Youth Formation & Worship

Information about Sunday programming from September through mid-June

To enroll your child in any of these programs, click HERE!

Nursery Care

St. John’s provides care for children through Pre-K1 from 9:50 AM to 11:30 AM (or to when the 10:00 AM service ends).Our Nursery is staffed by our professional caregiver, Vikki Reres and volunteer parents.

Sunday School Classes

For Both Sunday School classes, students start the service in their classrooms at 10am. (This is a change from last year, when the Elements of Faith group began in the big church.)

Children’s Chapel
Our young children (PreK to 3rd grade; families are also welcome) gather at 10:00 a.m. just outside the Sherwood Room located on the second floor of the Parish Hall. Music, prayers, and a Godly Play story follow the same order of service as in the “big church,” all designed to be especially meaningful to young children. To reinforce the Godly Play story, craft and activity time will follow.

Elements of Faith
This group uses a curriculum called Shine. It focuses on Stories of God’s People. It also follows a liturgical model that begins in prayer, moves to scripture, and then engages the children in reflection.

On Morning Prayer Sundays (2nd and 4th Sundays of the month), everyone stays in their class until services are over. Parents come to pick up the younger children at the end of the service.

On Holy Baptism (1st Sunday - and includes Eucharist) and Holy Eucharist Sundays (3rd & 5th Sundays), students return to the church and reconnect with their families for Communion. Parents may want to sit in the back of the church or balcony so that they can be found easily.

Confirmation Classes

Confirmation is a sacrament in which persons make a mature, public affirmation of their faith, a commitment to the responsibilities of the Christian life, and receive the laying on of hands by the bishop. (The person is confirming the promises that were made for them at baptism.) By custom, young people who are entering at least 7th grade are prepared for confirmation through a series of courses and community service. Aside from class time, confirmation students are expected to have regular Sunday attendance and take part in the Values & Virtues program on Sunday mornings.

There will be at eight classes for students and four corresponding classes for parents. The classes will be held every other week in the months prior to the May Confirmation. The classes for confirmands and parents will follow the 10:00 a.m. service.

For more information:
Please contact The Rev. Mary Beth Mills-Curran at marybeth@stjcsh.org or 516-692-6368 x2.