St. Thomas for Kids
At St. Thomas our Sunday school meets at 9:45 every Sunday except 5th Sundays and are brought into the church when the congregants are receiving communion. We have a nursery for children up to age 6. In the nursery, the children will hear a bible story and have free playtime. Our Sunday school classes meet in the church hall and are grouped as follows: Middle Creatures are 2nd & 3rd grades, Great Creatures are 4th and 5th grades, Middle School Youth Group are 6th -8th grades and High School Youth Group are 9th – 12thgrades. The elementary aged students follow the Seasons of the Spirit curriculum, which is lectionary based. The curriculum tells a bible story and allows for the children to enter the story in their own way and talk and reflect on it. It completes the lesson with an art or craft activity. Our youth group students have one-page lessons that reflect more on the day-to-day issues of their age. It allows for group discussion and support through the bible readings. Our Sunday school elementary aged children participate in a Halloween Parade, Epiphany Pageant, Egg hunt, and Vacation Bible School. They also participate in small service opportunities throughout the year. Coloring bags for Meals on Wheels, wrapping plastic utensils for Samaritan Homeless Interim Program, collecting items for our tricky tray fundraiser, and bagging toiletries for the food pantry are a few of their contributions to our outreach. On 5th Sundays, all the children attend the entire church service.
St. Thomas for Teens
St. Thomas has a vibrant youth group, active in community service. Our high school age youth group program provides students with gospel based tools to help them navigate the challenges they face in their lives today. The High School Youth group meets during the Sunday Church service at 9:45. We have a curriculum that parallels the gospel or current events of the time, that starts with a quick story or survey, which leads to group discussion that affects their lives now. This usually wraps up with actual verses from the bible that we have to find and read aloud! Our youth are very involved with outreach and activities and there are usually announcements and planning to wrap up our time together. We have cleaned up our church gardens, slept over and made hoagies as a fundraiser to feed the homeless, spent evenings playing gaga and eating pizza, shopped for the food pantry and volunteered at our Vacation Bible School. Some of our youth have participated in diocesan youth activities and performed mission trips domestically and abroad. Dr. Mattei leads the group, with support from all the parents for these activities. Some of our seniors and graduates lead the group some Sundays. There is room to grow and opportunities for service and leadership for high school age students and their friends.
Choir
The choir of St. Thomas Episcopal Church is a dedicated group of volunteers. Adults and high school students of all faiths are welcome to participate. Most of our music is for mixed voices in four parts (SATB) and reflects the historic Anglican tradition. No audition is required, although prior choral experience is helpful. More important is the willingness to attend the Wednesday evening rehearsals and participate in the ten o’clock worship service regularly. The choir is also an essential part of many special services, including Evensong, the Traditional English Service of Lessons and Carols at Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, The Great Vigil of Easter, and other occasions. Our members’ range of musical skill and training runs the gamut from beginner to expert. We are bound together by our common interest in music and united in our goal to enrich the worship experience for all. In so doing, we find greater meaning for our own worship as well.
“Singing in the choir is less calories than wine and cheaper than therapy!” JOIN US!
Our Director Richard McIntyre earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education with a concentration in organ music from The Boston Conservatory in 1977, launching a thirty-year public school teaching career. He completed a Master of Arts in Composition at The College of New Jersey in 1995, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at Temple University in 2010. He has studied organ with David Drinkwater and Dowell MacNeill, and composition with Robert McMahan, Maurice Wright, and Richard Brodhead. In addition to teaching, Dr. McIntyre has worked almost continuously as a church musician since the age of 16, serving parishes in Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has arranged and composed a large quantity of music for the ensembles under his direction, and his compositions have won recognition from Philadelphia’s Network for New Music, and The New York Virtuoso Singers.
Community Outreach
St. Thomas Episcopal Church has a long tradition of community outreach both inside and outside our immediate community. Adults and kids of all ages within the St. Thomas family participate in a variety of outreach programs including:
St. Thomas Youth Group Bridges Run – Delivering food and clothing to homeless men and women in Newark and Irvington
Hurricane Sandy storm relief – Delivery of food clothing and household goods to families affected by the storm
Episcopal Relief and Development – www.episcopalrelief.org provides timely relief services around the world – including to the most recent victims of the Oklahoma tornados
Flemington Food Pantry – Our Church School children raise money each year and purchase items needed by the Flemington Food Pantry. For their most recent trip, St. Thomas kids raised over $1,000. They made their purchases making use of coupons and discounts, then delivered to the pantry and stocked the shelves
Nets For Life – St. Thomas has provided support for the Nets For Life program which provides mosquito nets to communities in Africa
Interfaith Hospitality Network – St. Thomas has provided support for the IHN which assists individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness in Hunterdon County
Vacation Bible Camp
Introduced each day by a little critter, well actually a “Bible Buddy”, we watched a video about the day’s gift from Jesus…hope, courage, direction, love and power. While the water sports are named every year as “the most favorite” part of VBS, we know that everyone enjoys the plays we practice and perform based on the readings. The objective is to bring the messages to life, related to real life situations at school or at home. Many thanks to Fran Iuzzolino, Lynn Logg, Pat Neil, Greg Schutzke, Rob Spies and Kate Allworthy for their spiritual and spirited leadership during the week.
Take a look at the pictures and watch the spirit of VBS 2016 come to life.
