Children, Youth and College Ministry

Time to swim against the current. The late missiologist Lesslie Newbigin struck a chord with me. The most important thing we do together is corporate worship on the Lord’s Day. When I realized the participation available to all people, ages and abilities in liturgical worship and the lack of commitment on behalf of Christians to regularly attend public worship, I dug in my heels. Before we develop age appropriate programs we need to learn to gather and include all ages in corporate worship!

The family unit is the foundation of our children’s ministry. Worship is not a break from parenting. Most of our families want their children in the service and we are delighted to have them. Let children be present in worship from a young age so that they can watch and learn from their parents, hear the music of the Church and eventually sing with the congregation.

Students are encouraged to get involved at a young age. Many serve as an acolyte and we have had youth as young as 10 read the Scriptures for the Church (Lectors). Small churches have a hard time competing with demanding school schedules and after-school activities. This, combined with the loss of the local Church that makes families drive thirty minutes or more to worship on Sunday, works against mid week gatherings. So we have planned special events throughout the year (ski trip, hiking, day on Lake Norman, group tickets to baseball games, etc) with families in mind and they have been a huge hit!

College students often have a sense of longing. They have many hopes and dreams for a short season of intense educational opportunities coupled with a desire for new friendships and adventures. One thing they often forget in this season of life is service to others. In many ways their longing will be fulfilled as they are faithful in worship to God and love and service to one another in the local congregation. We have found that faithfulness in this area has also led to unique opportunities for fellowship among peers in occasional hiking trips and weekly gatherings for food, fellowship and evening prayer.