Greetings RiverKids Parents
I am sure you are all getting ready for the holidays! I wanted to take a moment to let you know that we have completed the Fall quarter of our curriculum and have begun our winter quarter. Starting with the Story of Christ’s birth, surprise!
But this week, we are taking a break from all of that to have a Family Worship Sunday! It’s been a while so I wanted to take a moment to remind you what FWS (Family Worship Sunday) means, why we do it and what you can expect.
FWS means that there is no RiverKids downstairs. There will be nursery available, if you would like to use it, but please do not feel pressured to send your little ones downstairs. It is one hundred percent your choice, but YOUR KIDS OF ALL AGES ARE WELCOME IN CHURCH (every week but especially this week)!!!
What is happening downstairs during RiverKids is extremely important and of great value. But, we also know, that it is important for children to experience church. It is naive to assume that children with no exposure to a corporate worship service will as adults suddenly desire to participate in church. Part of discipleship is teaching our kids how we worship God as one body; how we share communion, what baptism looks like, praying out loud together. These are all important things for our kids to witness and to experience.
What can you expect? You can expect it to be noisy. You can expect your kids to wiggle. You can expect your kids to drop something loud. You can expect to be annoyed by your children at some point in the morning. This is probably not going to be your favorite Sunday. You might not “get much out of it”. But let’s remember that what we” get out of church” isn’t why we go. We go to worship God together, because He is worthy, He is holy, and He demands our complete devotion. Perhaps if we get excited for the opportunity to share the greatest privilege our lives with our kids, we won’t be so disappointed that we didn’t hear more than two words of the sermon. And perhaps we will find joy in a different way.
Something else you can expect, you can expect this! We are excited to bring you this special Kids Bulletin, as a way to encourage your kids to follow along with and apply the message, grownups can have one too! If your kids fill it out and bring it with them the next time they are in RiverKids they can cash it in for Bible Bucks.
Final thoughts: NO ONE is as bothered by your children as you are. They are rarely as loud as you imagine them to be. As you sit in church on Sunday try to think about it from your child’s perspective. What things might be confusing to them? What things would they find interesting? What pieces of the message could apply to them in that situation? Take a moment and whisper in their ear. And remember children are NOT the Church of the future, they are the Church of TODAY!
See You on Sunday!
Onward and Upward
Megan Mills