Education
Knowledge, wisdom and insight are gifts to be shared, and we are all
teachers. Through Christian Education young people and adults learn
about the distinctiveness of Christian faith and practice and their
belonging to a religious tradition that is many thousands of years old.
And it’s mainly through Christian Education that we develop our shared
commitment to the Church as an institution and to the United Church of
Christ as the house of communion in which we experience spiritual home.
Our education program builds on Great Traditions, and it is for
Children and Youth and for Adults.
For Children and Youth
Sunday School. With the oldest continuously operating Sunday Church School in the area, Millburn Church continues to provide exciting opportunities to grow in the faith. Sunday School meets September through May at 10am, simultaneously with the 10am worship service. Children are dismissed to their classes after Pastor’s children’s sermon. An excellent curriculum and well-trained volunteer staff introduce pre-schoolers through senior high students to the Bible and our Christian heritage of beliefs and history, and imparts the values and skills they need to live their faith.
Wednesday Night Youth Group. From October through May we offer Wednesday evening programs for youth sixth through twelfth grades. The kids gather and share a meal together at 5:30, and then break out by age group. Sixth through eighth graders participate in our KUCS program (Kids Under the Cross), which is a fellowship and service-based group that helps with PADS, Crop Walk and other church-sponsored activities.Ninth through tweltfth graders form our High School group. During the month, one week is dedicated to planning the month’s activities; another to one or more service projects, including housekeeping around the church and serving meals at the PADS shelter in Grayslake; another to chilling out; and another to an organized youth worship experience. The KUCS youth also participate in the monthly worship.
Confirmation Class is led by Pastor Jed as youths 13 years old prepare for the affirmation of their Baptismal vows. The program will resume in October, 2010. Call Pastor at the church office, 847-356-5237 for more information.
For Adults
Christian discipleship is a life-long journey, and faith unfolds in our individual and collective lives much like a well-told story. For support and illumination in that journey we all benefit from reflection, study and the insights and encouragement of others. Christian Education, therefore, is not only for children and youth, but also for adults, as they navigate their way through life in this world. We emphasize adult education at Millburn Church, and we invite you to join us.
Periodic Special Programs. We offer programs
throughout the year. Ordinarily we gather on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m.
We tend to focus on particular topics, but the discussion always evolves
in interesting ways. We have entertained questions like: Who is God?
What does the Trinity mean? How might we take faith seriously in light
of modern science and other disciplines? Where does our Bible come from?
What distinguishes religious liberals and conservatives?
We spent several weeks discussing the religious significance of Dan
Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, and we took up Marcus Borg’s
intriguing and provocative work, The Heart of Christianity:
Rediscovering a Life of Faith. During Lent 2007 Pastor Jed led a
discussion based on Walter Brueggemann’s new program, “Countering
Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today,” shedding light on
how much the secular culture, especially the consumerism of our modern
economy, influences our lives and corrupts our spirituality. During the
summer of 2007, we enjoyed a three-week dialogue on Christian responses
to the global environmental crisis. We watched Al Gore’s popular film,
An Inconvenient Truth, and explored the Scriptures and Church
theology in search of a specifically Christian way of addressing global
warming and other aspects of the environmental crisis. The class evolved
into a catalyst group that will help Millburn Church be part of the
solution.
During Lent, 2008, Wayne Nowack led a series of discussions of
Christian understandings of atonement. Did God need or require the
sacrifice of an innocent Son for us to have atonement/forgiveness? We
discussed the “how and why” of Jesus’ death and what one scholar terms
“the myth of redemptive violence.”During Summer, 2008, Pastor Jed led a
discussion of an excellent book by William Sloane Coffin
titled, “Letters to a Young Doubter.” The book, which was published just
before Rev. Coffin’s death in 2006, offers fresh insights on faith and
belief that might go a long way in kindling, or re-kindling, a fledgling
Christian faith.
During Winter, 2009, Paul Meltzer, Pastor Emeritus of Millburn
Church, led a discussion of his program, HOUSEWIVES, HARLOTS AND
HEROINES: A STUDY OF WOMEN IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES.” From
Paul’s description: “It is not hard to find examples of women who played
central roles in biblical stories: Sarah, Esther and Jesus’
mother, Mary, to name only three. One of the least expected places
for women’s stories in the Bible is the book of Judges. All but
one of the extended stories in the book of Judges (the story of Gideon)
depends on the actions of women who play central roles. Not all
the women in the book of Judges are named. They range from strong wives
who counsel and support their spouses as equals to victims of abuse.
Some shape history; others are shaped by circumstances. Some are
heroes; some are villains. Some have no names; some have famous
names. In other words, these women, though separated from us by
more than three thousand years and different cultures and circumstances,
have much in common with people of our own era. They struggled
with questions of values and faith with which people still grapple.
As we learn more about these women we are also learning about ourselves
and how our faith shapes our lives and our world.”
Sunday Morning Bible Study meets October through May at 9:15 a.m. (between worship services) in the conference room of the new education wing. This year Al Sommer is leading an in-depth study of John’s Gospel. Contact Pastor Jed for more information.