Friends General Conference

Together we nurture the spiritual vitality of Friends

Children and Youth

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Infant and toddler care is provided by Hanover Friends Meeting on Sundays during Meeting for Worship.  If you prefer, your youngster may stay with you in worship as long as they can be comfortable in the quiet.

First Day (Sunday) School for our younger Friends (kindergarten through elementary grades)  meets at the same time as Meeting for Worship. The children of the meeting join us for the first 15 minutes of worship and then go to their age group classes where there are a wide variety of activities organized around a topic of the month that ties into a Quaker testimony. 

During the pandemic, while we're unable to meet at the Meeting House, the First Day School program is meeting via Zoom one Sunday a month for half an hour before Meeting for Worship. Our First Day School teachers plan a program that usually includes a check in for the children around a topic of the month (Returning Light, Black History Month, etc) that ties into a Quaker testimony. Teachers usually read a book aloud and share a song, and then everyone sings along. The teachers have also been periodically sending packets to our regularly attending families that include a letter from the teachers, lyrics to a song, book suggestions, and a craft suggestion. If there are families that would like to be included on the mailing list for our Zoom meetings and packet mailings, they can email their request to HFMFirstDaySchool@gmail.com

The Young Friends program brings together middle school and high school youth of the Meeting.  Central to our program is the theme “Let our Lives Speak,” which serves as a way to convey to our young people that Quakerism is not just a Sunday event but rather provides deeply rooted spiritual beliefs and values to help us manage our daily interactions, behavior, decisions, and other concerns.  This central theme also helps integrate any chosen topic of faith with actions, practices, or projects.  During our meetings, the Young Friends are encouraged to consider and determine our monthly focus and related activities.  Through this process, we strive to cultivate and nurture spiritual growth among us, explore Quakerism, and create opportunities to see how our activities grow out of and make manifest Quaker testimonies.  

During the pandemic, Young Friends have been meeting via Zoom two Sundays per month.  

 

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