Attached is a newsletter detailing the activities your children have participated in since our new Sunday School year began in September. It also tells of some upcoming activities over the next two months. 

Thank you,

Jackie Davies

Please review the attached Sunday School Schedule. Adjustments were made to accommodate present enrollment.

–for Jaclyn Davies

What a year we have all had! The second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021 has been such a unique experience for so many people, especially students and educators, who had to learn how to navigate the virtual learning environment. Although the Church of the Good Shepherd had to close its doors for awhile and, as a result, suspend the in-person Sunday School program, we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to offer Sunday School programming for our Church families virtually during the Lenten Season of 2021.

During this five-week online program, the children attended live virtual sessions, and learned many valuable lessons about God’s love for all of us. Both teachers and students alike benefited from the lively discussions and fun activities.

During the Week #1 session, we discussed the topics of kindness and forgiveness. Our Pre-K through 1^st grade group learned about the story of “The Kind Man”, based on Luke 10:25-37, and discussed various ways they can show kindness to others. The older children learned the story of “The Unmerciful Servant”, based on Matthew 18:21-35, and discussed the importance of forgiving others.

In Week #2, the children learned that God loves us unconditionally. We discussed some of the parables that Jesus used to teach about this unconditional love that God has for us, as well as continuing last week’s discussions about forgiveness. The children shared their thoughts about how God’s love is different than people’s love, why it’s important to love and forgive others because God loves us, and ways in which we can all follow Jesus’ example to love others.

For the Week #3 session, the children learned about the importance of giving. They heard a bible story about a poor widow who gave everything she had as an offering to her church, and how even though her offering was very small, Jesus considered it to be far greater than the rich people who gave only the extra money they had left over after buying everything they wanted. Jesus taught that when we give, we worship and honor God. The children discussed how giving an offering is one way to thank God and show that we love him. We talked about the many wonderful ways our church uses the offerings our church community provides to share the good news about Jesus’ love. Finally, the children learned that God wants us to be cheerful givers. We shouldn’t give because we feel we have to. Rather, we should give because we love God and want to worship him! God has given us everything we have, and giving back to the church is a way to say thank you for all that God has given us.

In Week #4, This week in Sunday school, we talked about a very important verse in the Bible: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The children listened to a bible story about how Jesus was welcomed by the people. Then, the children discussed how exciting parades can be, and how they would feel if they saw Jesus riding down their street. We also talked about what it means to be a Christian. The children learned that a Christian is someone who admits our sin, believes in Jesus, and confesses that Jesus is our Savior. They also learned that Christians should obey God’s commands, follow his plan, and tell others about Jesus. Finally, we discussed the Good News that God loves us and he planned from the beginning to send Jesus. He knew that people would disobey him and sin. Sin separates us from God, but God sent his perfect son Jesus here to die for our sins because he loves us. The children discussed how it makes them feel to know that God loves us all that much.

For our final lesson during Week #5, we learned about the importance of Easter, and how it is a time to remember how Jesus died on the cross and came back to life. We encouraged the children to take time to thank God and celebrate that Jesus is alive. We also discussed various ways that we can all celebrate the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection with all of our family, friends and neighbors.

The program culminated with a fun Easter Egg Hunt held on the Church grounds. Although we made sure to follow recommended social distancing and masking protocols, all of the families who attended had a wonderful time!

We are so thankful to the families who participated in this program! It was a true blessing to be able to share the Lenten Season with our Sunday School community, despite the difficult situation created by the pandemic. We look forward to returning to Church in the fall for in-person classes and family-friendly activities!

Days are getting longer and the hint of summer warmth is in the air! Hard to believe this Sunday is our last Sunday School session of the school year!

As most of you know, our Sunday School program is always evolving.  We are constantly looking for ways to breathe new life into our program.  This year we introduced Outreach Activities at the start of our classroom sessions.  The students worked on activities like “Color a Smile”, painting pumpkins and making greeting cards for Vets and Bucket Fillers.

Speaking of changes, my term as Sunday School director will come to a close this May.  I began leading the program in 2016 alongside Jenniffer Harrington and was joined this year by Kathy Pastiu.  Going forward, Brad and Jackie Davies have graciously agreed to lead the program.  Brad and Jackie have been members of Good Shepherd for the past few years and are actively involved in Sunday School, both teaching in the classroom and leading Youth Fellowship activities.    I am absolutely thrilled to have Brad and Jackie lead our program and look forward to watching it continue to evolve and grow.

Please join us this Sunday for our last lesson of the school year.  The students will be working together on a Youth Fellowship exercise to create bookmarks for our newcomers.  Next Sunday we will honor our students and teacher volunteers during announcements followed by an ice cream party for the students!

On a personal note, it has been my absolute pleasure leading Sunday School for the past three years and incredibly rewarding getting to know your children and watching them grow.  Thank you for your commitment to our program and all of the support you have provided!

-Amanda

While Sunday School has taken a break for summer recess, it’s the perfect time to tell you about our Sunday School committees.

Our Sunday School is led by Amanda McNally and Jenniffer Harrington, however,  they do not run the program alone!  Seven committees make up the entire program, each an important component to a thriving Sunday School.  We invite you to read through the description of each committee below.  In early August we’ll hold our 2017/2018 Sunday School planning meeting and we hope you to attend!  If you are interested in joining a committee, we’d love to have you!  Fresh ideas and eager hands are what make our program a success!

• Student Registration/Attendance : Without students, we have no Sunday School program.  This committee is responsible for driving attendance and scouting new attendees through social media, mail, email and various other methods.  This commitee is also responsible for ensuring consistent attendance.
• Teacher Recruitment:  While students are critical to our program; we need folks to teach them!  This committee is responsible for maintaining a full roster of teacher volunteers as well as helping with teacher training and appreciation.
• Bible Story Committee:  At 10am each Sunday, our students begin Sunday School by gathering as a larger group to hear a bible story as told or read by a parishioner volunteer.   This committee is responsible for identifying, scheduling and notifying the volunteers.  They are also responsible for providing recommendations to determine which stories are told each school season.
• Children’s Snack:  At the end of the service, the children gather with their families in the Parish Hall where a snack table is set up especially for our youth parishioners.  This committee is responsible for set up of the table and coordinating snack donations.
• Youth Fellowship/Special Events:  Our Sunday School program goes well beyond classroom learning.  Several times a year our students participate in Youth Fellowship group lessons and other special events or outreach.  This committee is responsable for developing those events and coordinating the details.

Please prayerfully consider joining one of our committees!  Look for an announcement soon regarding our August planning meeting.  We’d love to have you!

In just three short days, we will be closing the chapter on the 2016/2017 school year.  As I sit here preparing to celebrate our teacher volunteers this Sunday and award our spectacular students the following Sunday, I can truly say I am overcome with emotion.

Last August, on some of the hottest days of summer, several dedicated parishioners spent weeks scrubbing, painting, hammering, hauling and preparing for our 2016/2017 school year.  Several nights were spent gathering in the conference room poring over ideas, survey results and countless curriculums (no really….countless).  We planned committees, dissected small details and dug in–finalizing the kick off of the school year.  No detail was left unplanned and it truly did “take a village”.  We had two simple goals: more teachers, higher attendance.

Just three days shy of our final day, I am so unbelievably proud to say…mission accomplished!  We had more than THIRTY FIVE teacher volunteers this year (and even had two teachers per classroom).  Our attendance on a few weeks hit over 40 and averaged in the low thirties.  Some days our high school room was ‘standing room only’.

I am so proud of the work done by our committee members Elizabeth Nelson, Pat Braidwood, Jen Handley, Lori Bathurst, Dana Szilier, Jack Daugherty and Chris Southwick and the incredible generosity of all our teacher volunteers!  And I am so very thankful for my Sunday School partner, Jenn Harrington.

I hope you all join us this Sunday for a wonderful tribute to our teachers and next Sunday as we recognize our students.

I’m looking forward to the 2017/2018 school year!

-Amanda

Hard to believe we are winding down the 2016/2017 Sunday School year.  We kicked off the second half of the year introducing several new iniatives, activities and an outreach opportunity.

In January, we began our High School Guest Speaker program.  We have had an overwhelmingly positive response to this program.  Topics have been quite diverse ranging from volunteer opportunites,  batteling illnesses,  stress management and more.  Attendance has flourished in our High School class with some Sunday’s at standing room only!

In February, our kids participated in a Youth Fellowship on Miracles.  Lori Bathurst and Dana Szilier led the group in an interactive discussion followed by two activites.

In March, we introduced the Sunday Paper.  This weekly periodical is sent home with the students each Sunday offering lectionary based stories and activites–a great complient to our Buzz curriclum.

April has been quite busy as well!  Many generous parishoners donated snacks to help us prepare Snack Bags for the Angels of God Snack Bag program.  This program provides snacks to less fortunate youth in the Gloucester County area.  On Palm Sunday, the kids decorated brown paper lunch bags and filled them to the brim with lots of yummy, healthy snacks!  Bags were then donated to Angels of God in Pitman.  During the Youth Fellowship, the students also took part in a Palm Sunday story and craft–certainly a busy day for our kids!

Following our Easter Sunday service, the kids were treated to an Egg Hunt hosted by our Youth Group.  The children eagerly anticpate this annual tradition and love searching for eggs filled with treasures and treats.

This coming Sunday starts the final teaching term for the 2016/2017 school year.  The last day of Sunday School will be May 7th.  We will be continuing with Buzz curriculum as well as the Sunday Paper for the 2017/2018 school year.  As always we welcome and appreciate your comments, thoughts and feedback!