St. Peter’s has vibrant and active programs for children and youth! Young people are involved in Church School, worship services (as servers, readers, teachers, nursery care, sidespeople, and intercessors), volunteering with outreach projects, in youth groups, and in many other ways.
Childrens Ministry
Church School
Our Church School for children age 3 through grade 5 meets in the lower hall classroom during the 9.15am Sunday service and runs from early September until late June. Children grade 6 and up are welcome to join the Youth Group in the Youth Lounge upstairs. Children can come straight to the downstairs classroom as they arrive at church and join in with arrival activities, usually a game or music. Our Church School curriculum is lectionary based, meaning that the children will be hearing a story based on one of the lessons also being read in church that day. After the story, crafts, games or other activities help to reinforce what they have heard. The children return to church in time for the Children’s Talk at the chancel steps with the priest just before the Peace is shared. During the Eucharistic Prayer children gather around the Holy Table and participate fully in the service.
Younger children and babies are welcome in the Nursery, located on the main floor of the church. Sometimes a three year old is not quite ready to join us in Church School so they can stay in the Nursery until they are comfortable with listening quietly and doing activities with the older children.
During the Summer children can enjoy Summer Story Time, hosted by volunteers. A sign-up sheet for this will be in the Narthex sometime in May. Packages of materials to use are available for this.
Parents should register their children for Church School, either with one of the teachers or with Linda Ghirardo, the Church School Supervisor or online. Feel free to email Linda by email at Churchschoolstpeterserindale@outlook.com to register, if you have any other questions or ideas of how to help.
Peel Interfaith Peace Camp
In the summer of 2017, Jewish, Christian and Muslim children from Peel came together to learn about their shared Abrahamic heritage and celebrate being children of faith. We played, learned and made wonderful crafts. New friendships were formed and we learned about our shared commitment to help others.
During the summer of 2018, we had another Interfaith Peace Camp that ran from July 23 to July 26. Throughout these days, 12 children from the Christian faith visit each day a different faith center. On the last day of the event, we hosted a dinner for all the participants and their families.
Visit our gallery to see images from this event.
Vacation Bible School
Our 24th VBS program ended. The theme of this year’s VBS was space exploration. Through Bible stories, games, crafts, music, and drama we learned the many ways God’s power working in us can do far beyond what we could ask or imagine. Thank you to our camp director, Charity Gorman, summer students Hayden Spence and Angelo Fresnedi, and all our volunteers for a wonderful trip To Mars and Beyond. Lots of fun was had by all of our VBS campers!
In our last year’s event, the children, ages 4-11, learned about God’s love through Bible stories, games, crafts and service projects for the community. Young people, ages 12-18, volunteered to be leaders for the camp. Together the children and youth made new friendships, deepened their connection to God and experienced the joy that comes from helping others. The cost was $30 for the first child and $20 each for siblings, with reduced fees for those who need it. Thank you to our camp director, Charity Gorman and all the volunteers for making it a successful event.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Church School?
It is an opportunity to discuss the deeper questions of faith and how scripture relates to our lives. We provide a program at the 9:15 am service.
What is Confirmation?
At various times during our lives we may feel a need to affirm publicly what we believe and to make a renewed commitment to live out our faith in our daily live. We welcome your inquiry into the meaning and practice of rites of affirmation in the Anglican Church.
In the Anglican Church we have three formal ways of affirming our faith; confirmation, reception, and reaffirmation.
When is the Next Confirmation at St. Peter’s?
For more information please contact our Associate Priest, Rev. Maria Nightingale, at associate@stpeterserindale.org.