To register your children or youth for this year’s formation activities, please click here. This ensures that we have updated information about their grade, any allergies, and permission slips signed for the year.
Please reach out to Kate Appel to sign up for our weekly newsletter, which contains our summer dates, faith at home resources, and upcoming events, or to Fr Alex to set up an appointment to learn more about the church and its offerings.
Click here for the 2025-2026 CYFM booklet.
CYFM 2025-26
Registration is open for the 2025-26 formation year!
Sunday School for those 3+ and Parents’ Formation resumes 11:30am-12:30pm on September 7.
Rhythm&Rhyme
CYFM is thrilled to partner again this year with Sound Sparks to offer Rhythm&Rhyme classes for children up to age 5 (and their grownups).
Enjoy integrative music enrichment and education on second Saturdays at Saint Philip’s. These sessions will offer introductions to the church’s seasons and strengthen family bonds.
Baptism
Offered on holy days throughout the year, this Sacrament of grace is available to infants or anyone who desires to be baptized.
Preparation varies based on age—from meeting with Godparents and parents to hosting a Baptism retreat for middle childhood to working with adults, there are many ways to prepare for this sacrament of initiation and inclusion into the body of Christ.
Overview
We believe that children, youth and their parents are full mission partners of the Church, disciples of Jesus Christ, and are called to ministry in distinctive (and distinctively different!) ways.
We honor, encourage, and support these calls by creating space through formation opportunities that allow for life-changing encounters with the Holy One of Love.
What do we mean by formation? We use the word to describe our efforts to cultivate a community that forms Christians aka Disciples—those who are called and equipped to follow Jesus.
Formation is about more than one or two hours on Sunday morning. Formation is a commitment to allow our whole lives to be formed by the desire to follow God in Christ. We lend our energy to building a place where each generation can do that. In this way, all adults are Formation Leaders—using their individual gifts to nurture discipleship by example.
Formation for Children, Youth and Families at Saint Philip’s begins with an acknowledgement of the intensely full and active religious life already present in each person from infancy. We seek to nurture and deepen that life through engagement with the living Jesus alive in Scripture, Sacrament and Community, encountering there God’s gentle but powerful desire to bring all people into loving relationship with God through Christ. Our mission is to know and love God with you and yours, and we look forward to getting to know you!
CYFM Co-Chairs
Kate Appel (kate.appel@stphilipstucson.org)
Becky Friesen (rfriesen1@gmail.com)
CYFM Vestry Liaison
Courtney Friesen (courtneyfriesen@yahoo.ca)
CYFM Staff Liaison
Fr Alex Swain (cyfm@stphilipstucson.org)
Sunday School/Formation
Overview
After the 10:00am worship service, families and their children go to their respective formation classrooms. Specific information about that is not included on the website for safety reasons. Visitors are encouraged to visit the Children’s Courtyard at the north end of campus. There, you will find Mtr Taylor and other volunteers ready to greet you and answer questions.
Safeguarding
The Episcopal Church takes Safeguarding practices seriously. Kate Appel welcomes your questions about practices that keep children safe and ready to learn and grow in community.
Atrium I
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
3-6 year olds
A Montessori-based Christian Formation learning experience that helps children to further develop their relationship with God in developmentally appropriate ways through Scripture, Liturgy, holy work, and play in community.
Atrium II
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
1st-3rd graders
A Montessori-based Christian Formation learning experience that makes space for children to grow in their relationship with God through holy work in community. The children’s questions and focus lead exploration of creation, the Sacraments, geography, and the Bible.
StoryMakers
4th-5th graders
Children continue to study and deepen their understanding of Jesus’ teachings and the sacraments through hands-on study of the Bible and worship. They begin to grasp the “big picture” of God at work in the universe.
Junior and Senior Youth
6th-8th graders and 9th-12th graders
Experienced formation leaders guide the youth in age-appropriate Christian practices of Bible study, Lectio Divina and other prayer practices. During the first weeks of each program year, the leaders learn what topics the youth might be excited about. For example, service projects, diving deep into a particular topic, learning a skill, or finding a mentor.
Routine breakout groups exist for Senior Youth for Confirmation, pilgrimage, and other interests.
Parents’ Formation Group
Parents are the principle agents of spiritual formation in the lives of their children. And while their own growth in the Spirit will necessarily have much to do with their vocations as parents, they also have formation needs by virtue of their vocation as Christians.
This group meets on Sundays during the Sunday School/formation hour in the Children’s Courtyard. This community is a place for parents and caregivers to discuss Episcopal traditions, share parenting joys and challenges, and enjoy camaraderie.
Pilgrimage
High school youth typically go on an international pilgrimage with chaperones. This time is one of spiritual, corporate, and individual growth by which pilgrims are encouraged to more fully inhabit their faith, their tradition, their world, and their own unique identities as ministers of the Gospel and disciples of the Living God.
The most recent pilgrimage (in July 2024) started with the UK Residency at Lincoln Cathedral and ended with a week walking the Walsingham Way.
Intergenerational community
Faith formation done across generations has unique and important impacts on individuals and communities. It is rare these days to have an intergenerational community unless you happen to live near extended families. And yet we’re called to know and care for young and old alike.
The church has a unique calling to be intergenerational and acknowledge the gifts and challenges of every generation—recognizing Christ in each. this process is not uncomplicated but it is grounded in our value of relationships.
It is through relationships that we are formed to love God, our neighbors, and ourselves. At Saint Philip’s we pray that we can continue to grow into a community that is joyfully intergenerational.
Activities
A variety of activities are organized throughout the year. Some are informal gatherings such as pool parties or playground dates while others, such as the annual Fall retreat in Prescott, are more organized. Parents stay up-to-date on the plethora of offerings through the weekly e-newsletter, Faithful Families.