Children's Ministry

Youth Ministry

Women's Ministry

Music Ministry

Missions and Outreach

Caring Ministry

Small Group Ministries

UCC Medfield
496 Main Street
Medfield, MA 02052-2515
Tel: 508 359 2351
Fax: 508 359 2352

Welcome to our Children’s Ministry program at UCC Medfield. Our ministry program involves children in the nursery through fifth grade who have Christian education during the 9:30 Sunday morning worship or 11:00 Praise Worship Service. The purpose of our children’s ministry program is to teach all our children about God’s great love for them. This great love is revealed over and over in the greatest book ever written…The Holy Bible!

We will continue to use Exploring Faith by Cokesbury as our curriculum guide for this exciting faith journey!!!! The publisher’s mission statement for this curriculum is to “help children and the adults who work with them:

• develop a deep and life-giving relationship with God
• respond in faith to Jesus Christ’s redeeming love,
• seek and trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit for their lives,
• recognize the Holy Bible as the Word of God, the primary guide for faith and practice, and
• identify themselves as children of God and grow in discipleship-exploring the calls of God, the teachings of Jesus, and the witness of the church.”

Our fourth grade students will be using a curriculum called Bible Basics as they prepare to receive their gift Bibles in late October.

In addition to the curriculums noted above, please refer to the Christian Education handbook for grade level goals and objectives for each class.

Class Information

Nursery/Toddler Program
Nursery care is available at both services for children up to three years old. Judy Lorantos begins her third year with us this fall as our nursery caregiver and will provide consistent care for our youngest attendees. Parents will be asked to volunteer in the nursery on a rotating basis to ensure two adults are present in the nursery at all times.

All nursery/toddler parents will receive a Nursery/Toddler Parent Handbook. It outlines all the policies and procedures at UCC to ensure a safe and caring nursery ministry. Parents are asked to fill out a nursery registration form that is kept on file in the nursery/toddler room. Safety of our youngest attendees is our top priority and we have strict check-in and dismissal procedures. At drop-off, parents are given a silent pager that we can activate from the nursery if the parent is needed during worship. In addition, this pager MUST be presented at dismissal to release your child. Given the nursery is an appealing play space; it tends to attract youth as well as unsupervised children. It is our intention to keep the nursery as a clean and safe place for our smallest attendees. Therefore, the nursery will be locked when it is not being used on Sunday morning, by the MOMs groups, or other authorized times.

New this fall at 9:30
Starting in October, we are introducing a children’s worship service on the first Sunday of every month. All children (except nursery/toddlers) will gather in the Great Room at 9:30 for a 20 minute worship service. We will sing lively Praise songs, pray, receive our offerings and listen to a short message before heading off to class. Parents are NOT expected to stay with their children during this worship time.

Preschool -9:30 Service
Teachers are in the classrooms from 9:20 a.m. each Sunday morning(except the first Sunday of the month where children report directly to the Great Room) to greet the children. Classes start at 9:30 a.m. and continue until worship is over. Parents MUST pickup their children at the classrooms at the conclusion of the service.

Kindergarten-5th Grade-9:30 Service
Children in kindergarten through 5th grade who attend the 9:30 morning worship with their parents are dismissed to Sunday School after the Children’s Message(except on the first Sunday of the month when they report directly to the Great Room). Class time runs till 10:30 a.m.

Children up to 3rd grade must be picked up by their parents at their classrooms. We strongly encourage all parents to pick up each child but leave it up to the parent’s discretion for the 4th and 5th graders. Please be mindful that your children’s safety in and around the building is one of our biggest priorities.

Multi-age-11:00 Service
Children whose families worship at the 11:00 Praise Service will be invited to join their parents in the Great Room until after the sermon. Children will then be dismissed to a multi-age Sunday School classroom for approximately 15 minutes. This class will use a modified lesson plan from Exploring Faith curriculum.

We are blessed to have a talented and dedicated Children's Ministry teaching staff for 2007-2008.

Pre-K 1 (Room 201)
Hilli Passas, Dawn Stoddard, Beth Morrill, Kirsty Young

Pre-K 2 (Room 103)
Beth Bauman, Janice Marble, Denise Luczak

Kindergarten (Room 104)
Carol Scott, Wendy Carlson, Erin Langton

1st Grade (Room 105)
Monica Bushnell, Mary Beth White

2nd Grade (Room 203)
Kathy Mills

3rd Grade (Meeting Room)
Kathe Farris, Valerie Cleverdon

4th Grade (Room 204)
Ken and Marge Swedeen, Art Davies, Shubh Sethi

5th Grade (Fellowship Hall)
Barbara Seeglitz, Rachel Brown

11:00 Multi-age (Room 204)
Cathy Chung, Annie Domeshek, Kathleen McMahon

Nursery Coordinator
Judy Lorantos

Cherub Choir Director
Heidi Willson

Peeking through the Sunday School Windows
If you would like a glimpse into what our students are exploring each month, check out our column, Peeking through the Sunday School windows, which we update each month in the Beacon. For the latest column, click on Peeking Through the Sunday School Window. (info below)

PEEKING THROUGH THE SUNDAY SCHOOL WINDOWS YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN:

the children in the pre-k 1 class planting green bean seeds in a container to take home (and care for) after reading the Parable of the Sower.

The pre-k 2 students learning about love and forgiveness by reading and talking about the Prodigal Son story.

the kindergarten class playing “Flash a Smile” which is a game where kids spread God’s love by smiling and saying a kind word to each other.

The first grade class learning The Lord’s Prayer and making a picture collage inspired by the story of The Good Samaritan.

the second graders being amazed at how small mustard seeds are after listening to the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

the third graders learning about the Parable of the Sower and then making envelopes with “miracle seeds” in them which are Bible verses for them to read during Lent.

the fourth graders, discussing who authored the Gospels and then playing a game to help remember the first four disciples.

our fifth grade students discussing what they observed after viewing the Communion service in the sanctuary.

After reading the Parable of the 4 Soils, the multiage class learned how God’s word grows in us depending on our willingness to listen and our daily actions.