An Interview with Arlyn Kantz
St. Peter Antiochian Orthodox Church, Fort Worth, TX
Arlyn Kantz journeyed from an
evangelical background to Orthodoxy seven years ago. She has taught history and
Bible at St. Peter’s Classical school for the past six years and has served as
director of Christian Education for the parish for the last three. Before
becoming Orthodox, she worked in curriculum development for special populations
while raising four children. She and Will, her husband of 25 years, recently
handed off the reigns of a thriving SOYO department to capable younger hands.
How many students attend your
Sunday school? How is your program organized for Sunday classes and
how many teachers are assigned per class?
We
have approximately sixty children in our parish, birth to eighteen. Twenty-two
attend Sunday School on a regular basis. Sunday School meets after mass for
forty-five minutes. Our children are organized into three classes: PreK-1st grade, 2nd-6th grade, and then 7th-12th grade. Our two younger classes do not hold firm to the
boundary of age, depending on attendance and maturity and the preference of
some children to be with a sibling. We do hold a firm line though on attending
SOYO, as teens need a space of their own. We are blessed to have two teachers
per level. Sometimes teachers rotate every other Sunday and sometimes they team
teach depending on what is going on with their personal schedules and the
number of children attending each Sunday.
Which curricula do you use for Sunday classes?
Please also describe the curriculum created by St. Peter Christian Education
Ministry.
SOYO leaders
create their own program as they sense the needs of the group and are directly
answerable to our priest, Fr. Mark McNary. Younger students are taught using
in-house curriculum that has been tested through use in the lower grade Bible
classes of our classical school. Sunday school teachers adjust lessons to be
more applicable to mixed level classroom and a student population more sporadic
in attendance. As lessons are polished, they are added to the parish web site
where they are available to teachers to choose from and adjust to their
specific needs. Our curriculum is always a work in progress. In fact, we
welcome suggestions outside our parish to better serve, if possible, the wider
community.
As the first Western Rite
director to be interviewed, are there any unique characteristics of St. Peter
Sunday school to discuss in comparison to Eastern Rite Sunday schools?
I am not
familiar enough with Eastern Rite Sunday School programs to make a qualified
comparison. I am confident that they, like us, are striving to make disciples
and bring children into contact with the Holy Trinity and His Bride the Church.
Because we are situated in a city that home to a large Protestant seminary, it
seems good to us that our materials are presented as Bible studies and infused
with commentary from the Fathers. We use terms most easily understood by the
culture we are trying to reach. The saints and traditions are woven through,
but as a support to scriptural interpretation, not as the lesson itself.
How do you keep SOYO/teen
students involved and engaged in Sunday school?
We are blessed with a
very supportive priest in the area of teen SOYO. Additionally, we have two
energetic and spiritually mature leaders who take the youth into their hearts,
praying for them regularly and investing on a personal level. SOYO leadership
creates an interactive atmosphere so teenagers are not subjected to simply a
second sermon by an adult figure, but are given the freedom to interact, both
asking and answering spiritual questions. A mixed set of activities are rotated
including crafts, group building, introspection, and sharing.
Do members of your SOYO/teen
group organize and participate in events outside of Sunday school?
SOYO youth
provide leadership for younger students at the parish’s annual Vacation Bible
School. This past year the teens created and manned games at a fall festival
outreach for the local community. Youth leaders also issue challenges to
encourage spiritual awareness during the week and fellowships are held in
private homes.
Please share with us about your
Sunday school Lenten programs/activities/outreach.
During Holy
Week the youth lead off by manning the first hour of the Paschal vigil.
Do you have advice on how to
schedule teacher training events and how to prevent teacher burnout? Are there
any resources that you utilize for your own development and enrichment?
Teachers
meet a couple time a year informally but most of our communication happens in
passing and by email. Most of our volunteers are veteran educators so it is
very much a team approach. Most of us come from Protestant backgrounds and are
on a bit of an adventure rediscovering the Bible through the eyes of the
Fathers. We very much lean on the commentary found in the Orthodox
Study Bible and Ancient Christian Commentary on
Scripture by Manlio Simonetti. Teacher burnout is always a
danger but having two adults committed to each classroom helps ease the
problem. We are always looking for and praying about the inclusion of fresh
volunteers, guarding against a sense of ownership of a particular ministry.
Are there students with special
needs in your Sunday school ministry, and how have you addressed and
accommodated those needs so that all students feel welcomed?
We have one
student with severe autism who attends SOYO every week. The youth and their
leaders have a deep appreciation for his purpose in the Body of Christ and are
naturally inclusive. A presentation was given to the ladies group specially
about autism and it seems to have affected positively the whole parish body.
