The 2006/7 Sunday School year ended on the Feast of Pentecost with a great celebration.
This Fall, students will meet their teachers and classmates at a parish picnic on Sept 9, 2007 following the 10 am liturgy. Classes will begin the following week on Sunday, Sept 16.
Akaloo (Grades 1-5)
Akaloo is a noun, a verb, and a blast! The name Akaloo is inspired by the Greek word akolouthein which means to follow. Jesus said to His disciples, “Follow Me.” Drop your nets. A new life awaits you. Akaloo is based on this simple, radical call to discipleship. Akaloo brings an enduring perspective to disciple building, offering a program of intentional discipleship. With Akaloo, disciples grow through age-appropriate questions that increase in complexity and repeat across the lifespan.
The Journey to Adulthood (Grades 6-12)
J2A just returned from their 2007 pilgrimage to Toronto! Ask them about their trip!
J2A just returned from their 2007 pilgrimage to Toronto! Ask them about their trip!
J2A is a complete youth ministry program of spiritual formation for 6th - 12th grades. It uses Bible study, prayer, rites of passage, outreach ministries and both serious and playful activities to underscore its core principles:
1) Manhood and womanhood are free gifts from God
2) Adulthood must be earned.
There are two segments of the program:
Rite-13: The first years focus on celebrating the individuality of each young person and their creative potential. The Rite-13 liturgy (A celebration of Manhood and Womanhood) is the community expression of this.
The J2A-ers travel to Toronto in June to make their pilgrimage.
J2A: The latter years engage youth with the skills and critical thinking involved in adulthood. The youth plan and embark on a pilgrimage together at the end of this segment.
27 Conshohocken State Rd
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
610-664-0966
For more information
on these programs contact:
Children’s Formation
Youth Formation
Making Lifelong Disciples
Christ consistently used the expression “follower.” He never asks for admirers, worshippers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for.
Jesus came across two fishers casting their nets from the seashore, two ordinary people doing their ordinary jobs, and he said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish
for people.” That simple invitation—or, rather, the person who issued it—would change those fishers’ lives forever. With a few words they became disciples of Jesus Christ. Not admirers (though they surely admired him) and not adherents (though they surely agreed with his teachings), but followers.
Jesus strolled into their everyday surroundings as they went about their everyday work and called them to follow him. It’s noteworthy that Jesus’ disciples struggled mightily with the task of following him. They peppered Jesus constantly with questions, they bickered with one another about which of them was the best, they panicked when the seas rose around them, and in the end they abandoned him and hid like cowards. It seems that whatever of Jesus’ attributes the disciples acquired, they did so because of close proximity to him.
They didn’t become his disciples through their own effort or will, but simply by experiencing Jesus firsthand. They were present when he healed the lame, fed the hungry, and raised the dead.
Jesus’ invitation—“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people”—is an invitation to become an inviter. In fact, the call to discipleship is the act of sinful, imperfect beings inviting other sinful, imperfect beings, not to become perfect or sinless, but to follow the one who is.
Discipleship means to gather up in as close proximity to Jesus as we can as often as we can and experience him, the Word of God made flesh in all his healing, feeding, resurrecting glory, until he comes again.
