Sundays in the Lab

As most of you know, our kids spend the first Sunday of every month upstairs in the lab. This is an important time for them because it brings all of the kids together into one common space. The other three Sundays of the month are spent in their classrooms, divided by age. We have a huge age range present during this time of worship. Kids from the age of 4 to the age of 12 all sit together in one room, listen to the same lesson and participate in the same songs. As a teacher sometimes it's difficult to plan for such a large age gap. How do I teach a lesson that a four year old will understand and a 12 year old will want to listen to?
I find myself getting nervous on Saturday night before these large group Sundays because I am so concerned that something is going to go wrong, or the 6th graders will get bored or a preschooler will get overlooked.
This Sunday something amazing happened. Our lesson was about thankfulness and being thankful for the gift that God gave us with when He sent Jesus to the earth. The kids opened their Bibles and took turns reading the prophecies about Jesus' arrival. We talked about the stories of Anna and Simeon who had waited their entire lives to meet the Savior. As I stood and watched the 47 precious kids in that room I noticed something. They were engaged, they were listening, they were raising their hands to talk, they were asking questions. ALL of them. A 10 year old boy sat next to a 4 year old boy and helped him tie his shoe. Three 6th grade girls sat next to two 1st grade girls. Kids helped each other look up passages in the Bible and kids that have been coming to this church since they were born introduced themselves to the visitors. It was incredible. I sat there in amazement. The crazy thing about all of it is that I had nothing to do with it. God was working in that room with those precious children and He simply allowed me to observe. It wasn't because of anything I said or because of anything I did.
I was incredibly blessed and incredibly humbled in that moment. What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ.

From Our Pastor

Kids & Worship

Here's a cool thing. Beginning on Sunday, March 22, we'll have children sit with their families for the first portion of the worship service. They will then be dismissed to participate in our Sunday morning children's program. I'm excited about this change because it will enable families to experience worship together. Parents, look for a letter sometime next week that will give procedural details. In the meantime, I look forward to the enthusiasm our kids will bring to worship.