Children in Worship

As Jesus did, we welcome children of all ages as integral members of the Body of Christ, and we welcome the sounds and activity that accompany their worship. We believe that being in church helps kids learn how to pray, listen, and sing, while they strengthen their relationship with God. We provide a special space in our worship space called the Prayground, where children aren’t expect to sit still but to wiggle and engage their hands and minds in different activities as they worship among us.

Learn more about the Prayground and tips for supporting your children during worship at St. Gregory’s.

Spiritual Growth Classes for Children

Our Spiritual Growth classes are organized into topical series throughout the school year. Both children and adults explore the same themes each Sunday, but with different activities and lenses.

September Series:
How Do We Make Sacred Space?

Children and adults can learn skills for creating sacred space in their everyday lives. A sacred space is any place and time where we pay attention to God’s presence among us.

Our ability to make sacred space for ourselves and others — not just “at church” but everywhere — is one of the most important ways we change the world, with God’s help. What moments, conversations, fights, tensions, celebrations might be transformed by enveloping them in the sacred? How might we make sacred spaces in our home life, at school, in our playtime, in our work, in our rest, in our civic discourses, in our alone time?

Series Schedule

September 7
Intergenerational Class: Sensing the Sacred

The skill of mindful sensing.

Come to this intergenerational class to start learning skills for making sacred space. Our senses are our first way of experiencing the presence of God, and learning how to sense mindfully takes practice!

September 14
Where is the Sacred?

The skill of paying attention to emptiness and architecture, light and darkness, color and texture, atmosphere and mood.

Children will explore different places and things called “sacred” from around the world, including Christian sacred spaces, but also from other traditions … and some spaces that don’t seem very religious at all. Children will consider what these spaces have in common, and what we can learn from how others have created sacred space.

September 21
Altars & Sacred Toys

The skill of being playful with objects to use them for sacred purposes.

Children will be given an interactive tour of our central sacred space here at St. Gregory’s. They will be guided through different stations, where they will learn about the colors that mark different seasons in our calendar, why we set the table a certain way for Holy Communion, and how to “read” stained glass. Children will then use different items to build their own individual “altars,” to practice use a sense of playfulness to create a space where they become aware of God’s presence.

September 28
Make Your Own Sacred Space

The skills of using breath, meditation, and imagination to make sacred space anywhere.

Children will sample different, age-appropriate exercises for using breath, silence, and their own imaginations to center themselves in God’s presence. Children will then get a chance to design their own sacred spaces, a place they can always imagine entering when they need to become aware of God’s presence in all the different circumstances of life.

October Series:
How Do We Share the World?

The world is big and messy, and it’s hard to figure out how to share it with all the different people whom God has made. It may seem especially hard these days, but it always has been hard. The good news, then, is we can lean on the wisdom of those people of faith who have struggled to answer this same question.

In this series, we will journey through the beautiful — and sometimes baffling — spirituality of Saint Francis of Assisi. He teaches us that perhaps the way we can figure out how to share the world is not by having the best ideas but by doing the best practices …

Series Schedule

October 5
Intergenerational Class:
The Practice of Blessing our Fellow Creatures

Intergenerational event: We will hear the story of St. Francis and the Birds. We will learn what it means to bless, and why blessing other creatures can help us to share the world with them. We will build

October 12
The Practice of Seeking the Vulnerable

We will hear the story of St. Francis and the Leper. We will learn what it means to be “vulnerable” in the world in many different ways. What are the ways we can seek the vulnerable through better knowledge, deeper relationship, and shared ministry?

October 19
The Practice of Living with Less

We will hear the story of St. Francis and the Robber. Our instincts tell us to hold onto more than we need — after all, we might need it later! And, we often end up with piles of stuff that we never end up using and then just throw out. What would it look like to take less to begin with? How much do we really need in order to be happy?

October 26
The Practice of Holy Foolishness

We will hear stories about how St. Francis preached by dancing and telling jokes, modeling himself on a type of entertainer called a jongleur. The practice of foolishness dissolved all considerations of rank or privilege, and opened Francis to loving all people and serving only God.

Special Guest Teachers!
We will be joined this Sunday by the founders of the Ensemble Society, a youth theater company dedicated to fostering creativity, community, and growth through unique productions, ensemble collaboration, and comprehensive training.

Our Values for Children & Youth

  • We assume every child is already on their journey of lifelong spiritual growth. So, we take seriously the relationship they already have with their Creator and the big questions they already have about life.

  • We seek to empower parents/guardians to be their child’s primary guide during this stage of their lifelong spiritual growth. 

  • No matter what else we do, we give every child relationships with adults who are compassionate to them and who show interest in them and in their future.

  • We commit to inviting, welcoming, and including all young people, celebrating the diversity of their identities and of their families.

  • We create opportunities for kids to serve and to grow in all areas of St. Gregory’s ministries – not just in the classroom.