Religious Education | Sunday School
Photo Courtesy of Goarch / Brittany Newman
What does Leadership 100 philanthropy look like in the life of a child?
Sometimes, it looks like a teacher opening a new lesson plan on Sunday morning. A student completing a worksheet that connects the Gospel to everyday life. A family continuing a conversation about faith long after church has ended.
Through its support of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Department of Religious Education, Leadership 100 is helping make those moments possible.
A National Investment in Orthodox Education
Leadership 100 approved a $323,000 investment in the National Orthodox Christian Sunday School Curriculum Development and Kids Sunday Series. The funding includes the original $200,000 grant, along with $123,000 repurposed from the 360° Review and Gospel Book grants.
The vision is ambitious: to create a unified, modern Orthodox Christian curriculum serving children from Pre-K through Grade 12, giving parishes, teachers and families high-quality resources for faith formation.
The Department of Religious Education notes that Leadership 100’s flexibility in allowing previous grant funds to be repurposed helped bring multiple resources together into one cohesive national program.
From Pre-K to Graduation
What began as a curriculum initiative for Pre-K through Grade 2 has grown into a comprehensive national program spanning Pre-K through Grade 12.
A new scope and sequence has been developed for every grade, creating a vertically aligned pathway for Orthodox Christian education from early childhood through high school graduation. Phase I focuses on teacher resources, while Phase II has begun producing student worksheets, including materials for Grades 1 and 2.
The goal is not simply to create more materials, but to equip teachers with resources that make Orthodox Christian education engaging, consistent and meaningful at every age.
Leadership 100’s support is also expanding the Kids Sunday Series, a weekly resource covering every Sunday of the ecclesiastical year.
The series now serves three age groups:
Grades 1–5
Grades 6–8
Grades 9–12
Each weekly lesson includes teacher plans, student worksheets, videos and hands-on activities. Additional resources provide teaching strategies, age-appropriate activities, video suggestions and, for older students, quotations from the Church Fathers and weekly challenges.
Together, these resources allow children to encounter age-appropriate Orthodox Christian education year after year, with lessons designed to grow alongside them.
The People Behind the Pages
This work is being developed by Orthodox educators, theologians, curriculum writers and designers. The Department engaged Dr. Drew Baker, a nationally recognized Orthodox educator, to lead a professional curriculum team. The project also includes curriculum writers from St. Spyridon Parish in Loveland, Colorado, professionals from Orthodox Pebbles, and creative designers supporting the Kids Sunday Series.
The investment is helping provide the professional expertise and resources needed to serve parishes across the country.
The Impact Is Underway
The project has reached several important milestones, including completion of the Pre-K–Grade 12 scope and sequence, continued development of the National Curriculum, completed student worksheets for initial Grade 1 and Grade 2 units, and ongoing testing of sample lessons and teacher guides.
The Kids Sunday Series has also expanded across all three age groups, with new teacher and student resources being added.
Beyond the classroom, the Department’s weekly newsletter reaches more than 12,500 subscribers, providing another avenue for sharing resources with Orthodox families and educators.
“The National Sunday School Curriculum and Kids Sunday Series represent an important investment in the future of our Church. Through these resources, we are equipping our parishes, religious educators, parents, and children with faithful and engaging ways to encounter Christ and grow in the life of the Orthodox Church. The generous support of Leadership 100 helps make this vision possible, strengthening our ability to provide quality Orthodox educational resources to communities across the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.”
His Grace Bishop Athenagoras
Your Giving Builds What Comes Next
The most meaningful measure of this grant may not be the number of worksheets created or lessons published. It is the number of children who will encounter the Orthodox faith through those resources—the Sunday School teacher who feels better equipped, the parish with access to professional materials, the parent who continues the conversation at home, and the young person whose understanding of the faith grows into adulthood.
As Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos wrote in the progress report, Leadership 100’s support is not simply funding a project - it is helping nurture the spiritual formation of children and families across the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
This is where your impact goes. Leadership 100 is building for what comes next.
