Kids

The Nursery is open during our 10 am service for babies and toddlers.  We are staffed with experienced adult Nursery Supervisors and trained teen babysitters.  We offer a safe and welcoming environment for the littlest members of our parish.

We teach our 3-4 year olds using the Godly Play curriculum, a visual and tactile approach which encourages children to wonder, imagine and question.  The class includes communion (bread only) as permitted by parents.   We welcome kids beginning at 10 am and class concludes at noon.  This timeframe allows parents to attend the full service and participate in adult formation classes offered after the 10 am service.

Kids kindergarten through grade 5 attend the first portion of the service with their families and parish community which includes communion.  After Eucharist and before the sermon, kids go to their Sunday school classroom for lessons using Feasting on the Word curriculum.   Parent pick-up is at noon.  This timeframe allows parents to hear the sermon and participate in the adult formation classes offered after the service.  Our Sunday School teachers are fully background checked by the Diocese of Oregon.

Memorial Day weekend marks the end of our regular Sunday school year.  We offer a summer program for kids preschool through grade 5.  Our preschoolers attend class from 10 am until the end of the service with lessons coming from our many wonderful children’s bibles.  Kids kindergarten through grade 5 attend the first portion of the service with their families and parish community.  After communion and before the sermon, kids leave for their classroom.  Summertime means vacations for many families so we offer a one-room schoolhouse format for the elementary grades.  We gather together as a large group and explore great stories in the Bible through games, crafts and other fun activities.  Pick up time for the elementary grades is noon.

We integrate some meaningful and fun outreach projects into our kid’s classrooms.  During the season of Lent, we work with the local chapter of Project Linus making no-sew blankets with beautiful colors and patterns of fleece.  Project Linus delivers handmade blankets to children in crisis, most notably those who spend extended periods of time in the hospital.

Children at Christ Church have made and donated close to one thousand blankets to Project Linus since we began our work with them.   During the season of Advent, we help support organizations that care for the vulnerable living on the streets of Portland by collecting new socks and travel-sized personal care items.  On the third Sunday of December, we gather together all our donations filling new warm socks with items such as lotion, toothbrushes and toothpaste, chapstick, shampoo, conditioner, and soaps.  These filled socks are distributed and happily received by organizations serving those in need right here in Portland.

Every parent can use a night out and the kids love to have a night in with their friends!  We invite parents of kids age 3 and potty trained up through grade 5 to do just that.   Parents can drop their kids off here at church for a pizza dinner and fun activities in the care of two great adults.   We’ll be busy having fun and building friendships while you take an evening to yourselves.  This is a reserved event for parishioners and their children.

Beginning in January, we offer a monthly gathering for our students (4-5 grade)  that begins right after Sunday School and concludes at 2:30.  We meet January, February, April, and May.  We share lunch each gathering and we have different activities each month.   This is a great way for kids to further develop their friendship and a great way to build community for their coming Junior High years.

Family life is filled with many activities and we hope you will make your spiritual life a part of your daily life.  There are many many ways we can support you in that effort.  With your family’s participation in the wonderful program we offer and through volunteering in one or more of these programs, you will be walking with your child and others as they grow in their knowledge and love of God.  You’ll meet other parents and grandparents who are taking active roles in their child’s faith development while growing your own. Whether you help teach Sunday School, hide eggs before the egg hunt, help organize costumes for the pageant, or spend a week in your child’s Vacation Bible School class, you will find a loving and accepting community for yourself and for your children.

Vacation Bible School for kids age 4 through grade 5.  Vacation Bible School is a full week of bible stories, music, art, games and play for kids age 4 through grade 5.  Our goal for the week is for each child to know they are beloved by God, to renew old friendships and make new ones.  This camp happens each July.

Spirituality and the Arts is for kids grade 4-8 and Art Fusion is for kids grade 9-12.  This camp is scheduled in late June and the camps run simultaneously in the building.  We believe that children and youth can experience the love of their own creator by experiencing creation themselves!  Five local artists join us for a full week of art exploration in a variety of mediums. Each summer reflects a particular theme which we explore each morning in our interactive chapel time lead by our three amazing clergy.   Through the day, kids experience the fun of art and creation in the context of a fun, friendly and accepting environment.

Camp Tilikum is an outdoor camp located in Newberg Oregon.  We gather each morning in our church parking lot, board a bus and head to the great outdoors!  Each morning we begin with fun (and loud!) camp songs followed by hilarious bible skits lead by THE most energetic camp counselors on the planet!

We spend our days on acres of beautiful woods that sport a gorgeous lake for swimming and boating.  Each day, campers rotate through activities like the big swing, giant tree house, rock wall, archery, hiking trails, boating and swimming, field games and more.  We return to the church parking lot at 5 pm each day tired, dusty and filled with lifelong memories.  This day camp program is open to kids grade 1-8 with an overnight option for high schoolers on certain weeks of the summer.