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Exciting
New Changes:
Our Approach
to Fall Worship
Christian
Education
2010-2011
At the
June consistory meeting, the consistory approved an adjustment
to the Worship/Sunday School schedule. The consistory approved
keeping the Sunday worship start time at 10:00 even after
Sunday School begins again in September. Sunday School will
begin at 9:30 am and the children will have the opportunity
to attend worship through the Children's Sermon and then participate
in reinforcement activities until the end of worship.
These changes grew out of discussions that
parents of children in the Sunday School program had with
members of the Spiritual Care Committee. The committee folks
were speaking about their desire to have more families attend
worship and to have the children participate more in worship.
The parents spoke of their desire to attend worship more frequently.
After much discussion and prayer, and more discussion and
more prayer, this is what the consistory has approved: Sunday
School will begin at 9:30; the first 20-25 minutes (until
9:55) will focus on scripture, the scripture lesson for the
day, and scripture memory verse work. At 10:00 everyone will
be in worship; the Sunday School children will sit with their
classes at the front of the church. The Sunday School teachers
and parent leaders of the week will help the children follow
the order of worship in the bulletin, and encourage their
participation in the responsive readings, and in singing the
hymns. During the time of the children’s sermon, all of the
children will come forward. The theme of the children’s sermon
will come from the Sunday School scripture lesson. When the
children’s sermon is done, the children and the parent facilitators
will go down to their classrooms to participate in reinforcement
activities. The children will have a light snack and will
also participate in music – either singing or ringing the
small bells, as they have done in the past. When the worship
service is done, the parents and other members of the congregation
will join the Sunday School children in Fellowship Hall. More
details are inside this newsletter regarding how all this
will work.
We anticipate
several good things arising from this:
• Children will become more active
in worship, and more focused.
• Parents will be able to focus on
worship as well.
• More families will be able to attend
worship.
We should be able to reduce time conflicts between worship
and cultural and sports activities, by beginning and ending
our worship service earlier. After some research we have found
that most churches in the area have gone to a 10:00 a.m.,
or earlier, worship time in order to accommodate the busy
schedules of their members. Thanks for your help in making
this another great year.
Sandy
Vitez & Donna Freeman
Faith Weavers
Together
Grow Faith
Grow Families
Grow Your Church
READINGTON
REFORMED CHURCH
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
2010-2011 Theme
Heroes of the Bible:
God is My Hero
TO REGISTER FOR RRC CHRISTIAN EDUCATION:
Click this form link
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Welcome back to another exciting new year at the Readington
Reformed Church!
Sunday School will begin promptly at 9:30
AM
The
following teachers will be
Lesson Leaders this school year:
Little Friends Preschool- 1st Grade:
Carol Gauer & Judy Iselin
Friends 2 nd - 5 th:
Laura Fields & Ralph Pantozzi
Middle School (6 th - 8 th ):
Bob Lefever
How will our New Christian Education
Program work?
Our programming for children age 3 through 5th
grade is based on a curriculum from Group Publishing called
FaithWeavers. Experienced teachers will teach the bible lesson
from 9:30 – 9:55. Children will attend worship at 10:00 AM
as a group through the Children's Sermon. Parents will be
asked to help facilitate reinforcement activities downstairs
for the remainder of the worship time. This will be done
on a rotating basis. Materials and supplies, including lesson
plans, will be provided by the church.
Our program
goals for this year will meet the following criteria:
●
Easy to use curriculum with a rotation
style for teachers and parents
●
Bible-rich with memory verses
●
Participation in worship will become
central to the Sunday School experience
●
Integration of Music, Drama and Puppetry
into programs
●
Focus on helping children and adults
grow TOGETHER in their relationship with Jesus
TODDLER
TIME (NURSERY) Ages- Infant to 36 months
Readington Reformed Church will be starting A Toddler Program
this fall. We will be using another Group program that introduces
“Two's to the Bible” in a fun way. This program replaces
the nursery and is more intentionally Christian.
MIDDLE
SCHOOL
The 6th, 7th and 8th graders
will meet for their Bible Lesson from 9:30 – 9:55 and then
will participate in worship for the entire service. This
class will also help 8th grade confirmands prepare
for the special Sunday Night course with the pastor, leading
up to their confirmation. We will be focusing on “beyond
the walls” to help our neighbors and to bring together our
youth.
FAMILY SUNDAY? CHURCH FAMILY SUNDAY
Once again we will be having the Family Outreach
Programs. They will however
now be held immediately following Church or on Saturday
nights. The Fall Festival
for this year will be held on Sunday, October 17th.
Our Sunday School theme for this year is God is my
Hero. We will have a Fall
theme and incorporate the Sunday School Theme. This
year all church members
are invited to attend! We will have a light lunch
and activities that ALL our
church family will enjoy .
COMMUNITY
YOUTH GROUP
We are working on a program that began as a desire to form
a Youth Group in our community. The program has the following
goals:
●
To empower the High School Youth
as well as the Middle School Youth
●
To contain an element of community
service
●
And most of all be a FUN way to deepen
relationships with each other
This is a very exciting program that is still in its developing
stages. The YOUTH in this program will be developing the
plan of events. Ask for more details.
MUSIC
'Tis the season to make music!
This fall/winter presents an exciting new format of the music
program here at RRC. The new music time for children will
be during Sunday School and will temporarily serve as an expansion
of the church's music program. Beginning on September 12th,
2010. Jessica Iselin will be teaching the children fun, uplifting
music (and hand motions!) that relates to the themes of the
Sunday School curriculum. This will help the children to better
absorb the lessons learned on Sunday
mornings as well as build a wonderful
musical repertoire that they will be able to share with the
congregation in Sunday morning services once a month. Music
time will take place downstairs after the children have come
out of the church service following the children’s sermon,
and will be done in groups according to the children's ages.
4th-12th graders are
invited after the Sunday church service to rehearse in the
sanctuary with Hilary Orlando and the new youth bell choir.
This will be a great opportunity for your children to use
the big handbells and learn some important musical skills.
The youth will even be able to share their music on chosen
Sunday mornings. We will keep you updated about the Sundays
on which the groups will be sharing their music, so that your
encouraging faces will be there when they do.
But wait, there's more...
If your son or daughter has
a musical skill besides singing and ringing that they would
like to share with others, have them contact Hilary Orlando.
She is always looking for young musicians who want to take
part in making a joyful noise on a Sunday morning, whether
as a soloist or with other musicians in the church. Christmas
is also the perfect opportunity to lend a hand (or voice or
instrument) to the holiday services.
We hope that this will be an educational, enjoyable
and worshipful experience for all in this new season! Welcome!
Hilary Orlando:
(215) 337-1808, email- kittyonthekeys@live.com
Jessica Iselin: email- jessicaiselin@yahoo.com
The 2010-2011 choir schedule is as follows:
SUNDAYS
10:20-10:40
Little FriendPreschool- Grade 1- Choir
10:40-11:00 Friends Grades 2-5 Handchimes & Mini
Bells
Youth Bells- Immediately Following the Service
Jessica Iselin, Interim Youth Director
WEDNESDAYS – Adult Choirs
7:00-8:00 PM – Readington Ringers (handbells)
8:00-9:00 PM – Chancel Choir
Hilary Orlando, Director
*****
Readington
Reformed Church
124
Readington Road (Rt. 620), P.O. Box #1, Readington, NJ
08870
Tel: 908-534-2077; Fax: 908-534-0868
www.readingtonreformed.org
office@readingtonreformed.org
pastorcathy@readingtonreformed.org
Cathy Gumpert, Pastor
Donna Freeman & Sandy Vitez; Co-Chairs, Christian Education
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