TRINITY CHURCH
ANNUAL REPORT - 2021

A Message from Beth

Director of Children's Ministries

We are so grateful to be experiencing more in-person gatherings for Children's Christian Formation! 2021 has been a hybrid of virtual and in person, but now we are very much into face to face experiences.  We continue to require masks for all, regardless

of vaccination status and observe other safety protocols. 

Now it's just getting back into

our habit of going to church on Sunday!  There's nothing quite like being together in person!

Programs for Children

​

• Godly Play continued through Zoom for the months of January through May with Mentors/Teachers on rotation.  Children’s Hour continued through recordings made with Andrew Davis and presented weekly on our Facebook page- Trinity Asheville Children’s Ministries. Starting Aug. 29th we were able to open up all three Godly Play classrooms for indoor learning.  We continue to require masks for all regardless of vaccination status. We have 12 teachers, or as we refer to them in GP, “Mentors”, that rotate in the roles of Storyteller and Doorkeeper throughout the upcoming year. *Parent Pages were sent home to correlate with lessons on Zoom.

​

• Godly Play Parent Pages incorporated this year with weekly parent emails (digital download) to support upcoming lessons.

​

• Nursery reopened in May after  a long pause due to Covid.  Ingrid Sanders, a long time employee, continues in the role of Nursery Supervisor.  We added an additional hire: Sarah Bachler.  All nursery staff are fully vaccinated and completed required First Aid/CPR and Safeguarding God’s Children.​​

•  Come Join the Circle:  “The Circle of the Holy Eucharist”-summer programming for children- Our summer programming was built upon the Godly Play liturgical lesson called “The Circle of the Holy Eucharist” that explores the different aspects of our worship service.  We spent the summer looking at each portion of the service with lots of play involving different roles that contribute to the service.  We had flower arranging, linen washing and ironing, silver polishing, stole making, wafer making, etc. to learn about the different guilds that support our worship time.

​

• Children’s Hour. Now that we are meeting in person, we have gone back to our normal Children’s Hour with pianist, Andrew Davis.  Think lots of stories, songs, and movement! This program targets 3 year olds (fully potty trained) through 2nd grade.  We meet from 10:30-11:30 in the Redwood Chapel.​​

CLUB 345 (Junior Youth Group):  This junior youth group met from time to time during Covid to do some outdoor-type projects.  Starting in Sept., we returned to meeting monthly.  In Sept we had an outing to Asheville Pinball Museum.  In October, we went on the “Hood Huggers” walking tour of downtown, where we learned about the influence of African Americans in our own community. Other plans for this club involve working at Transformation Village.

Kick Off Sunday- August 29th- We were able to celebrate the start of a new Sunday School year as we had in the past with a big kick off celebration, complete with food, music, musicians, wet slide, games, etc.

Vacation Bible School
Wade in the Water
June 28 - July 1, 2021

Children’s Choir: 

We were able to restart the Children's Choir in October! We met outdoors during the warmer part of the month,

and now rehearse in the Chancel area of the church so that we can space ourselves out safely. Right now our focus

with Sharon Boone (Choirmaster and Organist) is on not only singing, but on musical notation. We hope to be able to

sing again during our worship services in the new year.

SAINT O'LANTERN WALK

Last fall was our first attempt at this event and it was very well received!

We did it again this Nov. 7th ( All Saint’s Day). Families of children and youth chose a saint, gathered information on that saint, and presented it in costume, along with a pumpkin carved with the saint’s symbol in our new courtyard. Between 15 to 20 families were involved in this presentation to our parishioners as they walked through.

This year we offered a complimentary chili and cornbread dinner. This doubles as a Four for Families Event.

ADVENT TRANSFORMATION: Advent Wreathmaking

Last year’s Advent in a Box was a great success, so we are combining the best of both worlds with an in-person gathering to  make the wreath, as well as boxes sent home for those unable to attend.  We will continue with a Reverse Advent calendar-this year with our donations focusing on Transformation Village.

Continuing in the vein of Advent in a Box, we offered families of children and youth a chance to drive through and pick up “Lent in a Bag” The bag contained a tray with a burlap labyrinth, a basket of stones to mark each day in Lent and a devotional guide for each week.

We are hopeful that this will be in person this year.  The plan is to make this service earlier in the day on Christmas Eve and designate it just for children and their families.

​

Photos to the left are from the 2020

Christmas Pageant which had to be

filmed and presented only online.

LENT IN A BAG

CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

RED CROSS TRAINING

Our program staff, along with several from COA became certified (or recertified) in Adult/Infant/Child CPR/First Aid/AED on Nov. 9th.  This certification is good for two years.

Submitted by

Beth Chestnut

Director, Children and Families Ministry