Nursery:

Nursery for ages birth-3 is provided during the Sunday morning service on the first floor of the church, adjacent to the sanctuary. While important in providing excellent physical and emotional care, the nursery experience is not solely about standard childcare. It is essential that each child feel individually known and shown the love of Christ through those serving in the nursery. A team approach is used to insure that a child’s first exposure to the church experience is safe and positive.

Sunday Program for Children Ages 4-12:

Children are grouped broadly by age in a program designed specifically for their developmental level. Much emphasis is placed on helping the scriptures to come alive in an approach that involves many hands-on activities. A story-telling approach in presenting the Bible utilizes puppets, drama, and small figures, for example. Children are then encouraged to wonder and to stretch and pose questions, even when the questions are beyond our understanding. Children are frequently given choices of many activities that they can then pursue in the process of making the story their own. The activities, ranging from building to painting to drama, illuminate different cultural and theological questions that arise from the text, helping the children to deal with them concretely. Overall, these concrete experiences, along with opportunities to ponder the text, help to promote our goal of giving the children a foundation for faith that is personal and growing. Times of working and praying together help to foster an important sense of community. Teachers are encouraged to grapple with their own understanding of the scriptures with other adults prior to sharing them with the children.

Sunday Program for Youth Ages 13-17:

The emphasis of our program for youth is to introduce those who have not yet had a faith experience to the essentials of the gospel and give those that are already believers an opportunity to know and articulate what they already believe. Our main emphasis is to disciple our young people from whatever point they are in their spiritual journey. Opportunities for open conversation and for questioning are woven into the fabric of each experience. Discipleship occurs in small groups on topics such as: spiritual disciplines, understanding other faiths, how to live faith in a media-saturated culture, and other subjects of particular interest to teens. The core of the program focuses on the building of relationship with God, self and others.

Family Sundays:

Once a month, children ages 4 and up stay with their families during the church service. Our purpose for Family Sundays is to promote a sense of community and connection throughout the entire church body. Children are woven into the life of the service through music, dance, readings, ushering, etc. The sermon topic and length of service are geared towards including children.