Page 12 - Final Annual Report 2020

Christian Education 2020 Annual Report
Angie Johnson

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to an all knowing God” is a quote by Corrie Ten Boom. Corrie
relied heavily on faith as someone who aided Jews to escape the Nazi’s during the Holocaust in World War II.
There are not many things I can say about 2020 since most of it was spent in quarantine and not together as a
church family, but one thing I can say without question is that I have trusted in God even more since everything
about the future is unknown.

We are in the midst of a global pandemic known as the Coronavirus or COVID. When I wrote this report last year
COVID was in the back of my mind as I was preparing to send my daughter on an exchange trip to China, which
is where the virus originated. Today we are all feeling the effects of the disease and we are hoping to return to
normal sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, COVID is not the only issue we are grappling with as a faith community. We have experienced
social, racial and political unrest. As I write this report I fear what could happen as our government changes
hands. While there has always been a peaceful transfer of power, 2020 has proven that old traditions are not kept.
I pray that we can model good behavior to our youth and conduct our government civilly and peacefully. As a
parent and CE director, I see how important a faith foundation is for our youth. When all else seems out of
control or insurmountable we have to rely on faith. We rely on the fact there is something out there bigger and
wiser. This is my second full year in this position and I must admit I have enjoyed learning from the children as
much as I enjoy teaching them.

Even in a pandemic our church families are busy. The beginning of the church year was off to a good start. We
were continuing with the rotational model of Sparkhouse digital and the kids seemed to enjoy the different
stations. Since families are stretched thin, regular church school attendance is difficult. That was one reason for
moving to the rotational model. The model consists of studying one biblical story or theme for 5-6 weeks and
doing different projects about the theme. The goal is to teach kids and involve the story more. It helps since kids
who may have missed the previous week can still learn, and like all group learning, kids learn better through
different sensory experiences.

The rotational model has the different sections of cooking, art, music, science, technology, and drama. Through all
of these venues we see how the story we are portraying expands to each child. We are learning to adjust to our
Pilgrim family’s schedules and their commitment to Pilgrim Church and trying to accommodate new ways of
learning and worshipping together. We had great success modeling the new learning format and Christmas 2019
was a huge hit when we made salt dough ornaments to replicate the creche. We made memories, learned a church
story and made a mess. Unfortunately, on March 13, 2020 all in person church activities were suspended due to the
pandemic. We continued Sunday school online via Zoom and met as a group. Additionally, I did video lessons
online that were posted for the kids to do at any time. The lessons had accompanying activities and crafts.

The Zooms were not as well attended as I had hoped and the general consensus was that the kids were “Zoomed
Out” since they were on Zoom for school 5 days a week. I hope that the families took time to watch the short
lessons online and gained something from the stories.

8