We love children and teenagers at St Mary’s!
Our baptismal prayer asks God to “give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, the spirit to know and love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.”
Children Are An Important Part of Our Community
We take this seriously, investing much time and money and attention into nurturing young people in community. It’s rather cliche to say ‘it takes a village’ – but – it takes a village. We believe that. We try to live that out in Christian community, which for us means trying to pattern our lives after Jesus’ way of compassion, contemplation, and justice. Our desire is that each young person knows they were created by a God who loves them unconditionally, delights in their unique gifts and differences, and has invested in them gifts needed for the healing of the world.
Our desire is for them to know the stories of Jesus because we believe in them is the key to living a purposeful and grateful life. Our desire is to have them be an invaluable part of worship, and to be such a part of community that their triumphs and disappointments are shared with people who know them by name.
Living in community means that they are free to make forts out of the sofa cushions at coffee hour. It means that their insights into God’s activity in the world are as highly valued as anyone else’s. It means their help is expected, just like anyone else’s, serving hot dogs at picnics or emptying the dishwasher or taking food to the food-shelf.
Together we hold up the values of generosity, humility, independent thinking, and respecting the dignity of every human being. We encourage gratitude and prayer. And we laugh a lot.
Programming for Children and Youth
There are many ways for children and youth to participate in life at Saint Mary’s. For information about Children’s Programming please follow the links below.
- Are you interested in how to connect with other parents and families? Check out our Beginnings group.
- Are you interested in Baptism?
- Find out how children participate in our community here.
- Religious education is important at Saint Mary’s. In this unusual year, we have had some unusual but fun options for Christian formation. Learn about how we are reaching families.
- Our Tweeners group consists of children in third through sixth grade. This year, they are meeting through zoom and focusing on connection!
- Youth play an important role in our community– learn about Youth Group and how we engage our teenagers at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church. This year, our youth group is in person on Wednesday nights.
For information about Children’s Programs, go here.
On these web pages you can see a wide variety of programming for children and youth at St. Mary’s, ably coordinated by our talented Children’s/Youth Director MiaLisa Millares.
Safe Church Training
We heartily encourage inviting friends at anything we do, so know that new faces are always expected and warmly included. Know that we have gone out of our way to make sure that St. Mary’s is a safe place to be, through our Safe Church Training programs.