Spiritual Nurture
- Sundays, during the school year, 11:15 a.m. -noon, for all ages
- Various groups and meeting times during the week and month
Grow in faith with us at church school for children, youth, and adults. From birth to death, we grow in faith and live out our baptism in community. Springdale’s ministries of Spiritual Nurture reflect our belief that God deepens God’s relationship with infants, children, youth, and adults as we gather for spiritual nurture throughout our lives. We minister to one another in many ways through classes, small groups, intentional spiritual practices, special events, mission trips, local mission connection activities, and walking with each other in mentoring relationships.
Here are specific ways we connect to explore our relationship with God:
Adult Classes
Bible Class
In Bible Class, we strive toward becoming a scripture-shaped community. We work through sections of scripture slowly, allowing for small group and whole class discussions led by the teacher. Class participants learn to study the Bible for themselves and how scripture shapes daily life in community. Sundays.
Issues Class
The Issues class discusses societal topics and issues from a Christian perspective. By sharing information and discussing today’s relevant issues, from local to global, the group seeks to cultivate faith and deepen our relationship with Christ. Past topics for the Issues class have included starvation in Africa, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, interfaith relations, environmental issues, poverty, race relations, sustainability, global warming, end-of-life issues, diversity and inclusivity in our church, and dealing with the physically and mentally challenged. The class meets on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at 8:50 a.m.
Feasting on the Word: A Conversation
This class of late 20s-early 40s explores lectionary texts using a new curriculum called Feasting on the Word. The class also gathers outside the church for food and fellowship.
Children
Pre-School and Elementary Church School 
Each Sunday morning at 11:15 a.m. the children gather in age-appropriate classes with trained teachers who are excited about sharing God’s goodness through the love of Jesus with children. Our curriculum is age appropriate, written with learning differences in mind, keyed to Multiple Intelligences learning styles, and active.
Pre-schoolers learn with the Wee Believe curriculum. It’s specifically designed to provide Bible stories on an age-appropriate level from a Reformed Faith perspective and to teach ways to live out our faith in community. We have a class for toddlers in the Child Care Center and for 4s,5s, and Ks in Room 100.
First through Fifth graders learn from units developed around a particular ministry activity and a Biblical theme which the children help select. The designers draw from the We Believe curriculum and from other outreach ministries. Special speakers, field trips, and activities provide different ways of learning. It’s fun to grow in faith together. This class meets in rooms across from Klein Chapel at 8:50 a.m. on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month and in the youth area every Sunday at 11:15 a.m. What’s going on now
Youth
Youth Church School
Middle School (for 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders)
What would you think of a study that begins with thumb wrestling and tower racing and addresses questions like Who wrote the Bible, God or humans? or Do cremated people go to heaven? If you are looking for an active way to explore real stuff about God and Jesus and faith, this is for you. It’s called re:form. You can check it out at www.wearesparkhouse.org.
High School
What questions do you have about faith? This Presbyterian Church (USA) curriculum is based on actual youth questions and there are many options to explore in Faith Questions. Meetings are held in Room 108.
Confirmation Classes (for 7th and 8th graders) in alternate years (2012)
As we grow in faith within a community of faith, there comes a time when each individual is called to say before God and everyone that they believe that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. They make life-long promises to look to Jesus as the one who brings life and to be a part of God’s people, the church.
To help youth prepare for making these promises, our community of faith offers confirmation classes for seventh and eighth graders. They study on Sunday mornings using a confirmation curriculum offered by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) .
Each confirmand is paired with an adult mentor throughout the school year. Together, they read and discuss Luke, do a project based on a chapter from the book Way to Live, and perform 10 hours of service. The mentor shares the way he or she lives faith and stands with them as they prepare faith statements and become members with their profession of faith.
This confirmation celebration spans a week-end with a dinner, special worship, letters of encouragement from the congregation, special worship on Sunday, and a Presbyterian Youth Connection Party. It is not something easily forgotten. Youth who have not been confirmed and who came to Springdale after eighth grade have the opportunity to participate in a shorter confirmation learning time before being received into membership. Meetings are held in Room 107.
Other Study Opportunities
Bible Study – Other
In Upper Room Bible Study, members take turns leading the group’s discussion of Scripture using various commentaries. Meetings: the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Saturdays of each month from 8 – 9 a.m. at the church.
Women’s Bible Study meets at Barnes and Noble at the Summit for study of scripture, fellowship, mutual support and prayer. Meetings: 9:30 a.m. Mondays.
Presbyterian Women Circles
Two groups of Presbyterian Women called the Circles meet regularly during the school year. The groups are studying Confessing the Beatitudes Author Margaret Aymer provides important insights about the original context of the scripture. She also offers wonderful direction as the group learns together what it means to speak the truth about who God is calling us to be as we learn to confess the Beatitudes!
The Day Circle meets at the church, often with a meal. Meetings: Noon, the first Wednesday of the month.
The Evening Circle meets at a member’s home. Meetings: 7 p.m., the second Monday evening of the month.
Learn more about Presbyterian Women at www.pcusa.org/horizons.
Young Adults
Springdale’s young adults are active in the congregation. They gather twice a month to eat together.
Mid-Kentucky Presbytery has an exciting ministry of intentional small groups, times to eat and talk, ski trips, and the Montreat College Conference for college-age young adults called Kinesis. All college-age young adults in the Louisville area are invited.
Daily reflections and youth devotions can be found here.
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