|
1. Let's Sing: Beginning on Wednesday Sept 5th, we are offering a weekly class on singing. It will start at 6:00 pm and finish at 6:55 pm. This class is open to all parishioners and will be held in the music room in upper Hensler Hall.
No matter how young or old you are, singing is a lot of fun, and we are going to have some fun, and learn how to use our voices, learn how breathe and make a joyful noise to the Lord!
The class will run through to the end of May 2012 - so I am very excited with this opportunity. It is my hope this becomes a core and regular class for all parishioners, new and old, to enhance your worship experience at St Michaels.
We can learn how to be a singing church: We are a caring and loving church - this will help us to grow in our community worship of God.
Our teacher for this class is Dawn Marie James, a voice teacher at Agnes Scott College. Dawn has accepted my invitation to offer this class and be our new choir director. So, come this Sunday, meet Dawn Marie and learn about this special fun opportunity.
2. St Michaels Youth Group: Marty and Chip Frame are our new leaders for St Michaels Youth Group. This group is for all youth aged 13 yrs to 17 yrs.
The group will meet weekly on Sundays from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. in upper Hensler Hall. A room is being decorated and set aside for the youth group.
Additional events and trips are in the program, so all parents and youth are invited to come this Sunday, meet Marty and Chip Frame and learn about our new youth group.
3. Godly Play: This fall we are offering a new program for our children aged 3 - 12 years, called Godly Play. Godly Play is based on the Montessori religious education method and model. It is offered at other Episcopal parishes in our diocese: St Matthews in Snellville, Holy Trinity in Decatur, St Bartholomew in Tocco Hills, Epiphany in Decatur, St Luke's downtown and the Cathedral to name a few.
The decision to move from Catechesis of The Good Shepherd (CGS) to Godly Play (GP) was made because we do not have anyone trained and certified in CGS to teach at St Michaels. Simply put, we could not offer the program this fall because we had no one experienced and certified to teach and lead the program at all levels.
Victoria Schwartz was the only person trained, and she left on July 15th to take a part-time position at St Patrick's Episcopal Church as Director of their CGS program.
I am pleased to announce the teachers for our Godly Play program: Ashley Success, Brenda Marcos and Ana Marcos. Our new teachers have successfully completed the core 20 hours of training and are certified to lead Godly Play at all three levels. (I also attended the training and was certified as at leader.) I am working to recruit several other parishioners to be trained as Godly Play leaders so that we have at least 6 trained persons who can teach the program for all members.
Ashley, Brenda and Ana have been working hard the last two weeks to organize and set up the new Godly Play classroom in Upper Hensler Hall, as well as move all the teaching resources out of Beene Hall into Upper Hensler Hall.
As part of the move, we have a larger space to child-care in upper Beene, and a larger space to Godly Play. We also have a new room in upper Hensler Hall set aside to keep all our resources for teaching.
I invite all parents and children (aged 3-12 years) to come and meet our Godly Play Team this Sunday morning in the parish hall and learn about Godly Play.
Grace and peace,
Fr. Paul
The Reverend Dr. Paul A. Elliott
Rector
| 
