Church Responsibilities - Alex Edition
I somehow managed to forget to write a post last week, and now I don't even remember what the topic was going to be. In an effort to avoid having that happen, I am writing now, before Gretch has even woken up. I thought I'd give a rundown on the different responsibilities that Gretch and I have in church now, since I haven't done that in an awfully long time and I realised there may be family members and friends who may not even know. (And if you don't care, well, this is our blog...) However, I am turning this into a two-part series so that this post isn't too long. I'll update you on what I have been doing first, and then next week I'll update on what Gretchen does at church.
For nearly three years now, I have been the Webelos Den Leader for our Cub Scout pack. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the largest supporters of the Boy Scouts of America, and nearly every unit in the United States has a Boy Scout troop and Cub Scout pack chartered with it. Due to the nature of where we live, many of the Latter-day Saints in our area are graduate students at the University of Illinois. There are plenty of non-students, too, but by and large, we are a grad student congregation. This means that there are a lot of young married couples with very young children, and handful of older parents with teenagers, and several even older parents with adult children, most of whom have moved out by now. What we don't have very many of are parents with pre-teen children. We have three congregations in our immediate area, and because there are so few children of Cub Scout age, the three congregations have combined for one Cub Scout pack. So I work with the Webelos from three congregations in the Champaign-Urbana-Savoy-Mahomet area.
The Webelos scouts are the boys who have just turned 10-years-old. Some Cub Scout programs have the boys start Webelos earlier and spend two years in the program. They typically meet every other week. We start our boys later, keep them for just one year, and meet each week. For a long time, we took a break over the summer, but I have come to realise that this is not ideal, since it takes away time for the boys to work with their den members on advancement. However, of all the boys I have worked with over the years, only three have failed to earn their Webelos badge and the Arrow of Light award, and that has been largely due to the boys not wanting to work on their own. (The truth of the matter is that there are advancement requirements that Webelos scouts need to do independently or with their families, so if they don't work at home and they miss a lot of den meetings, they are not going to earn the badges and awards.)
I have six Webelos scouts right now, but I am losing one in about two weeks. But then I'll be picking up another one a few weeks after that. Our numbers tend to hover right around six. Like I said, we are a small group. I have had two assistant den leaders for the past year, but one just moved to St. Louis and the other has just been called as a Cubmaster, which means I need at least one new assistant den leader ASAP! I have been told that our local church leaders are working on it, though.
The other responsibility I have at church is teaching three Primary classes: Valiant 9, Valiant 10, and Valiant 11. For those who are not familiar, Primary is the LDS church's Sunday School program for children 18 months to 11 years old. There is a Nursery (18 months to 3 years old) that Gretch and I worked in when we first got married. Then there is the Sunbeams, for three-year-olds (Gretch had been teaching this until recently. More on that in a bit.) Then there four CTR (Choose the Right, a slogan used in Primary for a very long time) classes, grouped by age: 4, 5, 6, and 7. The Sunbeams and CTR classes compose what is known as Junior Primary, and are principally children who are not yet baptised. Then there are four Valiant classes: 8, 9, 10, and 11. The numbers for each class represent the age of the children at the beginning of the year, when they enter the class. (This is a change that was made in 2010. Before that, the number was the age of the children at the end of the year.) The Valiant classes make up the Senior Primary, which is mostly children who have been baptised. (Not all, though, as there are children over the age of eight, which is the age of baptism in the LDS church, who are not baptised for a variety of reasons.) If you've done the math, you'd think that I am teaching a third of the Primary.
Well, kind of.
I have a third of the Primary classes, but I have just six students in my class, and only five of them come on a regular basis. I have one nine-year-old, three ten-year-olds, and two eleven-year-olds. One of the ten-year-olds is my student who doesn't come regularly, and the other two are boys who are also in my Webelos den. So we get to hang out a lot. It is fun.
My Valiant students are awesome. We are studying The Book of Mormon this year. My main goal is for them to be familiar with the stories of the text so that in later years they will have the foundation firmly in place as they delve more deeply into the doctrines. (In the LDS church, our Sunday School program rotates through our four main books of Scripture: The Old Testament, the New Testament (both from the King James Version of The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon, and The Doctrine and Covenants. For those who are familiar, when speaking of the Scriptures, the LDS shorthand for the several books is "the Standard Works" because they are our canon. However, the Bible is usually considered one "book"--even though it is actually several dozen--but we split it in half for our yearly study. Also, we have another book, The Pearl of Great Price, that we use along with the other books.)
Last week and this week, though, we have taken a break from our course of study so that the children in the Primary can practice for their annual Sacrament Meeting presentation, where they share with the entire congregation what they have been learning all year long. (I am not sure why we are doing the presentation at the end of September instead of November or December, but it probably has something to do with timing of other events, like conferences, holidays, etc.) Last week was our first run-through of the program, and we weren't made aware of it in advance, so it was a bit shaky. I am hoping it will go better this week and then they'll be all ready to go next week! Then we will get back to our reading and studying of The Book of Mormon.
So that's what I've been doing in church. Since the time that Gretch and I got married, I have worked almost exclusively in the Primary. We started together in the Nursery when we in the Champaign 1st Ward, then our ward boundaries changed and we were in the Mahomet Ward, where we co-taught the Valiant 11 class (which is now the Valiant 10 class). Then we moved into the Champaign Ward (formerly known as the Champaign 1st Ward) and I was called as the Webelos Den Leader.Shortly after, I was asked to teach the 12-13-year-olds Sunday School class, but I was still with the Cub Scouts, which are under the direction of the Primary. I did that for a very short period of time before being asked to teach the Valiant classes that I have now. There are some people who would not think it "fair" or "appropriate" for our church leaders to ask me to volunteer my time teaching children who are between the ages of 9 and 11 because that is what I do professionally. However, I love teaching children and I especially love teaching this age group! And I love working with the Scouts. So I am quite content where I am!
Next week: Gretchen's calling. (Yep, just one, so it'll be a shorter post.)
For nearly three years now, I have been the Webelos Den Leader for our Cub Scout pack. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the largest supporters of the Boy Scouts of America, and nearly every unit in the United States has a Boy Scout troop and Cub Scout pack chartered with it. Due to the nature of where we live, many of the Latter-day Saints in our area are graduate students at the University of Illinois. There are plenty of non-students, too, but by and large, we are a grad student congregation. This means that there are a lot of young married couples with very young children, and handful of older parents with teenagers, and several even older parents with adult children, most of whom have moved out by now. What we don't have very many of are parents with pre-teen children. We have three congregations in our immediate area, and because there are so few children of Cub Scout age, the three congregations have combined for one Cub Scout pack. So I work with the Webelos from three congregations in the Champaign-Urbana-Savoy-Mahomet area.
The Webelos scouts are the boys who have just turned 10-years-old. Some Cub Scout programs have the boys start Webelos earlier and spend two years in the program. They typically meet every other week. We start our boys later, keep them for just one year, and meet each week. For a long time, we took a break over the summer, but I have come to realise that this is not ideal, since it takes away time for the boys to work with their den members on advancement. However, of all the boys I have worked with over the years, only three have failed to earn their Webelos badge and the Arrow of Light award, and that has been largely due to the boys not wanting to work on their own. (The truth of the matter is that there are advancement requirements that Webelos scouts need to do independently or with their families, so if they don't work at home and they miss a lot of den meetings, they are not going to earn the badges and awards.)
I have six Webelos scouts right now, but I am losing one in about two weeks. But then I'll be picking up another one a few weeks after that. Our numbers tend to hover right around six. Like I said, we are a small group. I have had two assistant den leaders for the past year, but one just moved to St. Louis and the other has just been called as a Cubmaster, which means I need at least one new assistant den leader ASAP! I have been told that our local church leaders are working on it, though.
The other responsibility I have at church is teaching three Primary classes: Valiant 9, Valiant 10, and Valiant 11. For those who are not familiar, Primary is the LDS church's Sunday School program for children 18 months to 11 years old. There is a Nursery (18 months to 3 years old) that Gretch and I worked in when we first got married. Then there is the Sunbeams, for three-year-olds (Gretch had been teaching this until recently. More on that in a bit.) Then there four CTR (Choose the Right, a slogan used in Primary for a very long time) classes, grouped by age: 4, 5, 6, and 7. The Sunbeams and CTR classes compose what is known as Junior Primary, and are principally children who are not yet baptised. Then there are four Valiant classes: 8, 9, 10, and 11. The numbers for each class represent the age of the children at the beginning of the year, when they enter the class. (This is a change that was made in 2010. Before that, the number was the age of the children at the end of the year.) The Valiant classes make up the Senior Primary, which is mostly children who have been baptised. (Not all, though, as there are children over the age of eight, which is the age of baptism in the LDS church, who are not baptised for a variety of reasons.) If you've done the math, you'd think that I am teaching a third of the Primary.
Well, kind of.
I have a third of the Primary classes, but I have just six students in my class, and only five of them come on a regular basis. I have one nine-year-old, three ten-year-olds, and two eleven-year-olds. One of the ten-year-olds is my student who doesn't come regularly, and the other two are boys who are also in my Webelos den. So we get to hang out a lot. It is fun.
My Valiant students are awesome. We are studying The Book of Mormon this year. My main goal is for them to be familiar with the stories of the text so that in later years they will have the foundation firmly in place as they delve more deeply into the doctrines. (In the LDS church, our Sunday School program rotates through our four main books of Scripture: The Old Testament, the New Testament (both from the King James Version of The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon, and The Doctrine and Covenants. For those who are familiar, when speaking of the Scriptures, the LDS shorthand for the several books is "the Standard Works" because they are our canon. However, the Bible is usually considered one "book"--even though it is actually several dozen--but we split it in half for our yearly study. Also, we have another book, The Pearl of Great Price, that we use along with the other books.)
Last week and this week, though, we have taken a break from our course of study so that the children in the Primary can practice for their annual Sacrament Meeting presentation, where they share with the entire congregation what they have been learning all year long. (I am not sure why we are doing the presentation at the end of September instead of November or December, but it probably has something to do with timing of other events, like conferences, holidays, etc.) Last week was our first run-through of the program, and we weren't made aware of it in advance, so it was a bit shaky. I am hoping it will go better this week and then they'll be all ready to go next week! Then we will get back to our reading and studying of The Book of Mormon.
So that's what I've been doing in church. Since the time that Gretch and I got married, I have worked almost exclusively in the Primary. We started together in the Nursery when we in the Champaign 1st Ward, then our ward boundaries changed and we were in the Mahomet Ward, where we co-taught the Valiant 11 class (which is now the Valiant 10 class). Then we moved into the Champaign Ward (formerly known as the Champaign 1st Ward) and I was called as the Webelos Den Leader.Shortly after, I was asked to teach the 12-13-year-olds Sunday School class, but I was still with the Cub Scouts, which are under the direction of the Primary. I did that for a very short period of time before being asked to teach the Valiant classes that I have now. There are some people who would not think it "fair" or "appropriate" for our church leaders to ask me to volunteer my time teaching children who are between the ages of 9 and 11 because that is what I do professionally. However, I love teaching children and I especially love teaching this age group! And I love working with the Scouts. So I am quite content where I am!
Next week: Gretchen's calling. (Yep, just one, so it'll be a shorter post.)
Comments