Home » Children’s Ministry
Ministries
Children’s Ministry
Philosophy
The ultimate purpose of our children’s ministry is to point children to God through Jesus Christ. In our efforts to fulfill this purpose, we embrace several important convictions. We believe that children’s ministry must be God-glorifying, Gospel-centered, Bible-saturated, and missionally minded.
Children’s ministry must be God-glorifying. We believe that we exist for the glory of God (Isa 43:6-7). Therefore, in our children’s ministries, we seek to do all things to magnify the greatness of God (1Cor 10:31).
Children’s ministry must be Gospel-centered. Outward behavior apart from grace is legalism, while grace apart from God’s law is license. We thus seek to present moral teaching within the framework of the gospel so as to avoid these two dangerous extremes.
Children’s ministry must be Bible-saturated. We believe that our children’s ministry must be thoroughly saturated in the Scriptures because the Scriptures provide us with all we need in order that we might be “thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2Tim 3:16).
Children’s ministry must be missionally-minded. A critical focus in our children’s ministry is to disciple children and parents of children in our church so that they come to view themselves as missionaries who reach out to those in our broader community.
Children’s Sunday School
Our children’s Sunday school program is designed to reiterate and solidify the biblical worldview presented to children by their parents at home. We seek to help children think in terms of God’s story of redemption. This is a Gospel-centered approach in which children come to identify with both the experience of rebellion, which characterizes the lives of the historical figures in the Bible, along with God’s mercy and grace towards His people, which culminates in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
Our curriculum is gospel-centered and seeks to impart a view of God to our children that they will find compelling. We do not seek to present Bible lessons which simply teach morality. Rather, we desire to present a vision of God’s greatness, love, and goodness so that our children will see the inestimable value of God and will be compelled to turn and follow Him.
Children’s Church
Our Children’s Church ministry is designed to provide children with an opportunity to worship God and to hear God’s Word taught in an engaging way while their parents are in the main Sunday morning worship service. Children are encouraged to worship God through singing, fun activities, and an age-appropriate, God-centered Bible lesson.
Each Sunday morning, children accompany their parents into the main worship service where they worship with their parents until they are dismissed for Children’s Church. All parents, and especially those who are new to our church or who are visiting, are welcome to attend with their children to experience Children’s Church first-hand.
As a church which recognizes that the primary responsibility for discipling children rests on parents, we support the decision of parents who choose to have their children remain with them in the regular church service. Yet our hope and encouragement is for parents in our congregation to take advantage of our Children’s Church ministry.
Vacation Bible School
Our yearly Vacation Bible School program is a week-long outreach event designed to reach children in our broader community. The primary purpose of VBS is to present children and their parents with God and His glorious story of redemption in Jesus Christ in order that they might turn and follow Him. We seek to accomplish this purpose through age-appropriate Bible teaching, craft projects, music, games, and other activities.
During VBS we also seek to reach out to moms by providing them with time to engage with other moms and to learn about God’s wonderful message of salvation in a small group setting.
