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Sunday School
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
212 N. Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Sunday School for Children and Youth
Sunday School classes for children and youth begin at 10 am on Sunday mornings between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Each class is designed to provide an age-appropriate grounding in our Biblical foundations and Anglican heritage, prayer, worship, community and service.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (Preschool - Grade 3)
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a Montessori-based religious
formation program for children, centered on the belief that young children can and do
experience God. The aim of the Catechesis approach is to create an environment in
which children can develop spiritually. The Gospel is proclaimed through
age-appropriate parable lessons, prayers, music, and liturgical events.
Hands-on
materials are used to help both children and adults reflect together on the great
mysteries of the Christian faith. Level I includes children age three through
Kindergarten; Level II is for children in Grades 1-3.
Our Story (Grades 4-5)
Our Story opens for the older children the rich variety of the salvation
story told throughout the Bible and the history of the Church. Through music, drama,
art, and other forms of expression, they engage the story and claim it as their own.
The Journey to Adulthood (Grades 6-12)
Manhood and womanhood are free gifts from God; adulthood must be earned. With this premise, the developers of The Journey to Adulthood created a program of Christian Formation for youth that celebrates their physical maturity, then leads them on a journey to spiritual adulthood. The youth travel in a two-year cohort, spending two years in each of the program’s three levels.
Rite 13 (Grades 6-7) - As the youth reach their 13th
birthday, they are recognized by the congregation in a liturgy called the Celebration of Manhood and Womanhood, in which they symbolically separate from
their parents to join their peers. A major task of this level of the program is to
begin to form Christian community with this peer group, which will stay together
throughout the program. Lessons lead the youth to explore who God intends them to
be and how God intends them to relate to the world around them.
Journey to Adulthood (J2A, Grades 8-9) - During these
two years, the young people work on deepening community and their relationship with
God, while working on particular skills they will use throughout adulthood. They exercise these skills in working toward a major goal, a pilgrimage they will take during the summer following J2A.
Young Adults in the Church (YAC, Grades 10-12) - On
return from pilgrimage, the youth enter their final stage of the journey, a stage in
which they begin to assume the mantle of adult Christians engaged in the church.
They select a personal ministry in the church or community. They jointly plan and
perform a mission project. They develop a personal statement of their faith.
Finally, in the Celebration of Adulthood, the congregation liturgically honors their
completion of the journey.