Sunday Youth Programs

Nursery
The nursery is provided for all children (no age limit) from 8:30 a.m. to noon every Sunday. Organized activities for children age three and older include art and crafts, video learning, and storytelling. The ushers take the children to the Sanctuary for participation in the Children's Sermon and then return them to the nursery.

Children's Sunday School
For children three-year-old through sixth grade, all classes are held in the Education Building with the exception of the seventh grade through senior high class which meets in the Youth Room located in the Fellowship Hall. Classes begin at 9:15 a.m.

Sunday School Classes for Three-Year-Olds Through Fifth Grade
Children will participate in The Gathering in the children's Chapel at 9:15 a.m.

9:15 a.m. The Gathering

• Meet in the Children's Chapel: birthdays will be recognized and other surprise activities will be offered.
• Offering will be gathered.

9:30 a.m. The three-year-olds through fifth grade will split into age level groups and learn Bible lessons in a lectionary-
       based program called "Living the Good News". The curriculum is:

• Age appropriate - has a rich understanding how people learn at different ages and stages of life.
• Flexible - well-suited for small churches and a variety of classroom situations.
• Scripture based - covers almost the entire Bible in a three-year cycle using the Sunday lectionary readings.
• Connects class and home - participant materials at every age level build a bridge between learning in
  the classroom and everyday life.

Sixth Grade Class
The major topics that are covered and their sequence (time permitting) are: Patriarchs (four sessions); Joseph (three sessions); Moses (four sessions); Birth of Christ (Advent) (three or four class periods); Epiphany (one session); Ten Commandments (five to ten sessions); Creeds (three sessions); Lord's Prayer (two sessions); Conspiracy to kill Jesus (two sessions); Easter (two sessions); Book of Matthew (as available).

Seventh through Twelfth Grade Class
The youth will work and study as a whole and also in small groups. Students will have opportunities to select topics for discussion and study. Our personal faith, a source of strength and comfort, can be challenged as we grow and seek answers to the daily changes we experience. Join the youth in fellowship and learning on Sunday mornings at 9:15 a.m. in the Youth Room in Fellowship Hall.

Milestone Ministry at MDLC
The word, milestone (per Webster's dictionary), means "a significant or important event in the career or life of a person." Although we did not refer to them as milestones, these moments of recognition have been a tradition of MDLC for many years. As an example, we have always given a candle at a child's baptism, bibles to third grade students, chalices for first communion, and gifts for confirmation and high school graduation. All of these particular occasions are faith passage moments for a Christian. Milestone Ministry is a conscious recognition of these memorable and meaningful moments in one's life.

Why do we honor milestones?

• It is a time to celebrate: to bless lives with faith, hope, and love.
• It is a reason to have a caring conversation at church and at home to discuss the importance of an achievement.
• It is a time to have a ritual/tradition reflect the fulfillment of an event.
• It is a reason to perform a service to others to demonstrate what the person has learned.

• Beginning in the spring of the student's second-grade year, the student studies the Sacrament of Holy Communion. At the end of the course, the student will receive his or her first Communion.
• The third-grade and fourth grade students will study The Lord's Prayer.
• The student takes on a leadership role in the worship life of the congregation beginning in fifth-grade. In the fall of that year, the student is trained and publicly commissioned as an acolyte. To signify his or her commissioning, the congregation gives the student a cross to wear especially when acolyting. At various points throughout that year, knowledge of Lutheran worship and tradition are taught and experienced by the student.
• The fifth- grade students will study The Baptismal Journey in January.
• Sixth-grade brings learning about and memorization of the Ten Commandments. As their baptismal journey continues, students will also receive a Bible placed in their hands by Mr. Ted Barker, their instructor, and by their parents, to mark the milestone of entering middle school and the onset of the formal part of confirmation.
• The seventh-grade and eighth-grade students will study The Creeds, The Bible, The Reformation, and Lutheran Worship.
• Confirmation Camp will be available to all sixth through eighth-grade students. All students are encouraged to experience this wonderful camping/faith-building event.
• In the fall of their ninth-grade year, students are interviewed by the pastor. Those students who so choose and have the blessing of the pastor may publicly affirm their baptismal faith in the service of Confirmation on Reformation Sunday, October 30, 2005.

At various points in each student's discipline, families are asked to participate.
~ MDLC promotes the understanding that the most significant faith
formation occurs in the home.

Vacation Bible School
VBS is a five-day summer evening program offered for three-year-olds through fifth grade. This year’s event, &quotRome: Paul and the Underground Church", is a Group-developed program that features a marketplace similar to last year's. Given the enthusiasic reception last year's VBS received, we look forward to bringing "Paul and the Underground Church" to life on our campus. Join us July 13 through July 17, 5:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. for a wonderful experience.

For further information, contact 2009 VBS Director, Doris Bosse, at 832-358-2888 ext 222 or 281-531-0007 ext 314 or 713-467-5571(H) or email her at doris@bosse.com or doris@independentmarketingalliance.com.