Looking Forward: Children in our Church…

October 10, 2006

I’m guessing that everyone who reads this blog knows that I’m a new parent of twin girls, the joy of my life. While I am relatively new to the community, I care strongly about a strong, vibrant children’s ministry at Southminster, as do other parents of small children. This is for reasons both personal and professional, and because I think that’s what God wants here at Southminster.
This is a hopeful and excited post, but we need to start with some observations that are its context: Southminster has had a rough go over the last several years, demographically. Our numbers are lower than they used to be. Many of our families with small children now live a good distance from the church, having moved to larger housing farther away. This has not been the only factor that has challenged our children’s ministry, but it is a contributing one.

To be sure, there is a lot that attracts and keeps families here–a warm, welcoming community, vibrant and blended worship experiences, opportunities for hands-on mission and enriching fellowship. Jeff and I agree that these can be strong draws throughout the metropolitian area, and for more local families as well.

But we’ve had our challenges maintaining a strong number of our infants, toddlers, and elementary aged school children. With the challenges of busy lives and difficult scheduling added to the mix, it has been hard for some to drive the extra distance to be here among us. This reality will not change for some of our families, and many continue to dedicate themselves to this community of faith. We ought to celebrate those who do drive in from a good distance away, and recognize how these families do so at some extra burden. And we celebrate that there is something about Southminster that nourishes them in such a way that it makes that extra burden a worthy one. At the same time, we are receiving many visitors from the areas just around the church, and several of them have become new members.

The challenge to Southminster is how we structure our ministry to meet the needs of a diverse population. And I think we also can observe that the tide is moving us forward in some exciting ways:

Southminster recently engaged in a restructuring of our elementary Church school program–Southminster Stages–retaining the best of the multi-sensory rotational model but adapted for our circumstances. The past 18 months have shown a stronger attendance and interest in this program. Our numbers are up! And, perhaps most positively, we’ve seen a large influx of young children in our midst.

Something is working that makes parents of young children feel at home here! We’ve got our work cut out for us in restructuring our current programs–the nursery, treasure time, Sunday School–to serve these children and their families. And we need to examine what we can do to increase the feeling that these children are at the center of our life together as a people of faith. But, in my mind’s eye, things are really headed in a positive direction.

And so much is happening around here! We’re about to renovate our worship space, and in so doing we mark a dedication to honor those who currently worship among us as well as a desire to reach out and attract new families, some of whom will help us build our children’s ministries even further.

One hope I have for my work with the Christian Education committee is that we recommit ourselves to the service of the youngest members of our community. I’ve highlighted some of what we’ve done to that end above. In addition, we’ve started some vital programs aimed at increasing the presence and participation of our children in worship, such as a revised Baptismal liturgy that includes a child in the Baptismal ritual. Indeed, it will be a through an examination and reaffirmation of our baptismal promises that can lead us to renewed energy towards serving these our children. And that can have exciting ramifications for our entire church.

I’m excited about where we are headed. I hope you are too! Because there is a place for you in that journey. We need the entire church to contribute to the spiritual formation of our children, and we need to celebrate and support those who are already giving of their energy, imagination, and skills! I’m not sure yet what the next iteration of our children’s ministry will look like. What will Stages look like in three years? What will our treasure time be in 10 months? How will the large number of infants impact how we offer preschool in the next few years? I’m not sure, but I’m ready for the journey.

Posted in Children's Ministry