Christian Education

• For Scheduling of these events, see this page

The Alpha Program
          Alpha is a ten week course that is a practical exploration of the Christian faith.
          For a complete description, please see their home page.

Catechesis of the Good Shepard

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a religious education program for children. It was started in Italy and has been heavily influenced by the Montessori method.

This is a hands-on, low-keyed approach, but is highly structured.

Part I centers on The Good Shepherd Story and is for three- to six-year-olds.

Part II centers on the True Vine and is for six- to eight-year-olds. It builds on what was covered in Part I.

Part III centers on God’s Plan and builds on the previous two programs. It is designed for nine- to twelve-year-olds.  Saint Philip’s Church has been offering the program long enough to have had children come all the way through all three levels of the program.

Several years ago, Glen-Ann Jicha began attending teacher training for the program and from the first was assisted by Linda Smith. Mrs. Jicha has since retired, but Mrs. Smith continues to teach in cooperation with Peggy Morrill, Gretchen Johnson, Kay McElroy and Gretchen Schmalz.

The training program is quite extensive. It includes presentation materials and directions on building the many play sets used with the presentations.  Mrs. Smith has made many of the play sets required, but a number of parishioners have built some of the larger materials, which are used in the program.

They use many maps, which most adults would find helpful. They have a three-dimensional City of Jerusalem, which allows the children to see the geography of the city, as they build the walls of the city, and place the Temple and other landmarks in and near the city on the map.  Many of the play sets help illustrate Bible stories as well as the sacraments of the church.

One of the most impressive items is a large wooden box, which is used to introduce The Bible to the children. Inside the box are shelves with wooden books of various widths, representing each book of The Bible. The widths help the children visualize the fact that some of the books are short and others considerably longer. The name of each book appears on the binding.  Also each book has been color-coded based on the type of literature. For instance, the histories are one color, the Gospels another, the Wisdom books another, etc.

Sessions begin in the Prayer Corner, which will be decked based on the color for the current church season.  They typically begin with The Lord’s Prayer and move on to prayers offered by the children. One of the songs used helps the children learn each other’s names. A candle is lit whenever there is a reading from The Bible.

As the children move into the upper levels of the program they are more extensively introduced to The Bible and with The Book of Common Prayer, which is used universally by the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church is part of that Communion.

The third level students use an extensive time line and biblical genealogical charts. They are more fully introduced to the service, and the sacraments are explained in much greater depth. Last year [1999] was the first time that any of the St. Philip’s children completed the third year of the third program. Many were in a recent Confirmation Class. Mrs. Smith was impressed with the facility with which the children who had come through the program could find things in The Bible.

Beginning on Sunday, September 17 all three levels of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd will be offered. This will coincide with the 10 AM service for adults, which includes music and hymns. A nursery is also provided at the time of this service. Coffee Hour follows the 10 AM service.

The youth group is formed of both the junior and senior high students in the parish.

The Men's group was formed in 1992 to provide an opportunity for the men of the congregation to share in fellowship, prayer and study.  The group meets once a month in the church for breakfast at 7:00 am.  Discussions are confidential, and the group has studied and discussed many topics including the men's movement in the US, father-child relationships, personal spiritual development and prayer life.

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