We are now recruiting assistants to help with Children's Church.

Children's Church is offered for Elementary School aged children, 1st through 5th grade.                                                                               Grade's 3-5 are encouraged to remain upstairs with the adults for the full service on communion Sundays.

There is a lesson provided for the preschool and kindergarten nursery during the service.                                                                                                  

All children attend the beginning part of the worship service with their parents and are welcome to remain in the sanctuary for the full time. If parents choose to, they may send their children downstairs to children's church when they are dismissed following the offering each Sunday morning.

Children's church is fully supervised and includes a time of singing, lesson, games and snack for children in an age appropriate setting while training them to understand and participate in worship with the adults as they mature and grow in age and understanding.

Why Children's Church?

Children's Church meets during the Sunday morning worship service in line with the three goals of the Mission of our Children's Ministry.

Children's Church offers an opportunity for our children to worship and learn the Word of God in an age-appropriate setting. A co-product of removing them from the main worship service is to allow parents to worship without distraction, but this is not the main goal of this ministry.

We as the church body have a responsibility to the children of our members. When a child is baptized in our church we make a vow to be part of nurturing that child in Christ.

Children's Church is one place we offer assistance to our parents by teaching the gospel to their children and by developing mentoring relationships with them.

In many churches this training takes place effectively outside of the worship service and children remain in the service with their parents who guide and train them during this time. At New City East Lake we strive to bring in children from our community who may or may not be attending church with their parents. Many of them have a very limited knowledge of the Bible and the “culture” of Sunday morning worship service can be very difficult for them.

Jesus tells us that children are an important part of his kingdom. We do not want to hinder them by expecting them to sit still and be quite in “Big Church” if they are not yet able to do so. We want to encourage children to get excited about the Bible. We want them to understand the teaching of our Lord and to see the relevance of of God's Word in their lives.

By remaining in the sanctuary for the beginning of the worship service the children are allowed to be part of the larger church body and learn by seeing worship modeled by the adults in our congregation. When the teaching time begins we separate them so that they can be taught in an age-appropriate setting allowing them to become engaged in worship and learning in a way that is meaningful to them.

We want our corporate worship to be a meaningful and positive experience for the children and have decided that Children's Church is the best way for us to address this.

It is our desire to see the children grow in their understanding of the Bible and to grow in their desire to learn. We want them to see God's word as living and true and believe it is relevant to them on a personal level. We hope that the training they receive in Children's Church will prepare them to join the adults in the regular worship service as they are ready.


When Children Remain In The Sanctuary:

As children get older and as their understanding and maturity develop we encourage them to remain in the sanctuary.

It is important that children are sitting with adults during the sermon. If a child is at church without a parent we strongly encourage other adults to sit with them and model appropriate behavior. We also ask these adults to help them listen, and follow the sermon.

We have folders available for children to keep notes during the sermon. These contain sheets to help them listen for important verses and points in the sermon. They also help them keep track of words and ideas they are unfamiliar with.

We encourage them to sit down with an adult after the sermon and review their notes. This is an opportunity for parents or mentors to interact with the children and answer questions, clarify points, and correct misunderstanding from the sermon. It is also an opportunity for the adults to help the children understand how what was preached is applicable to their own lives. We hope they will see and understand that the word of God applies to their lives too.

After discussing the sermon notes with an adult the children should have that adult sign their paper. When the child has collected six signed notes they can turn them in to the Children's Ministry Coordinator and earn a fun outing with other children.

To get a folder you can contact Sara Davick at children@newcityeastlake.com.