This church has a long history of caring for children and youth in our church community as well as the community at large:
- Sunday School
- Nursery care
- Vacation Bible School
- Headstart/Wild Plum
- Children’s Hand Chime Choir
- BASICS, a weekly youth fellowship
- Kids Hope
- Youth Mission trips
In an effort to boost our ministry with children and youth in our congregation, a few people, called the Children and Youth’s Cohort, were recruited to work with Misty, Emily and Rev. David. The Cohort is made up of Joan Edmonds, Richard and Lisa Fusia, Butch Howard, Angie Roberts, Brad Schol, and Mary Ann Watson. To help with this we have enlisted the aid of Rev. Leanne Hadley, a UM pastor who has specialized in Children and Family ministry for many years. Thanks to Zoom technology, the Children’s Cohort has been meeting with Rev. Hadley monthly since October, 2020. She has listened as we talked about our successes and concerns. She has provided us with resources and many ideas. Most importantly she has reminded us that children are spiritual beings – not empty vessels to be filled with church doctrine or Biblical facts. With this in mind we are working to do the following:
- Be Holy Listeners when talking with children at church.
- Try to integrate children more fully in the congregation’s activities, mission and worship.
- Recognize the difficult job parenting is and offer support to families.
Some recent changes you may note:
- Music playing after the children’s sermon time as Rev. David takes a moment to bless each child, reminding them they are a beloved child of God.
- The children and youth taking the lead in our mission of the Blessing Box.
- Delivering Easter Baskets to our youth during the COVID shut-down.
- To support our children’s families, making calls or emails regularly to say our congregation cares for them and that their child is important to our church.
You are encouraged to learn the names of our children and youth and speak to them by name. If you want to do more, contact anyone in the cohort for more information. Check out what Jesus told his disciples in Matt. 19:13-15 and Mark 10:13-16. Today, we are disciples of Jesus.
