Ministering to Our Children

We believe children should be in the worship service as soon as possible where they can receive the blessing of seeing and hearing the adults worship God. There is no substitute for children at a young age being able to experience firsthand from the adults that church is not about games and gimmicks but about stepping into the presence of the King and worshiping at his throne. 

 

We are a small church and do not have a formal nursery. We currently meet in the American Legion building, which is a large auditorium building. The chairs and pulpit are set up at the front of the auditorium, and at the rear there is a large padded enclosed area for toddlers, which includes quiet and child-friendly toys. If parents choose to use this, they may place their toddler in the playpen and sit next to it to easily participate in the worship service.

 

Since we encourage children to be in the sanctuary, we include a children’s worksheet which encourages them to follow along with the sermon. After the worship service concludes, many of the children enjoy showing their worksheets to the pastor and talking with him about what they’ve written or drawn. The pastor enjoys spending time with each child, discussing their sermon worksheets.

 

We encourage our parents to engage in daily family worship time at home. This benefits the children in several ways. First, it is the perfect opportunity to begin teaching the young children to sit still and listen as the family prays, sings a hymn, listens to God’s Word being read, and a Bible lesson being taught. If they can learn to sit still and quietly for thirty minutes at home, they will often do well in church. Second, it is greatly beneficial to the children to observe their father leading the family in daily worship and providing a brief Bible lesson. It teaches boys that this is what biblical manhood looks like and it teaches girls what to expect from their future husbands. Husbands and fathers are the spiritual shepherds of their families. Third, conducting daily family worship at home teaches children that the worship of God is not something that merely takes place on Sunday morning, but that the whole of our lives and family dynamics should revolve around and be driven by it.

 

Our children and teens also sit in on our midweek Wednesday night studies where they are encouraged to use the children’s worksheets as well and then discuss with the pastor afterwards what they have learned. We like to encourage the children not just to sit in on the worship service and midweek study but to actually listen to what is being taught.

 

Our teen boys are encouraged to attend our men’s monthly Bible study, and our teen girls are encouraged to attend the women’s monthly study. The youth ministers in our church are primarily their own parents and, secondarily, all the adults in church who desire to pour their wisdom and knowledge into our teens and children. 

 

We look forward to meeting you and your family on Sunday morning!