Children's Education

One of the fastest growing ministries at Trinity is that to children and young people. Our attendance at the nursery and Sunday school is usually between eighteen and twenty-five.

Sunday school is available beginning at 9:15 a.m. for Adult Forum and continuing on through the 10:30 a.m. service. Children join the service with a rousing musical procession and stay for a brief children's address before returning to Sunday School.

Special events for children include Vacation Bible School in the summer, a Christmas pageant, and an Easter Egg hunt. Opportunities to serve as acolytes begin at the third grade or age eight and continue through to adults.

Both the children and youth ministries are led by Gary Hull, a seminary graduate who formerly worked in the Methodist Church, but now belongs at Trinity.

Mission statement

The goal for Christian Education at Trinity Cathedral is to foster spiritual growth and renewal for parents, teenagers, and children. To be a community that through interactive play, social interaction, creative experiences, and age appropriate academics, each child will be given the opportunity to grow and learn emotionally, socially, mentally and physically in a loving, and safe Christian environment. A community of faith where the word and sacraments of Jesus Christ are shared with love. As a community we share with others the blessings we have received, using our gifts and talents to minister to the spiritual and social needs of our neighbors both near and far.

Children in Worship

Participation in worship is one of the important ways children learn and grow in faith and is an integral part of the whole Sunday School program. In worship we learn to live with gratitude for the past goodness of God, in joy as we recognize God’s continuing presence, and in hope for a future which will bring God’s purposes to fulfillment. We learn by participating and discover our own sense of belonging. Children need opportunities before they become adults to learn not only how we worship, but also to find out what it really means for them.

During the school year, children come into to the service at the peace and the process to the hymn “We are marching in the light of God.” This is followed by the Children’s sermon. Children are encouraged to participate in the worship service with their families. They are present for hymn singing and special music, prayers, scripture readings, our sacraments—baptism and communion, and a brief children’s sermon. After the children’s sermon children in the second grade or younger are dismissed back to their Sunday School classrooms. Third graders and up remain in worship during and all the children participate in the entire service during intergenerational worship Sundays. These include Christmas Eve, the Sunday after Christmas, Easter, and Children’s Celebration Sunday at the end of the school year. Nursery care is always provided for children under the age of five.

Children and Stewardship

One of our objectives in the Christian Education program is to encourage our children to know the blessing of service and giving by introducing stewardship as part of our response to God’s love. Children can experience this in a variety of ways. In Sunday School a special time is set aside each week for prayer, thanking God for our many blessings and remembering those in need. During this time of worship the children are encouraged to contribute an offering that they themselves may have earned or collected.

Curriculum: Life Together

What Is Life Together?

Life Together is a new way to approach Sunday and the rest of the week. It is a way of encountering God's word together - everyday. Life Together integrates worship, preaching and faith formation or learning in order to build strong faith communities.

Imagine the lessons children are learning in Sunday school are reinforced by the pastor's sermon as well as by the hymns and songs of the worshiping assembly. Imagine the same links are made to daily life. Now, stop imaging because it's here!

With Life Together, connections happen.

The Life Together family of resources are a comprehensive tool kit ready to help you make those connections! Based on the Revised Common Lectionary and using the New Revised Standard Version Bible, they integrate worship, preaching and faith formation.

How does it work?

Life Together is based on the idea of integration and connections.

Learning, worship, and preaching are related encounters with the same Word of God, Jesus Christ.
God is encountered through seeing and hearing the Word. Through reading and teaching, communion and baptism, and with the worshiping community. Faith is fostered through our encounter with God.

All faith formation resources for children, youth, and adults build upon relationships and encounters with each other, and with the community and with God.

Life Together provides structures and opportunities for encounters with the word of God and in response to the gifts of God — events that can happen:

• In the learning environment.
• In the community at worship.
• In other gatherings of Christians for support, service and witness.
• In the various contexts of daily life.

A person's experience of life and the world provide the 'hooks' on which the Holy Spirit can attach God's story in order to grow in relationship with God and others.

Life to Bible to Life — taking a person's personal story, responding to it with the biblical story in order to connect that unique life story to God's story. This methodology is beneficial because a person begins to grow in trust and community by connecting his or her particular human story to God's saving story giving one a new understanding of one's personal experience.

Information about Gary Hull
Gary received a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Theology and Pastoral counseling form Boston University School of Theology in 1993. Before that he attended San Jose State University and holds a B.A. in Sociology and Behavioral Sciences. Gary got his start in working with children working for the Mountain View YMCA as a day camp leader and later worked as the Assistant Director for the After School Day Program as he completed his degree at San Jose State. Gary has served as a Youth and children’s Minister to several congregations. Gary has over 10 years experience in running children’s and youth programs. When Gary is not working at Trinity, he works at Bay Area Community Services as a Short Term Crisis Program Supervisor.

For further information, please contact:
Gary Hull, M. Divinity
Director of Family and Children’s Ministry
82 North Second St.
San Jose, CA 95113
Contact 408-287-1253
Email Ghull@myway.com

Education Committee

Trinity's Education Committee meets the second Tuesday of every month from 6:45 until 8 p.m.

The Education Steering Committee has been established this year to oversee youth and children’s ministry at Trinity. The Education Steering Committee (Jim and Sharon Gibson, Loren Lacampagne, Donna Ward, Diane Bird, Sarah Greenaway, John Garza, and Gary Hull) has been hard at work planning and putting on many great events at Trinity. Some of the events we have held this past year include: Our annual Easter Egg Hunt, Vacation Bible School, Parents Day Out, Ice Skating, a Christmas Pageant, Sunday School Kickoff, Teacher Dedication, and many Second Sunday Events including the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Trinity’s Family Christmas Eve service that had over 70 people in attendance.

Sunday school has grown to three regular classes with an average attendance of 14 children per Sunday and a recent high of 27 children. We have several dedicated teachers who rotate each Sunday. This year we have been using Augsburg’s Life Together curriculum. It is a lectionary-based curriculum that focuses on relational and visual learning, as well as the connection of worship, education, and preaching to help learners link faith to their daily life.

Vacation Bible school was held for the third year and 13 children participated along with 4 teenagers and 8 adult leaders. Each day we moved to seven action-packed activities: Roaring songs, Bible Expeditions, Critter Crafts, Wild Games, Waterhole Snacks, Chatter Chipmunk Adventures, and The Mane Event (closing). The Bible Points were: Know God, Talk to God, Tell about God, Love God, and Work for God. Each day children received a Bible Buddy to remember the Bible verse. Parents were invited to join us at the Mane Event closing each day. Our children left each day excited to come back the next day.

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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
81 North Second Street, San Jose, California 95113 . 408-293-7953
trinicat@pacbell.net . www.trinitysj.org