Children’s Worship
A Statement about Children’s Ministries:
We want to be a place that welcomes young children, that protects them, sees in them a glimpse of God’s hope and promise, receives them as a great gift of God entrusted to our care. We want to model the love God has for each of them and put no obstacles in the way of them running to him and calling him “Father” and “Savior”. But we do not think the primary responsibility of raising children to love and serve the Lord falls in the hands of a few faithful children’s workers who spend at best a couple hours a week with our children. This responsibility falls to the parents and immediate care takers. Our children look to us with a deep curiosity that often times comes rushing to the surface in their never ceasing, “Why’s?” Why do we do what we do, why do we say what we say, why do we go where we go. Our task as parents is to be able to order our lives in such a way that these “Why’s?” become an opening to share and explore the world as it centers around the God who made us and saves in Jesus. And we are here to help in this process – we are here to be a cloud of faithful witnesses – supports to you and your children. We want to offer ourselves to you and provide you with help and whatever resources you might need along the way.
At Grace Community our ministry to and with Children centers around our time together on Sunday mornings. For right now this breaks down into two different age group gatherings. They begin @ 10:20am and run concurrently with our Worship Gathering which begins @ 10:30am.
Both Groups follow the same pattern for their time together on Sundays and this pattern is adapted from the shape of our Worship Gatherings and the classic shape of Christian worship. What follows is a basic picture of this pattern:
Sunday Gatherings
Gather and Sing
Our Sundays begin as all the children gather together for a time of worship through song and dance. They then break down into the two different groups – TidalWave and Bubbles & Roll.
TidalWave is for children in Kindergarten thru Fifth Grade. After our time of song each week we:
Gather to hear a story which is either from scripture or has to do with the church season we are currently observing. The story teller finds ways to engage the children in the story telling with questions, props, activities, etc.
The story time leads us into what we call “Wondering”. The story teller helps the children to consider the story more closely by inviting their imaginations to participate in the story. For example, if the story was about Jesus being born a couple of “wonderings” might be, “I wonder what how it would feel to get to hold a very special baby” or “I wonder what its like to not have your own bed”. You get the idea. Many times the children will speak up with how they are imagining the story to have gone or how they have experienced something like holding their little brother or sister when he/she was born.
All this time leads to the children getting to pick their “work” for the day. Their “work” is some kind of art project that they get to choose based on the story and wondering for the day. However they are also free to choose to continue to work on some special “work” from a previous week. Through their “work” the children are able to express something of how the stories connect with their lives and the world as they know it.
Bubbles & Roll is for children ages 18 months through 4 years old. When young children are first taught to swim, the first things they learn are to blow bubbles and roll on their back. Thus, Bubbles & Roll is about the basics of faith, fun, and life. It’s a blast of wonder as children sing of God’s goodness and learn major stories from scripture. This lovingly prepares them to further explore and engage in the story of God’s work as they continue to grow. The story time is a bit shorter, follows a set curriculum, and provides multiple activities to engage the budding curiosity of these young children.
Gather and Feast
After the time of story and activity both groups gather together again for a “Feast”! During this time the children are given the chance to pray together and share a snack. This time around the table brings to an end our Sunday Gathering. We clean up and go out to share the stories we’ve heard.
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