Teachings From
St. ELizabeth's
Church school and Chapel
All children ages four through Grade 7 are invited to join our Church School program. Class Leaders are prepared with age-appropriate curriculum highlighting Bible stories, crafts, and discussions about real life connections that match the Lectionary reading for the day. We offer separate classes for appropriate age groups starting with children who will be four years old by October 1. Our current class groups are: PreK4-1st Grades, 2nd – 3rd Grades, 4th-5th Grades, and 6th - 7th Grades. Class takes place three Sundays a month, meeting at 9:30 am. There is no Church School or Children’s Chapel on Sundays when we hold our Family Service, featuring our Children’s Music Programs. Parents may register their children for Church School online here
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Children's Chapel
Three Sundays each month, children ages three through grade 5 are invited to come to our song and story-filled worship services in our Children's Chapel. Church School classes are dismissed directly to Children’s Chapel. Children will join their families in worship following the sharing of the Peace. Chapel Leaders, Family Ministries associate and our Associate Choirmaster lead the Chapel congregation in a brief service specifically designed for our youngest parishioners. Children are active participants in the service, serving in modified service roles so they learn how to be active participants in worship!
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Family Holy Eucharist: "Big Church"
Once a month, all children attend the regular 10 a.m. service with their families. Our Children’s Choirs are featured in this monthly service, and we encourage children in 4th Grade and up to take on Acolyte and lector roles. There is no Church School or Children’s Chapel on a “Family Sunday”.
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Nursery
On Sundays during the Church School year, children under four are lovingly cared for in our Nursery. The Nursery hours are 9:30 a.m. through the end of worship and is located on the second floor of our Parish House building. Our Nursery Attendants are 16 and up and have completed Safe Church training. Many are Red Cross trained in babysitting and first aid. In the summer, children through age 5 are welcome to spend time in the Nursery.
For more information about Church School or our other exciting Children’s Programs, please contact Associate for Children, Youth and Family Ministries, Beth Van Emburgh
Our COnfirmation Program
St. Elizabeth's Eighth Graders Mature in the Knowledge and Love of God during Nine-Month Confirmation Program
Confirmation is a sacred rite at which Christians who have matured in their relationship with God and in an understanding of the Christian faith “confirm” for themselves the faith into which they were baptized as infants. One can choose to be confirmed when one feels so matured. Thus, every year there are confirmands from ages 11 through adulthood in our Diocese.
At St. Elizabeth’s, our Confirmation Program gives our eighth graders an opportunity to mature in their relationship with God and in an understanding of the Christian faith. The program is structured around nine months of prayer, study, service and fellowship so that the young participants practice living as more-adult Christians — mentored by parents as well as by numerous older teens and adults from the parish family. Happily, growth is very evident in participants who commit themselves to the program and many of them continue to be actively-growing people of God in our faith community during their high school years beyond Confirmation.
Confirmation Preparation at St. Elizabeth's
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Confirmands Lead Worship each Spring

 Each confirmand will have an important role in the teamwork of leading our Church Family to give glory to God one Sunday in the spring. Preparation requires two Sunday classes, two Tuesday afternoon classes and a Saturday rehearsal during which the Confirmation Team will be coached by The Rev. Andy Olivo, Associate Choirmaster Catherine Hostetler, and several lay mentors. The multi-class preparation process and their teamwork in leading worship are important to our confirmands’ development as more adult Christians.
Adult Sponsors
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Each member of the 8th grade Confirmation Class has a sponsor who is an adult, not a member of their family, and active at St. Elizabeth’s. A sponsor is a mentor in full membership in a church and in a mature understanding of the commitments of an adult Christian.

 A sponsor is not a substitute parent, but an additional trustworthy adult. Sponsors help the confirmands develop a sense of membership in the congregation in their own right and not simply as an extension of their parents.

 The incorporation of sponsors is part of the goal to make Confirmation year a transitional year from being in the congregation as a child to being in it as an adult. Students choose among a number of roles with adult responsibilities, and the sponsors serve as coaches and mentors in that work.
If someone asks you to be a sponsor, please say yes! For more information about being a sponsor, including some very specific suggestions of ways to support the member of the class whom you sponsor, contact the church offices at 201-444-2299.
Adult Spiritual FOrmation
The Rector's Adult Inquirers'
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If you are interested in being baptized, confirmed or received into membership in the Episcopal Church at St. Elizabeth's Church of Ridgewood, or if you wish to learn more about our Christian faith and life, the Episcopal tradition, and the ministries of St. Elizabeth's, you're invited to join the class, led by the Rev. Andy Olivo and held at various times during the year.

 Those who complete the class may choose to be confirmed or received into the Episcopal Church at a future diocesan liturgy.
For more information or to register, please contact the Rev. Andy Olivo (aolivo@stesridgewood.org).