Moving from the Beginner’s to the Primary Department, or the Primary to the Junior Department, is a major milestone in any Sunday school student’s life. Sunday, September 8, was promotion Sunday, and a number of young people made those transitions.

In the Beginner’s Department, where students from age two until they complete Kindergarten attend, the class changes do not always take place in the fall. They have added several children during this past year, each one bringing a new level of energy to the department! In their first classes, they learn how to sit in Sunday school, recite the Lord’s Prayer, and sing such classic songs as “Heart, Heart,” and “Jesus Loves Me.”

For the older departments, after the opening general assembly in the sanctuary, students went to the classes they’ve been attending since last September. Teachers said goodbye to their classes, in many cases with a little parting gift. Then the departments gathered and teachers read the names of their new students, and they went to study that week’s lesson together.

When the new first-graders joined the Primary Department, they came upstairs looking a little bit nervous, but by the end of class they had completed self-portraits on a worksheet and felt much more comfortable. They will stay with the Primaries until they complete fourth grade, and they will leave so much more experienced than they arrived! Thirteen fifth-graders were promoted to the Junior Department, where they were greeted enthusiastically, and several ninth-graders also left the Junior Department to join the high school class. It seemed that each age group felt ready to move on, even if teachers and staff were reluctant to see them go.

Unfortunately, the adult Sunday school students do not get to experience the excitement of promotion, but surely they had a wonderful class time, staying right where they were, with perhaps some ambient enthusiasm coming their way.

With the shuffling of classes completed, students and teachers are now looking forward to another year of Bible study and spiritual growth. The entire church family is cheering for the young people as they take each step through their lives, serving the Lord as they go.