KAIROS (Church School)
We would love to welcome your children,
ages 4 through 8th grade, to Kairos!
Our church school program is offered on Sunday mornings during the 10 am service from September through early June.
We begin at 9:45 am with Welcoming Time, and classes begin at 10 am. Children then join their families during The Peace so they can receive Communion together.
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Kairos is the Greek word for “God’s Time,” a very appropriate word for our church school program at St. Matthew’s. The foundation of our curriculum is Godly Play.
Click HERE to learn more about Godly Play!
Our classes meet on the main floor of our building and are generally grouped as:
Primary (Preschool age 4 - 2nd grade)
Secondary (3rd-5th grade)
Middle School (6th-8th grade)
(Notes: Children need to be able to take care of their own bathroom needs. Also, our groupings are flexible if a child might feel more comfortable having an extra year in a certain class)
In these classes, children learn Biblical lessons from the Old and New Testaments, as well as ways we can live as caring people of God. We light our Christ candle to remind us that God is with us, hear a lesson, and then enjoy an activity or art project. We try to make learning fun, and our overall goal is to remind the children that they are loved by God and this church community.
OUTREACH
Living out our faith by serving our community is very important to our families in Kairos! We offer special outreach Sundays throughout the year which focus on projects to benefit those in need. Kairos children and families have enjoyed filling meal bags for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) for many years, always striving to fill more each year. We have worked together to fill as many as 800 meal bags!
In recent years, we have been collecting donations for the Hopewell Valley Mobile Food Pantry, then walking to pantry to stock the shelves with our donations. We also offer a Day of Service on MLK Day in which we typically make 2,000 utensil packs for TASK and tie fleece blankets for pediatric oncology patients at Capital Health. Our children learn the value of serving others, and these special outreach Sundays have become beloved traditions for our Kairos families and our church community.
Kairos Registration
We welcome children to St. Matthew’s Church and the Kairos program at any time throughout the year. If you are interested in learning more about the program or would like to visit for a tour of our classrooms, please contact Cheryl Watterson, our Director of Youth and Family Ministries, at kairos@stmatthewspennington.org.
Cheryl Watterson
Director of
Children's and family Ministries
Cheryl Watterson is our Director of Youth and Family Ministries at St. Matthew’s! She oversees our Kairos Sunday School program, organizes outreach projects to support our greater community, assists with our youth group activities, and co-directs the Pennington area Vacation Bible School.
More about Cheryl here...
WE WELCOME VERY YOUNG PARISHIONERS
Although we do not currently have a staffed Nursery for our very young parishioners, we do offer a space in our preschool downstairs for families who might need a safe space to take their young children during the service. Please know that children of ALL ages are always welcome in our church and our services.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Many at St. Matthew’s join other local churches for a week-long ecumenical Vacation Bible School program for children ages 4 through 5th grade. This is traditionally held the first full week of August, and registration will open in January. This is a fun week of faith and fellowship for ALL ages, and we welcome volunteers from 6th grade through adults.
Registration information for Rainforest Falls VBS 2026 coming soon…