“The “E” in AWE: Children’s Ministries stands for Education,” I say as I travel about the Diocese. Inevitably someone in the gathered group asks, “You mean Sunday Church School, right?” Well ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ Education is more than Sunday School, curriculums, allocating and organizing available space, recruiting volunteers and managing supplies. It is about passing on the faith to children and learning from them as well! It is a birth to death, womb to tomb experience – a process that is never complete.

“With these thoughts in mind, it is important that we focus our attention on the entire life of the congregation as the context for education. It is the life lived together as a Christian people in the congregations of our churches that teaches – or fails to teach – the values and direction of the gospel. How we welcome the stranger, care for the child, settle our differences, and make decisions is an integral part of the Christian education ‘program’ of the congregation.”

How then will AWE: Children’s Ministries assist parishes of the Diocese in the ‘E’ of parish life? By facilitating the training and nurturing of teachers and leaders who work with children, by disseminating information about resources for education and spiritual development of children and by providing an opportunity for children around the Diocese to gather together for an educational experience outside their home parish.