​YOUTH MINISTRY

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Confirmation

Our Confirmation classes are during Sunday School from September through May, after worship on Sundays downstairs in the Youth Room from 11:15 until 12:00 noon. Currently the students in the Confirmation program range from 6th graders through 10th graders. Besides Sunday classes, we go on field trips and do volunteer work around the community. Some of the places we volunteer include Project Home, Cardboard Box City, The Rice Street Gardens, and many other contexts for serving others. We go to ELCA national youth gatherings and we also have a lot of fun locally. Confirmation students have the opportunity to go on an adventure almost every month, such as to Moonlight Madness, bowling, Christmas caroling, camping, swimming, Valley Fair, and wherever else our Confirmation Youth are motivated to do together.

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Confirmation students receive their own Bible and Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Another word of Confirmation is “Affirmation of Baptism”. Because many Christians were baptized as babies, our confirmation program is especially important, because in Confirmation we remember, affirm, learn, re-learn, and experience in many ways the promises that God made to us in our Holy Baptism. As Baptized children of God, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. We are part of God’s family, and God loves us unconditionally. We are inheritors of eternal life, and receive the gift of forgiveness.

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Sunday School

Children from age three through 5th grade are invited to come to Sunday School. We meet on Sundays after Galilee’s worship at 11:15 AM until 12:00 noon. The children of Galilee Lutheran Church and Minnesota Faith Chinese Lutheran Church as well as a few children from the Nepali congregation called St. Paul Friends Church have joined together to have a combined Sunday School.  Our teachers are experienced in teaching and are happy to be with children, to explore and teach the Word of God. Through stories, interactive activities, games, crafts, songs, and fellowship we learn about God our Creator, Jesus our Savior and Friend, and the Holy Spirit, our helper who gives us the gift of faith. Throughout the year Galilee’s Sunday School group has special programs. The Saturday before Easter Sunday (the Resurrection of our Lord), the Sunday School kids have an Easter Party at church. They have fun dying Easter eggs, playing games including going on an Easter egg hunt, decorating the church and eating pizza. In December, the Sunday School and Confirmation children go Christmas Caroling to our “shut-ins”. Members who are very elder and not able to come to church anymore, but have to stay at home or in a nursing home, or care centers receive a cheerful visit from our children who give each elder a fruit basket, a Christmas card from the congregation, and nice little concert, singing Christmas Carols for them. Church is intergenerational, and this is a blessing. Our youth bring music and cheer to our elders, to let them know that their church does not forget about them, but that we are united in Christ, and that we love them and wish them a Merry Christmas. Also during Advent, about one week before  Christmas, we have a Lessons and Carols service on Sunday morning, with a Christmas pageant put on by the Sunday School and confirmation kids.

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Galilee values children and youth, and gives them opportunities to grow in faith, develop healthy friendships, and experience the steadfast love of God for all people. At Galilee Lutheran Church we are absolutely committed to providing a safe environment for children and youth.