Board of Christian Education

This past year has been an exciting and successful one for the Board of Christian Education. May started the year when the boards combined. New members to the Board were Jo Clair (youth rep), Jerry Jones, Carol Kimmel, Stacey McHenry, Melissa Thompson and Karen Vigeant. Current members that remained on the Board were Marianne Anderson, Gail Gagnon, Katharyn Laudone, Kate Lawes, Susan Patton, Peter Richter, Linda Sill and Meg Taylor (youth rep).

In May assignments for the board members occurred. There are different individuals responsible for different areas of the board – from secretary, treasurer, childcare liaison, recruitment to special projects.

By June, the school year is winding down but not without a final church school celebration. Each grade and class was responsible for part of the church service – a true celebration to see the children celebrate God in scripture, singing, dancing, poetry, prayer and stories. There are over 80 teachers involved in the school program and they are each presented with a gift at the end of the year to show the church’s appreciation. The Board determines the appropriate gift and helps the Director and volunteers prepare the appreciation gifts.

Summer planning is well under way by June. Christian Education had a program planned that included summer church school for children ages 4-grade 8. Childcare for newborns through 4-year olds is always provided. The Board is very fortunate to have Cheryl Foley as the permanent childcare teacher. It is a source of comfort for the families of the very young to see the one consistent face taking care of their children. Over 30 children each week participated in summer church school. Over 20 teachers were involved with the summer teacher program. Vacation Bible School – Jesus Tour 2007: Get on Board was a big success. There were 70 children that attended Vacation Bible School and, again, many, many volunteers. The children spent the week learning about Jesus through arts, crafts, games, snacks, dance and prayer.

The beginning of the school year brought a lot of activity for the board as the official school year began. A new curriculum was purchased for the year. Church school sign-up began and over 200 infants and children were signed-up for Sunday church school. Additional opportunities for the children include a choice for the 5-6th graders to participate in Puppet Troupe or Explorers, a liturgical dance group new to the school year and choirs for all ages beginning at age 4. We introduced the children’s mission project – The Fred Wish School in Hartford. Each church school class will perform an activity to raise funds for the mission project, in addition any funds the children contribute will go towards the mission project. The plan was to buy books for each classroom and also each child to take home. There is a celebration of the 3-year olds who move into the formal Church school program takes place. Also, 3rd graders receive their very own Bibles. A review of Bibles occurred over the summer and a new, easier to read version was chosen for the children this year.

November brought about Board of the Month including a Moment of Sharing, ushering, and a note in the Reminder. We also performed a book sale so the congregation has an opportunity to purchase products for which they may not otherwise have access.

December was another busy month as the Annual Advent Workshop took place. This event is hosted by the Board of Christian Education and includes many volunteers and a variety of activities for families with children. This year, book reading and liturgical dancing was added to the craft activity options. We also invite individuals from South Park Inn homeless shelter to partake in the activities with us. Attendance was excellent (100-120 people). Cookies were collected as a donation and delivered to the VFW for the troops overseas. Over 50 dozen of cookies were collected from individuals who attended the Workshop to “go out into the world and proclaim the Good New to the whole creation.” The Board also coordinates the children’s service on Christmas Eve. Baby goods including diapers and wipes are collected at the service. Several refrigerator-sized boxes of goods were collected and donated to the Manchester YFS. In December, the Board of CE also sponsored one of the Giving Trees. The donations from the tree went to Glastonbury Family Services and over $1370 worth of gift cards were received. In addition, many winter hat and gloves were collected.

In March, the second Lenten Family Workshop took place. The families that attended took a path through Holy Week through stories, food, games and prayer. Over 70 individuals attended the workshop and it was very well-received.

Plans for this coming summer are going well. Summer church school (self-esteem is the theme) and Vacation Bible School (The power of One – anyone can make a difference) are the two events that will take most of the time and talent of individuals on the Board. Board members will be more involved this summer as the Director position will be vacant for the summer.

The mission project for the Fred Wish School met its goal. The goal was to collect $5000 to purchase books for the school and its children. At the time this report was written, over $6000 had been collected.

During this year, we came in right on budget.

During the year, members of the Board were involved in activities to increase the CE Director’s hours and title. We would like the position to be ordained and full-time. At the time of this report, the position was approved for 32 hours and ordained.

Respectfully submitted,
Linda Sill, Chair

BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

2009 Gail Gagnon
2009 Kate Lawes - chair
2009 Katharyn Laudone
2009 Linda Sill
2010 Carol Kimmel
2010 Jerry Jones - vice chair
2010 Melissa Thompson
2010 Stacy McHenry
2010 Karen Vigeant
2011 Kate McDonald
2011 Tim Wildman
2011 Laura Wildman
2010 Jen Kernisan
2011 Leslie Donovan
Youth Representatives - Johanna Clair, Kyle Kulas