Christian Formation for Children & Youth

Our Christian Formation classes meet at 10 a.m. each Sunday in the basement of the Parish House. Visitors and newcomers are always warmly welcome! If you’d like more information about our ministry before you visit, please contact The Rev. Canon Cathy Gray at 317-636-4577 or cathyg@cccindy.org

We are very busy these days creating a “new thing” in our youth and children’s ministries.  Stories from our Christian tradition are being told and heard and pondered from many perspectives and are being given new life through outreach activities, art, and prayer.
 

 

Grades 3 - 5

In this class, we began the year with an in-depth study of St. Francis, his life, his beliefs, and his work. We focused on ideas like compassion, devotion, faithfulness, and the simple love God inspires in us for all things - creation and all living things, our fellow human beings, and, of course, God. With all these connecting words in mind, we will spend the next few months studying, wondering together, and expressing our ideas about who and what God really is for us and how our acts of worship (especially prayer, baptism, and Eucharist) both grow from and inspire what we believe.

Middle School - Grades 6-8

These students began the year by reading and talking about the compassion and loving works of Mother Teresa, and by asking questions about what it means to live our lives for the good of others. While few people ever will or should give away so much of self as Mother Teresa chose to do, there are many values to be drawn from her life and teachings - compassion, a willingness to put ourselves at loss so others may have the basic necessities of life, and the simple choice to do all things in love, from God and for God. It is this group of children who led our department-wide effort to provide Christmas gifts of blankets and stockings for the children of Craine House, a project that helped all of us put our learning into action. In the coming months, we will be inspired by others of God's people who have lived devoted and compassionate lives, and will consider how our common worship nourishes us for the work God calls us to do.

 

High School - Grades 9-12

Students in this group have focused their attention on the meaning of social justice and Christian compassion - and on what we, as a community and as individuals, are called by God to do in order to relieve the suffering of others. Beginning with the story of Moses and his people, as they were made slaves in Egypt, we have talked in terms of taking journeys outward from our various captivities and into places of rest and security. We have considered things like homelessness, hunger, and hopelessness, and their antidotes of leadership, companionship, and a sense of belonging. In the coming months, we will build on these ideas through the study of other Biblical and contemporary stories, as we seek ways of being more engaged in our local community and the issues people face.