Children & Youth
Thank you for your interest in our Children & Youth Programming at West Hills! We offer a gathering for K-5 children on Sunday mornings from 10:30 - 11:30am. Kids start with their parents in the Meeting for Worship in the meetinghouse. After we sing songs, and before the message and time of silence, kids are released to their activities down in our Community Building. During this time we hear a Godly Play story together, and then enter into a wondering time. We would love to have you join us for this! Please use the contact form on the website to reach out and get the link for this! Information about offerings for grades 6-12 is below!
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We know that coming to a new faith community can be anxiety inducing for parents and children. We really hope that the information below helps you feel less worried. What we want you to know, almost more than anything you will gain from reading the information on this page is, we support and respect whatever decision you and your child make about participation in any of the programs we have to offer! If, on Sunday morning, your little one would rather stay close to you, that makes A LOT of sense. We have art materials in the hallway that anyone is welcome to use. If you’d prefer to sit in the hallway and still have a clear view of what is happening, you can ask the person at the soundboard for a assisted hearing device so you won’t miss out on anything. If you have ANY questions, feel free to contact us using the link at the top of this page, or ask the greeters at the door!
Nursery
Newborns, Infants, Toddlers (up to 3) and Preschoolers (3-5) are welcome in our nursery starting as early as 9:50am. The Nursery is located in the hallway in the main worship space!
Kindergarten - 5th Grade
K-5 aged children hang out with their parents in service until 10:30am. When they are dismissed they also venture down to the other building to participate in Godly Play (more info below).
Where do they go?
Here is a little floor plan of the community building where the K-5 kids meet on Sundays. The nursery is located in the main building.
The Backbone of our Children's Program is Godly Play
Our Godly Play program is for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Godly Play is designed to respect the real and beautiful spiritual lives of children. It is not your typical Sunday School curriculum. It is designed to invite children into wonder about biblical stories, it is not interested in indoctrinating them. Using the power of story, children are invited into the rich and layered narratives of the people of God, Advent, the parables of Jesus, Easter, and even Quaker stories. The classroom and the children's time together is structured around the Montessori method. Materials are well made and accessible to all the children to work with. Following their time of listening to the story they are invited into wondering with their hands. This is their "response time" and it allows the children to interact with the story they just heard using art supplies and other materials. The children also enjoy a small snack together, and share their joys & concerns with one another before their parents pick them up. You can watch the video to the left to get a sense for what a Godly Play story sounds and looks like!
A look into the things we create together…
Here is a video of our 2020 Christmas Pageant. An example of how we encourage our children to immerse themselves in these stories. We want them to wonder, to play, to interact with the stories that guide us as a community.
We Create Safe and Sacred Space for Adolescents
Being a teenager is hard. They are doing the hard work of discovering themselves, their desires, and hopes for the future. They are doing this work in challenging environments, they may find themselves doing it alone, or with little support. Our goal is to create a safe and welcoming space for adolescents of all types. We especially extend a welcome to teens in the LGBTQ community. Having a space to explore spirituality can be hard in Portland. Our goal is to enter into those conversations with care, and to explore the various ways we can do the important work of listening to our inward teacher. We often talk about Jesus, especially because we see the life and teachings of Jesus as pointing us towards a more compassionate world.
This is painted on the wall of the youth room. We long to create safe spaces for everyone to be their truest selves.