Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Summer 2012 Issue | Page 11

WORKSHOP ROTATION MODEL AT
ST. PAUL’S, ALEXANDRIA

CHURCH GARDEN AT ST. MARK’S, RICHMOND
MALINDA COLLIER

THE REV. ORAN E. WARDER, BILL CAMPBELL
AND ELLEN WEAVER
St. Paul’s is a vibrant, energetic place, always bustling with a
new program, especially in our children’s ministry. We have
grown participation not by constantly reinventing the wheel,
but by finding a fun way to be consistent.

The Workshop Rotation Model (WoRM), started four
years ago, provides children with a new and fresh way of
encountering Sunday School lessons each week. Every child
learns differently, and we embrace that. The premise of WoRM
is that every week, children learn the same story in a new way.
We tell one story for four to six weeks in workshops: Cooking &
Science, Music, Liturgics, Movie, Drama, and Art.

Each workshop meets the needs of students’ different
gifts. The “old” version of Sunday school meant that many
children were forced to learn
in one or maybe two styles,
and missing a Sunday meant
missing some chunk of the
biblical narrative. WoRM allows
us to concentrate on a theme
for the year, deepen students’
understanding and enable our
students to recount the stories
in great detail even several
months later. WoRM also gives
teachers flexibility: they are
able to repeat lesson plans,
the schedule allows for breaks
The Workshop Rotation
in teaching, and the program
Model at St. Paul’s,
encourages them to be creative
Alexandria provides intensive
while learning a great deal about
learning in Bible lessons in
the lessons themselves. To us,
a workshop format, with
it’s a win-win-win!
focuses on liturgics, drama,

WoRM has been
art – and cooking.
critiqued by many as being a
“year-round VBS.” Yet, how much
do your children love VBS, so why
not encourage children to love Sunday School as well? Children
should enjoy Sunday School. Also, churches have complained
about the “less-is-more” approach to the biblical stories. While
this program does cover fewer stories, they are covered in
much greater depth. Another critique is that there is not one
consistent teacher. However, we have pushed each class to
have a “shepherd” who accompanies the group to the different
workshops every week. We work hard to make sure children
aren’t “lost” with so many different teachers. And what we
have found is that our children get to build relationships with
over a dozen adults in just the course of one year.

WoRM is not a one-stop solution for every congregation,
but it has proven to be a near perfe