Elementary (6 – 9 and 9 – 12)

The Gift of Redemption is being indicated by a person pointing to a red cross embroidered on a yellow and brown ribbon. The ribbon is laying on grass.

The Elementary child is interesting in two core things. These children want to know is everyone treated the same and where to fit in my community.

A timeline of the History of the Kingdom of God hangs on the white wall in the Elementary atrium – A room with wooden ceiling slats and steal i-beams, white walls, and a colorful rug on a wooden floor.

Community 6 to 12

An icon created by a student. A gold shepherd with a shepherd’s crook flanked by two white sheep. The sky is blue with a golden sun. The middle of the image is bright green grass with a cut away exposing the brown dirt. Burrows of golden mice are on the left while a pair of earthworms can be seen on the right.

The atrium community shows deep care and support. They provide a safe space to voice personal introspections and ask for compassion. We spend time learning how to sit in spaces of discomfort and wonder about better ways in the future. Their honesty finds its deepest expression when they create an order for prayer weekly in the atrium.

Low Elementary (6 to 9 years)

The Parable of the Mugged Man and the Samaritan (aka: the Good Samaritan). A scripture book with a modern painting of the narrative is in the background with paper cut out of the characters in the foreground.

The focus for these children is the acquisition of knowledge and finding their role in the communion. All of our explorations begin with whole group wonderings. We ponder the moral parables of Jesus, the sweeping history of the gifts of God, the Bible’s books and its history. But most wonderfully the children spend time planning and participating in communal prayer.

Upper Elementary (9 to 12 years)

Two children are lounging on a colorful rung and looking at 11 of the moral teachings of Jesus tablets. Together they are wondering how various parables are illustrating the ways we can live as members of the Kingdom of Heaven.

This age group is focused on how the History of the Kingdom of God flows through civilizations and continents. They explore timelines and see how people advance the vision of the Kingdom of God – the Peaceable Kingdom. Their great capacity to synthesize information allows them to delve deeply into the five formative Old Testament narratives, add to their understanding of the moral parables, and explore the miracles of Jesus. They also enjoy looking at the worship service as a great prayer of prayers.

Service

A lantern to represent one of the gifts of the Spirit. Displayed as an art installation during Pentecost. Two square based pyramids touching at their points – one red and one orange. They glow.

Their love of creating public offerings to benefit the wider community can stretch from mutual aid opportunities, to baking projects, to offerings of art, music, or poetry.

They enter into the life of their neighborhood community by identifying needs, seeking support and ideas, and seeing how they further the Plan of God in their actions.

The True Vine

The central parable for this age is the True Vine. The children ponder how big the Vine is, how we are connected and receive nourishment and care, what might block the flow of the nutrients, and wonder at what our fruit might look like.

The long ribbon

A yellow ribbon with a rainbow colored table laying in grass.

This core 6 to 9 year-old lesson is an enormously long ribbon which represents the time and care God has taken to prepare the three Gifts given humanity – creation, redemption, and parousia. A deep sense of gratitude and hope is derived from knowing the thoughtful care God has for us and our world.

The Plan of God Timeline

This long timeline reaching from unrecorded history shows the civilizations in the area of the Near East and how they change over time. Overlayed are the major events in the history of the Jews. At the moment of redemption, the children are called to explore how the news of Jesus spread through the world, how the world has changed, and look for ways the plan of God was hindered and advanced through time.

A series of yellow, red, blue, purple, and green lines representing different cultures. There are titles along the line – Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Hebrews, Romans, along with images representing each civilization. Across the bottom there are several of the many inventions which pass from one people group to others.

THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF JESUS

The children continue to explore the narratives surrounding the birth of Jesus, work with pin maps to hone their geologic, geographic, and geo-political understanding of Holy Land, ponder the city of Jerusalem’s hosting of the Last Supper and the events that occur at the Mt. of Olives, and learn how to ponder the gifts of the Miracles of Jesus.

A water color of the map of the Holy Land which the children label with the important cities, land and water forms, and political and ethnic regions in Jesus’ life.