This year, the St. Matthew’s Children, Youth and Intergenerational Formation is seeking many Spirit-driven adults, young adults, and elders to support the intergenerational work of our ministry. Did you know that faith communities are some of the only places where all five living generations get a chance to spend time together? In our work of faith formation, we want to provide families, youth, and children with developmentally appropriate spaces and education opportunities, but we also want to create spaces where the incredible wisdom of different generations is shared effectively and lovingly.
This year we are making some changes to our classroom roles so that more adults can participate with smaller commitments. We will still want and need the traditional year-commitment from some adults, but we want to make sure that all adults, with varying degrees of commitment capacity, can serve in ministry with our young people. Some of our classes will be engaging a new curriculum built around the gifts of our community and the Greatest Commandment: love God, love Neighbor, love self. What ways do you love God? How do you love your Neighbor? How do you remind yourself that you are a beloved child of God? We want to share your answers to these questions with the young people of St. Matthew’s.
Below is a list of all the different ways that adults can participate in intergenerational formation here. As you read through these roles, you may find that God is calling you to participate in a certain way.
Guest Teachers
Guest teachers are invited in once or a few times to share something important to them on a topic or ministry. Guest teachers might teach students to bake, while explaining how cooking for others helps them live out their love of neighbor. They might help students fold origami flowers to give away to people on our prayer list. They might share a story, a way to pray, or an important ministry that they engage in at St. Matthew’s. If you have a passion, there is a way for you to share it and invite our young people into ministry through it.
Behind the Scenes
Our classrooms will have interesting activities, crafts, and displays that will occasionally need updating. People who love doing bulletin boards, cutting things out, or prepping costumes are always helpful.
Children’s Chapel Leaders
Children’s Chapel is a co-operative effort and we ask each parent to participate at least once. Chapel leaders are also be fun-loving, movement-oriented adults who can read storybooks, lead games, and sing silly Bible songs with movement. Chapel is designed to give kids a chance to pray and learn their own way. Chapel is usually every other week during the academic year.
Godly Play Storytellers
Godly Play Storytellers conduct a Godly Play class. They use calm, joyful presence to tell a story from the Bible to our youngest learners. This year, the class will be PreK - 2nd grade. Godly Play storytellers memorize their stories, and encourage children to wonder about stories without telling them the ‘correct’ way to hear the story. Godly Play storytellers commit to be a storyteller once a month or so for one year, and to be a doorkeeper as needed. We usually find that storytellers love this so much that they stay for years and years. A few of our storytellers have taught for more than ten or twenty years!
Godly Play Doorkeepers
Doorkeepers help create the sacredness of the Godly Play room by welcoming children into the space, assisting the storyteller, and helping children get their materials. Doorkeepers may also be asked to help facilitate special activities to reinforce a story. Some find doorkeeping to be a great way to experience Godly Play for the first time.
Classroom Anchor Teachers
Anchor teachers are adults who remain with a given cohort of children for the whole year. Anchor teachers commit to do some teaching, but are mostly a consistent adult presence in classrooms for one year. Anchor teachers also support guest teachers, and fill in if guest teachers aren’t available last minute. We are looking for two anchor teachers for our Middle School classroom (6th - 8th grade) and two anchor teachers for our Workshop classroom with 2nd - 6th grade. Classroom anchor teachers are safe church trained and support safe church requirements in the classroom.
Youth Activity Conveners
Youth Activity conveners can be parents, young adults, or adults who enjoy working with teens. They convene interesting social or service activities for our middle and high school groups to see movies, go out to dinner, have lock ins, go on hikes, or serve locally. Youth activity conveners work closely with Maggie to meet Safe Church requirements for youth gatherings.
Family Leadership Group
The Family Leadership group is a group of parents and invested adults who will convene family social activities, support family connectedness, and discern important values, directions, and goals for faith formation at St. Matthew’s. This group makes a monthly commitment for one year “terms.”
Are you feeling called to any of these vital roles in our community? Almost all adults have the ability to assist our intergenerational formation program, and the strength of our program relies on its capacity to create intergenerational relationships and learning. While we will make specific requests for guests, support, or roles throughout the year, now is a good time to ponder how you would like to serve our faith formation program. If you have a gift to share as a guest teacher, want to convene an activity, or are feeling called to become an anchor teacher, please reach out to Maggie Nancarrow at maggie@stmatthewsmn.org
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