Believer's Bay

116 West Court Street, Urbana, Ohio * (937) 653-4225 * (937) 652-1872 [Fax]

Believers’ Bay is our program for Sunday School addressing Multiple Intelligences through the workshop rotation model.

The mission of Believers’ Bay at First Presbyterian Church of Urbana is to enable children to Know God, Love God and Serve God.

We offer a program that includes:

•        A fun and inviting environment for children and adults.
•        Children who are enthusiastic about attending.
•        Children who know the Bible stories and how they relate to everyday life.
•        Adults who are eager to share their talents to create Christian relationships with children.
•        Developing a mature faith and continuing to grow in that faith.
•        The nurturing of gifts and talents in our church family.

Believers’ Bay is that seaside village of Bible times where Jesus himself might once have roamed. On the shores of Galilee, we have created:

Seaside Synagogue - perhaps a temple school of old, where children hear the stories of the Bible and share in their telling.

Galilee Gallery - that creative room where everyone has the opportunity to be their own artist. Art and science lessons are experienced here.

Creation Coliseum - an outdoor arena filled with music, singing, drama, puppets and whatever else might be a part of this creative ministry.

Surf Shop - the communications mecca of our seaside village, Children experience Bible stories on the computer and interact with Bible characters themselves at times.

Celebration Cinema - even a seaside village isn’t complete without a cinema where movies are experienced. Both biblical and secular films can be drawn upon to make real-life experience comparisons.

God’s Galley - children eating and cooking; this too can bring the Bible stories to life.

Mariners’ Market - the open space in the village where play and group activity takes place.

Children rotate by age group to a different workshop each Sunday for a five week period. During that five week period, the story and Bible verse they learn are the same in each workshop. The repetition over a five week period of the same story and verse enable the children to remember. Each of the workshops teaches through a different style of learning, appealing to each of our different strengths in learning. This multiple-intelligences approach enhances the learning process.

Each age group has a shepherd who rotates with them every week so there is always a familiar face to see on Sunday morning.

Workshop teachers stay put. They don’t rotate with the children. Teachers lead workshops in areas of their strengths and interests and they teach the same lesson for five weeks. Teaching in Believers’ Bay is fun and also a learning experience for all adults involved.