Orinda Community Church

Children and Youth in Our Community

Our objective at Orinda Community Church is for our children and youth to feel God’s love as exemplified through the life of Christ.  We hope the children at OCC feel like they have additional “family” members – adults to whom they can turn for guidance – adults who know them by name.

Leslie Darwin O’Brien 
Director of Community Life
On behalf of the Children and Youth Commission and the entire congregation
                                         

At Orinda Community Church, we take God’s commandment, “Love one another” seriously. We share that love by taking sandwiches, blankets and socks to homeless people, making cards for our neighbors at the Orinda Senior Village, and by participating in other outreach programs.

We share that love with each other by joining together during Worship on Sunday and at meals and other family activities (partial list):
Yosemite Weekend
Easter Egg Hunt
Mardi Gras Parade
Picnic at Kennedy Grove
Family Choir
Advent Celebration with Crafts, Carols and Candlelight
Christmas Eve Pageant and Candlelight Service
Blessing of the Animals
Blessing of the School Year
Sleepover at Church
San Francisco Overnight Mission Trip
Un-Birthday Party for the children of Winter Nights Shelter (hosted by OCC kids)

Sunday Morning

OCC loves kids.  Our children worship with us. (God knows, and we know, that kids are squirmy.)  Many children serve as communion servers, acolytes and greeters.  Children stay with their family during the beginning of the morning worship service.  (They may enjoy the bags of crayons and goodies in the Welcome Bags which are found in the Narthex.)  All children are invited to Time With Our Children in the church, then they may continue on together to the Agape Learning Center for Sunday School with their teachers.

Sunday School  -- More Sunday, Less School – God’s love grows here.

Orinda Community Church tries to teach children to self-soothe, through prayer, song and art. We mainly use the highly-regarded Seasons of the Spirit Curriculum – an ecumenical lectionary based program that incorporates all kinds of learning –audio, visual, kinesthetic.

A typical day in our Learning Community Sunday School  looks like this:

Children put their shoes in the outside cubbies while singing
"Take, take off your shoes, you're standing on Holy ground."

Gathering and Welcoming of Guests
Song, such as  “Seek Ye First”
Roll
Offering is received for Heifer Project International or Take Action Project (TAP)
Body Prayer
Reading and Repetition of Timothy, Acts, or Psalms (for TAP)
Lectionary Scripture (same scripture Congregation is studying)
Water Color or other art while listening to classical music
Drama about Bible Verse
Sharing of Joys and Concerns for the Purpose of Prayer
Closing Prayer and Blessing by Name of each child
Return to Sanctuary to worship with family

(Both older and younger children talk about the Bible verse and how it relates to life and events TODAY.)

We are also fortunate to have a wonderful artist in our midst who offers “Crafts with Carey” once a month.

Kids and Service

We believe that service is a very important part of faith formation.  OCC kids participate in the Take Action Project in which they talk about a problem on the planet and how they would like to help solve it.  They consider themselves co-caretakers of God’s creation.   For example, the children recently sponsored a Bike-A-Thon to increase awareness of our global carbon footprint and they bought a tree for the campus.

This winter a group of teenagers participated in an overnight called “34 Hours of Service.”  They took blankets and socks to homeless people in San Francisco and served food to hungry folks in the Tenderloin District.

Confirmation

Our confirmation program is fun and educational.  In the past it has included study about our Christian and United Church of Christ heritage.  We have taken field trips to Grace Cathedral and City of Refuge UCC in San Francisco, Temple Isaiah in Lafayette,, and have hiked around the hills of Berkeley… (God’s Cathedral.)

Orinda COMMUNITY Church

We also seek to be a vital part of the Lamorinda community. 

Additionally, our Director of Community Life  meets with the Lamorinda Alcohol Policy Coalition, with the objective of making Lamorinda a safer, healthier place for kids and she has participated in Diverse Abilities Week at Orinda Intermediate School.

We have joined forces with other congregations in the Lamorinda area in an ecumenical Sonshine Camp and Vacation Bible School.  Kids ages 4 through High School are welcome.  See more details on our church home page. 

Orinda Community Church is an inclusive community that welcomes all people.  We hope you will find a place here to grow in God’s love.

If you have any questions about programs for children, youth and their families at Orinda Community Church, please do not hesitate to call Leslie Darwin O’Brien, Director of Community Life at 925-254-4906 or email her at ldarwinobrien@yahoo.com.