GROWING OUR CHURCH SCHOOL

In 1990, as Gordon Ellis began his ministry among us, our Church School enrollment was about 40 students with an average attendance of 10.  Karlene Archambeault, not yet on staff, and our Christian Education Committee, had a dream of expanding the size of our Church School.  We began immediately by expanding our teaching staff to at least 3 teachers per class.  With publicity and mostly word of mouth, our church and Church School began growing.  It was a big step financially to invite Karlene, a couple of years later, to join our staff as our Church School Coordinator, and she began her training in the Associate in Christian Education Program at Hartford Seminary.  Under Karlene’s leadership, our Church School has grown steadily to our present enrollment of over 400 students, with an average attendance of over 200, in 3 Church School sessions (9:00, 11:00 and 6:00 on Sundays).  Our volunteer Church School staff now numbers over 125 people.  2 years ago, we changed Karlene’s title to Director of Christian Education and invited Carole Lantz to join our staff as our Assistant Director of Christian Education.  This year we’ve doubled Carole’s hours.  And we’re not done growing yet.