Our Mission

Our children are the hope and future of St Stephen's Church, for this reason we strongly value and support our church school and youth programs.

As Kahlil Gibran said in The Prophet:

• Your children are not your children.
• They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
• They come through you but are not from you,
    and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
• You may give them your love, but not your thoughts,
    for they have their own thoughts.
• You may house their bodies, but not their souls,
    for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
    which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
• You may strive to be like them,
    but seek not to make them like you,
    for life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
• You are the bows from which your children
    as living arrows are sent forth.
• The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
    and He bends you with His might
    that His arrows might go swift and far.
• Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness.
• For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
    so He loves the bow that is stable.

The Program

We offer Sunday school classes for children and youth from preschool age through high school. The classes meet each week during the 9:30am service. These classes start just before the service begins, and the children conclude their lessons in time to join the congregation for the celebration of Holy Communion.

The children in preschool through 5th grade follow a curriculum called Godly Play and Godly Time. This engaging curriculum teaches the stories of the Bible and Christian values through story telling and hands on, interactive experiences. The middle school age youth join our Rite 13 class as they begin to learn about and take on more responsibility in the church. This is also a time when the youth begin to gather for mission service and fellowship outside of the Sunday morning lessons. The Journey to Adulthood program for early high school students carries this idea further with mission trips into Boston for City Reach and a variety of other fellowship and outreach activities.

The final program for high school students is our Young Adults in the Church program. This program provides the opportunity for the youth to transition into fully involved members of the parish community. Many members of this group participate in the worship and teach or assist in Sunday school classes each week.

Opportunities

There are always opportunities to get involved with our youth programs. These programs are supported by faithful parishioners who are devoted to sharing their spirit with the future of our parish. Opportunities arise for parishioners to volunteer throughout the year as Sunday school teachers, assistants in the classroom and youth mission trip chaperones. There is always a place for those who feel called to work with our youth at St Stephen's.

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