian Soup Making and Selling for teachers in Haiti 2/18 and 2/19 – Shout out to Dianne and Kari for coming up with this wonderful opportunity and working to see it through!!!
- Ski and D & D Trip for families with kids ages 5th grade and up – 2/24-2/26
- Food Drive sponsored by the Youth Group – bring food and $ for St. Nick’s Food shelf in Richfield from 3/5 – 4/2. Food will be weighed, and you can vote for a song they MUST sing if they reach their goals!
- Greece Pilgrims’ Silent Auction – 3/5 – come get some wonderful stuff and support our Greece Pilgrims! Online auction will begin on 2/26 and the Silent Auction will be in the Parish Hall on 3/5.
- First Nations Kitchen volunteering for 5th – 12th graders – 3/12
- Future of the Pilgrim Program meeting for all interested in helping to update this program – next meeting is on 3/19 from 1:45 – 2:45pm in the Harvey Room.
- Holy Week Opportunities:
- 4/6 Youth grades 9 – 12 will help with the Maundy Thursday foot washing.
- 4/8 Children will participate in the Walking with Jesus Event at 3pm – lots of help needed to make this an important an successful experience for our children.
- 4/9 there will be Easter Activities and an Easter Egg Hunt at 10am for the children.
- Peace Frogs Peace and Social Justice Camp – for children entering 1st – 6th grades in the fall. This is a wonderful opportunity for youth and children to connect while being empowered to make positive changes in their world. July 10th – 14th. Have a skill you would like to share? Please connect with Heather to work with us that week!
We are so blessed to have a vibrant and active CYF Program! Thank you for everything you do to support it and be extra sure to thank the teachers, assistants and volunteers who make it all happen!
Heather Miller
Minister of Children, Youth, and Families
