home
Education
for Children & Adults

back

 All Saint's Club

Our education program begins with Church School for children and young people. We call our Church School All Saints’ Club, because each year our classes chose new patron saints—and because we are all destined to be saints. Our classes meet in four-week blocks throughout the year (check the web-site calendar for the current schedule—perhaps a link). Classes begin immediately after liturgy and include a Bible story or Saint’s story, a spiritual life lesson, a craft or hands-on activity, music, and a snack. Beginning fall 2010, there will be five classes in All Saints’ Club. The Pre-K/Kindergarten class is for children ages 4 and 5 (younger children are welcome to attend if their parents accompany them). There will be a 1st and 2nd grade class, a 3rd and 4th grade class, and a 5th and 6th grade; the oldest class, the young adult group, is open to all middle school and high school students.

The pre-school class is for children ages 4 and 5 (in order to be in the class, children must be 4 before September 1st).

Elementary school instruction is arranged in three classes: 1st-2nd grade, 3rd-4th grade, and 5th-6th grade..
The young adult class is open to middle and high school students and meets in our dedicated youth room (remodeled by the students!)

Also in the fall of 2010, we will also begin adding classroom space to our new facility. That means by early 2011, we will have four new rooms for our pre-school and elementary classes. The middle school and high school class will spend the summer remodeling a large room in the parish house which will then become their meeting place. We are excited about this up-coming expansion and grateful to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the opportunity to provide our children and young people with the best possible environment for learning.

Of course, education is just as important for adults as it is for children and young people. So, just about every Saturday afternoon of the year, we have classes for adults. The classes begin at 5pm, and end in time for the Ninth Hour and Great Vespers. Every week, our priest, Fr Aidan Wilcoxson teaches Orthodox Instruction, which is our basic course on Orthodox beliefs and practices; this course is required for everyone who is interested in becoming Orthodox, but many other people attend as well. On the second Saturday of the month, Subdeacon Thomas Wilson leads Orthopraxis Seminars. Subdeacon Thomas is a licensed social worker who has a great deal of experience in the Church. His seminars start at 4pm, and, each month, he covers a practical subject such as Nativity Traditions and Customs, Preparations for Pascha, and Orthodox Family Devotions.

Every fall, our community hosts an annual Theological Seminar. This is a multi-week event which takes place on Wednesday evenings. During the seminar, we conduct an in-depth exploration of a particular topic. Past seminars have focused on Apocalypticism, The Roles of Women and Men in the Church, Suffering, and Community. This coming fall, our topic will be Culture, and we will be reading a fascinating book called Cosmos, Life, and Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Village. The book is by Juliet du Bolay, an anthropologist who is also the wife of a priest; copies will soon be available at Christ the Lightgiver Bookstore. Each spring, between Pascha and Pentecost, we also host our Pascha Book Study. The Book Study doesn’t run as long as the Theological Seminar, but it also meets on Wednesday evenings. During past studies, we have worked our way through Hymn of Entry by Archimandrie Vasilieos, A Night in the Desert on the Holy Mountain by Metropolitan Hierotheos, Penthos by Father Irenee Hausherr, and Amish Grace by Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher. We haven’t yet decided on the selection for our 2011 study, but check back for that information as the time draws closer.

We also have other groups that get together for study and discussion. On many Sunday afternoons (check the web-site calendar & bulletins for schedule), Catherine MacLaughlin and David Brown lead a group study in a close reading of selected Orthodox books. Catherine is a seminary graduate, an attorney, and a licensed professional counselor; David Brown is also an attorney, and he has many years of experience leading Bible studies. Dr. Jeffrey Macdonald also lectures on Church History and other topics as part of our Christian Education program.  You can hear many of his lectures on his excellent web-site, OrthodoxChurchHistory.com<

Our community is truly blessed with a great Church School program and a solid offering of adult classes, and we are working hard to provide even more! If you need further information about any of our educational opportunities, please email Fr Aidan or the webmaster for this site. Remember that everyone is welcome at any of our classes or events.
 


Overview

Education has always been extremely important in the life of the Church. In the Book of Deuteronomy, the people of Israel are told to teach the commandments to their children (Deut 6.6). In St Matthew’s gospel, Christ Jesus tells the apostles that they are not only to go to all nations and do the work of evangelism, but they are also to teach people how to keep the commandments (St Matt 28.20). In his letter to the Romans, St Paul writes that education should lead to renewal of the mind, and to our ultimate transformation (Rom 12.2).

All of this is reflected in our educational program at St John’s, because on-going learning at every age is one of our top priorities, and that is why we work hard to provide excellent opportunities for everyone who wants to know more about the Faith and draw closer to the Most Holy Trinity.