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Children's Chapel — Godly Play

Children between the ages of 3 years old – 5th grade are invited to become part of the St. John’s Children’s Chapel Program. Children’s Chapel is offered each Sunday beginning at 10 AM, complementary to the 10:15 service. The foundation of Children’s Chapel is Godly Play. Children meet in the Parish Hall adjacent to the worship building.

Registration for Children's Chapel: Print this form, fill it out, and return it to the church office or bring it to chapel.

Why Godly Play? St. John’s is working to build a worship community that supports families and children. A specific goal for children’s education is to provide an accessible curriculum that stimulates an understanding and love of the liturgy. Godly Play honors our Christian traditions. It establishes a sacred space specifically for the children, provides accessibility to both the liturgy and our shared Christian stories in a relevant context, and teaches in an experiential way that emphasizes discovery. The foundation for our Godly Play program is respect — for ourselves, for one another, and for our sacred space.

Why the 10 AM hour? In our experience with children’s education over the past several years, we have found that the 10 AM time slot appears to be the most convenient for families attending church on Sunday. Each Godly Play session begins with a story. We like to have our children arrive a few minutes before 10 AM to allow them time to settle into the sacred before storytelling begins. Storytelling is followed by a period of wonder, an opportunity for the children to engage creatively with the lesson, and a feast. The feast is not a snack in the truest sense of the word. Instead, it represents our coming together to honor our time with God and one another.

Engagement with the larger church community. We want our children to be a visible, vibrant part of the St. John’s church life. Each week, the children are dismissed from chapel in time to join their families at communion. In addition, specific Sundays during the year are set aside to allow the children to spend their chapel time in the “big” church. When possible, a children’s sermon is included on these dates. We provide opportunity for the children to sit together or with their families during these church Sundays. As part of children’s chapel, we work to prepare children for their experience with the larger church by providing them with a foundation in church traditions, including the seasonal colors, how we set God’s table, what it means when we take communion, and how baptism makes us part of our faith community.

Trained adult leaders. The Diocese of Texas has emphasized training for Godly Play. St. John’s has invested in Diocesan training for the children’s Christian education staff. Everyone involved in Children’s Chapel has attended one or more of these training sessions. Amy Aleman and Gigi Jacobson are the coordinators and parent contacts. You may reach Amy or Gigi through the parish office if you have questions about children’s chapel or Godly Play.

Special Activities. St. John’s children’s program includes a number of special activities for the children throughout the year. Some highlights from this year included:

• a Vacation Bible School that was held on six successive Sundays during the summer
• a Field Day with games and outdoor activities
• a Rally Day fiesta with pinata
• a puppet show in which the children created the puppets and acted out the stories
• a children’s Christmas pageant celebrating the story of Luke

We invite your children and your family to become part of the growing and vibrant children’s education program at St. John’s. Visitors and friends are always welcome.

St. John’s is grateful to the dedicated chapel volunteers and to Keri Ann Lessner at Holy Spirit in Houston who generously loaned enough Godly Play materials to outfit two classrooms.