Nursery care

Every Sunday nursery care is provided for babies, toddlers and children to age 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. We have two nursery care providers who provide a loving and safe environment for children. Our nursery care providers have been screened and educated about our Safe Sanctuary policies.

9:00-9:50 am Sunday School

Information about current topics in Sunday School is shared with parents via email and can also be found in the children and youth news page

Pre-kindergarten through first grade

Pre-Kindergarten through Second grade students will begin with music time with Julie Mazer at 9:00 AM. Then they will hear a Bible story using a sensory-motor style of storytelling. The students will experience God as well as learning about God.  Additional materials are provided to enhance their response to the stories. Most of the story figures and materials have been crafted by church members. The curriculum uses Following Jesus written by Sonja M. Stewart.

Third through fifth grades

Third through Fifth grade students move through a variety of active stations to help them develop their own relationship with God. The students listen to signature stories of the Bible using Godly Play written by Jerome W. Berryman. Opportunities are provided for them to experience and practice spiritual disciplines and to nurture their relationship with God for a lifetime, using The Way of the Child written by Wynn McGregor.

Students receive their own Bibles and learn how to use them with the hope that the Bible will become their lifelong companion. The older children assist the younger ones in getting to know the Bible. They have also participated in hands-on projects, such as art murals, backpack project, and creating board games to share with elders.

Middle School (sixth through eighth grades)

During the 9 am hour, we offer programming for middle school youth in a three-year rotation including two years of religious education and one year of comprehensive sexuality education called Our Whole Lives. More information.

10 a.m. During Worship

Children are welcome in worship. Children through age 4 may be in the nursery during worship. There is usually a Time for Children in worship after the first hymn. Most weeks, children in grades 2 through 5 are invited to Music Connections for the remainder of the worship hour. Older children may also come to Music Connections as helpers. Parents may take children into the Crossroads or Friendship Hall, where they will still be able to hear the worship service. When staffing permits, we offer craft playtime during worship for younger children. On Communion Sundays (generally the first Sunday of a month), children return to worship to take Communion. We practice open Communion and believe that even young children should partake of Communion, but parents are invited to instruct their own children regarding Communion.

Middle school (6th-8th grade) at 9:00 am on Sundays

We offer a three-year rotation for youth in middle school. Two of the years the youth examine confirmation topics such as the Bible as Story, the teachings, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the early church and early followers of Christ and their ability to live from a Spirit of forgiveness, inclusion and non-violence. We study the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr’s spiritual leadership of nonviolence and justice. 

We include activities and experiences that help youth learn about our Christian history, tradition and heritage. We also include a unit called Co-exist where we study six major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, and Christianity and spend a weekend in Milwaukee experiencing some of these religions and their practices.

One year of our middle school programming is devoted to teaching OWL (Our Whole Lives) which is a comprehensive sexuality program based on the following values: sexual health, inclusivity and justice, self-worth, and responsibility. Some of the topics that are covered include: healthy relationships, dating, relationship skills, sexual orientation, gender identity, body image, values, anatomy and physiology, responsible sexual behavior, lovemaking, consent, sexuality, social media and internet, and sexual decision making.

The rite of Confirmation

We offer the rite of Confirmation to 8^th graders and high school youth, and meet with them apart from the Sunday School hour for three 90-minute gatherings. During these gatherings we go through the Phoenix Affirmations, the confirmation vows, learn more about the UCC—local and national information, and also the many ways to be involved in church leadership as members. This is similar to how we help people become new members of our church. In spring, we celebrate in worship those youth who want to be confirmed and become members of the church.

High School Youth

We invite High School youth to provide leadership during the 9:00 Sunday School hour and/or during Music Connections that occurs during 10:00 worship. This involves assisting in Sunday School for younger children, and assisting our Children’s Music Director with the music program for kids. Many of our youth are involved in Tru Function, our youth rock band. They rehearse every Sunday during the school year.

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We do have occasional youth gatherings for fundraising purposes or for social and celebratory events.

Youth Mission Trip (for youth going into 8th grade and older)

Every summer youth are invited to a weeklong mission trip for work, service, and learning. In years past we have gone to Greensboro, NC, Birmingham, AL, Roanoke, VA, Orland, ME, Philadelphia, PA, Santa Fe, NM, and Alamosa, CO. On these trips youth participate in all sorts of work projects including painting, river clean-up, animal care, sorting clothes, cooking, gardening, and providing care for children. Once every five years we offer a Civil Rights Learning and Service trip spending one day in Memphis, Tennessee and then a week of service and learning in Birmingham, Alabama.