Children

One of our core convictions is that the family should worship together. Our core value on God-focused worship states, “We will gather regularly to glorify God together, both young and old, with God-given joy and creativity, singing songs together to God about God, praying prayers together to God with trust in God, reading aloud together God’s Word, celebrating together with joy and laughter the evidence of God’s work among us, weeping together over our losses and failures, that together we may be built up in faith and united as a family of worshipers. We want our children to learn how to worship God through observation and participation in worship with their parents and other adults.

The content of the worship service is selected with the children in mind. Difficult words or concepts in sermons or songs are explained, and the children are given meaningful roles in the service – giving a welcome at the beginning of the service, reading Scripture aloud, or teaching a song. The children also assist adults in small but necessary tasks like sermon note distribution and communion cup collection. We are continually exploring other ways to involve them so that they can be participants not merely observers.

We expect children will behave like children and know that learning to be respectful in a worship service takes time and diligence. To assist in this important aspect of a child’s life, we encourage others in the congregation to encourage and minister to these families by showing patience and grace, cultivating a heart of thanksgiving for their presence among us, remembering that there was a time that we prayed for God to send us more families.