Christian Education

The vision of our Christian Education is to provide a nurturing and learning environment for parishioners of all ages that will encourage spiritual growth and increased participation in our church.

Youth Ministry is the highest priority of all, because it enables growth in both youth and adults. The majority of people come to know Christ before the age of eighteen, yet most churches pitch their ministry to people over this age. A church must have an attractive youth program that allows children to be children and grow at their own speed. Such programs must provide time for young people to have fun with adult persons of faith, to get to know them, and to see them as role models. Any church youth program must receive broad support and participation from the adults.

The continued dedication of parents, teachers, guardians, and children is the bedrock of our Christian education at Trinity. Our current program is called "The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd."

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is an approach to the religious formation of children. It is rooted in the Bible, the liturgy of the church, and the educational principles of Maria Montessori. Children gather in an "atrium," a room prepared for them, which contains simple yet beautiful materials that they use.

You may be wondering how these materials help the religious life of children? If an adult hears a beautiful passage from the Bible, the adult might take a Bible, find the passage, and read it slowly again and again. He or she may think deeply about the words and perhaps speak to God in a thankful or hopeful prayer. But a little child, too young to read, needs another way. In an atrium the child can ponder a biblical passage or a prayer from the liturgy by taking the material for that text and working with it - placing wood figures of sheep in a sheepfold of the Good Shepherd, setting sculpted apostles around a Last Supper table, or preparing a small altar with the furnishings used for the Eucharist. Older children who do read often copy parables from the Bible, lay in order written prayers from the rite of baptism, or label a long time line showing the history of the kingdom of God.

The Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd http://www.cgsusa.org/index.htm