Children and Youth

Children at Covenant

Church of the Covenant strives to be an intergenerational Christian community, treasuring the interweaving of the generations in the ingenious design of God's love. We have come to understand that Covenant's children belong to all of us – and to see in this a parable of the belonging of the whole human community to God, of the ingenuity of God's gift to us of each other.

We believe that Jesus calls us to ministry not only to children but also with children. Our goals are to insure that all our children know that they are valued and loved, by God and by us, and to help them grow into ways of being themselves that enable caring, responsible community and that strengthen their experience of the love of Christ.

Safe Place Policy

Church of the Covenant has in place a policy and a task force committed to ensuring that our church is a safe place for children and youth.

The policy includes assurance that those who work with our children and youth as teachers and advisors are people of moral character and known to us. All volunteers who work with children undergo a criminal background check and agree to abide by the church’s Child Safety Policy. All volunteers must have regularly attended Church of the Covenant for six months prior to volunteering with children. Persons who work with children and youth receive training annually regarding the church’s policy and how to keep children safe. You may view the full text of this policy here.

Many precautions and safeguards are in place to make the whole environment of the church a happy, secure one for children and youth.

Child Care

Expertly-supervised child care is available in the Nursery off Bates Hall (lower level) from 9:00 a.m. each Sunday until approximately 1:00 p.m., at the conclusion of the day's classes and meetings. Our Child Care Provider Jessica Haffner welcomes children from newborn through elementary school age at any time during the morning. Jessica is loved by our children, builds relationships with families, and helps coordinate volunteers.

Godly Play

Christian Education for younger children is based on the Godly Play program. Godly play is an approach to religious education in which children develop their own inherent spirituality, has been developed over the past twenty years by Jerome Berryman, formerly a Presbyterian minister and now an Episcopal priest. It has stimulated spiritual growth in church school programs, in homes, in hospitals – even in adult education programs.

Godly Play is...

• A method of telling Bible stories (or presenting parables or lessons about church traditions) with three-dimensional materials. It invites listeners into the stories and encourages them to connect the stories with personal experience.
• A way to encourage children to move into larger dimensions of belief and faith through "wondering questions" and open-ended response time.
• An effective means of approaching children who have a range of learning styles. After listening to the story, the children decide for themselves how to respond – by learning to retell it, by using maps, puzzles, books, games, or by making an art response of their own.
• A method of managing time and space so that children come to care for their own environment and learn how to respond to one another in ways appropriate to a believing community. The classroom becomes a peaceful worship space in which to experience and explore the mystery of God's presence.
• A way of preparing children to worship with our congregation as they learn our religious language. A deeper understanding of the stories, symbols, and rites of their faith immediately leads into a more meaningful and appropriate participation in worship.
• A way of helping children learn to use the language of our faith to address existential questions of their lives: aloneness, what to do with freedom, fear of death, and the search for meaning.
• A way to encourage children to explore God's call to inclusivity and social justice that informs who we are as a congregation.

The Classroom

The Godly Play classroom contains shelves full of objects for children to use – objects that make the images of our religious language come alive. Children and teacher sit in a circle on the floor, literally surrounded by the language of our fait. The multi-sensory materials used to help in telling the Bible story of the day are placed in the middle of the circle, symbolizing the fact that God id present and accessible to everyone--both students and teacher. After the story is told, teacher and students wonder about it together. Then students are free to respond to the story or to work with another story on the shelves. Because each child may be wrestling with different existential issues, each student will bring a different perspective and a different response to the Bible story that has been told.

Middle Agers

Our “Middle Agers” program is for youth in middle school and high school. We are currently in the third year three of a three year cycle. Each year includes a mix of learning about Christian faith and contemporary issues, worship, fellowship within the group and in the congregation, and service.

Learning

• Year One 2008-2009: Faith in Our Worship and Living
  During Sunday School, our youth explored the historical, liturgical, and theological underpinnings for what we do in worship. The year culminated with a worship service designed and led by the group in June. They lived their faith in a concrete way through the experience of visiting the border town of Agua Prieta, Mexico, connecting with people there, and learning about the intersection of faith and a variety of contemporary issues like immigration.
• Year Two 2009-2010: Claiming Our Faith
  During the past year, the group focused on Confirmation, exploring the Christian tradition, the beliefs and questions that have motivated other Christians over the generations and across cultures, and finding their own place in the conversation. The group examined themes of our faith (God, creation, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Church, Mission, Sacraments interwoven with polity and church history). The months of study, discussion, and reflection culminated in each young person writing their own statement of faith and joining the church as adult members. Highlights of the year included a retreat to Cape Cod and a Confirmation worship service led by the youth. During Sunday School, the group alternated through a mix of Bible Study, service learning, and fellowship activities led by our staff Youth Director.
• Year Three: 2010-2011: Taking Our Faith Forward
  The group will focus on what it means to be a Christian in a multicultural, global context. Interfaith issues will be explored as well as global justice issues of climate change, economics, immigration, etc. The year’s activities, led by Youth Director Lauren Cochran with help from adult mentors, will include a mix of spirituality and Bible study, service within the congregation and beyond, fellowship, and worship. The group is also beginning discernment and planning for a pilgrimage trip in 2012.