Nursery Age (0-2 years old)
A nursery is provided for children under the age of 3. Once you’ve entered the front space, just past the bathrooms and down the hallway, you will find the baby gate entrance to the nursery. Volunteers inside will collect your contact information in case of emergency; please inform them of any pertinent information so that they may best care for your child(ren).
Through the helpful service of so many people in our congregation, we provide a 4 to 1 ratio of children to volunteers. Our volunteers are not just parents but include everyone from young, single people to empty nesters and everyone in between. Children in the nursery play together, read books with the adults and participate in age-appropriate faith formation activities, such as prayer before snack and singing Bible songs.
Children and Worship (ages 3 through Kindergarten)
Children and Worship is for children ages 3 through Kindergarten. As the name suggests, we work to make this room an age-appropriate worship space where we both follow a similar liturgy to CRC’s worship service as well as engage in wondering questions about Bible stories. We use Young Children and Worship as our guiding curriculum, with stories from creation through the New Testament. Each Sunday between Labor Day and Memorial Day, Children and Worship kids are dismissed after the passing of the peace (to allow them to first worship with their families), and parents are asked to pick their child up at the close of the service. The classroom is taught and supported by 2 rotating volunteers each week and is located right outside the main sanctuary doors next to the bathrooms.
1st-3rd Grade Sunday School
During the school year, our 1st through 3rd Grade Sunday School meets 3 Sundays in a month, and these children leave after the passing of the peace and return near the close of the sermon. This structure allows them to worship and participate in communion with their families while also engaging in scripture at an age-appropriate level. We use the Jesus Storybook Bible curriculum as our guiding resource, with a 2-year scope and sequence of lessons. This classroom has 2 rotating volunteer teachers each week.
4th-6th Grade Sunday School
The 4th through 6th Grade Sunday School class meets before the service (from 8:30-9:15am) 3 Sundays in a month during the school year. We use the New City Catechism curriculum as our guiding resource, with a 2-year scope and sequence of lessons, to help our students engage in questions and conversations around what we believe. This class is taught by 1 rotating teacher each week.
Middle-High School Catechism Class
Our middle school and high school youth participate in a catechism class which meets before the service (8:30-9:15am) 3 Sundays in a month during the school year. We are using the book Deep Down Faith as well as the creeds and confessions of our denomination to explore what we believe and how that changes the way we live.
7th-12th Grade Mentoring
At City Reformed, our middle school and high school students are paired with adult mentors who walk with them through these important years of faith formation. We strive to make these connections both relational (so the student has a positive adult faith influence in addition to parents) as well as a place for hard questions and good conversations to happen. Many of our students walk through catechism with their mentors. As we grow as a church body, we are also seeking ways to provide opportunities for this age group to connect both socially and spiritually.
