300 UNION AVENUE, SOMERVILLE, NJ 08876 Main Phone: 908.685.1660
A member of the NJ Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA)
Christian Education is important for all ages!

Our Sunday Church School (SCS) meets on Sundays from mid-September until mid-June from 9:35 to 10:45 AM. There are over 200 students enrolled in our SCS, with an average weekly attendance of 131. Our curriculum is divided into four categories by age group.
All of our classes are team taught, with 2-4 teachers per grade. Our highly dedicated group of 50 volunteers regularly attends worship, SCS meetings and workshops to enable each to teach God’s Word and spread His message of love.
BEGINNERS
Beginners are introduced to the church with warm personnel instruction. Our student ratio of 4:1 affords our children a wonderfully nurturing environment in which to experience God’s world and Jesus’ teachings and grade. Through the use of stories, songs and crafts, the children begin to know God, and love Jesus as a friend.
Any child who has turned three years of age by September 30th is welcome to enroll in our Beginners classes.
Music occurs each Sunday for 20 minutes, encompassing traditional as well as contemporary selections to enhance the curriculum and encourages praise to our Lord in song! This age group sings at our worship services approximately four times during the year.
PRE-KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE 2
Pre-K through 2nd Grade classes meet in Luther Hall for a highly specialized and creative hands-on curriculum called "Children and Worship".
The children are divided into five small classes where they hear God’s Word. There they watch storytellers (teachers) use 3-dimensional figures to tell 44 different Bible stories. Together, the students and teachers then "wonder" about the story!. The children next "respond" to these stories by either working with the figures or by choosing one of the five "centers.":
Music / Crafts / Art / Prayer and Meditation / Individual Response
The children then gather for Prayers and Feast. They encounter God, and so God is experienced, and not just "learned about."
The key to this approach is a worship context for telling and working with Biblical stories. The children learn to love God and freely pray and speak with Him.
Music occurs each Sunday for 20 minutes, encompassing traditional as well as contemporary selections to enhance the curriculum and encourages praise to our Lord in song! This age group sings at our worship services approximately four times during the year.
GRADES 3 THROUGH 6
3rd to 6th Grade classes use a Lutheran-based curriculum to study God’s Word on a more in-depth level. The curriculum follows the same Bible passages as heard in our worship service each Sunday.
In addition, special emphasis of study for each grade is as follows:
3rd Grade - Study of the Lord’s Prayer / Jesus’ last week on Earth
4th Grade - Study of the Apostle’s Creed / Introduce the Books of the Bible
5th Grade - Study the Sacraments (Baptism and Communion) / Our Lutheran Heritage
6th Grade - Study of the Ten Commandments / Explore the Worship Service
Music occurs each Sunday for 20 minutes for grades 3 through 5, encompassing traditional as well as contemporary selections to enhance the curriculum and encourages praise to our Lord in song!
This age group sings at our worship services approximately four times during the year.
GRADES 7 THROUGH 12
7th-8th Graders (Junior Youth Forum) and 9th-12th Graders (Senior Youth Forum) gather each Sunday in a discussion format on current issues. Our teachers encourage open and thoughtful dialog on topics that impact teens. The classes look at issues in light of God’s Word as proclaimed through the Bible.
The topics range in length from one to four weeks and change from year to year.
Junior Youth - Each week our Junior Youth study the Bible passages which are being read in our worship service, and attempt to relate them to their lives as pre-teens.
Senior Youth topics include Value of Life - Euthanasia and Genesis; Abortion (ELCA Statement); Substance Abuse; Impact of the Media; Sexuality; AIDS; Christmas / Easter / Cross.
