Each year the elders, deacons, and staff meet to pray, discern, and envision the coming year. Along with that comes setting priorities and working for programs to follow those. (GROW-SERVE-CARE-STEWARD comes from the last two of these gatherings!) Under the GROW vision, we have specifically sought to cultivate outreach, relationships, and ministry with children and families. As we explored some of the barriers to young families participating on Sunday mornings, we found that 11:00 worship was a challenge. Elementary kids often wake up at 6:00 or 6:30 for school and eat lunch as early as 10:30 or 11:00. A worship service that doesn’t start until 11:00 creates a challenge for young children and their families. So we have been considering a different Sunday morning schedule for some time, and in more earnest in the past several months as we have had major outreach events to children and families in our community.
Out of this vision and commitment to GROW with respect to children and families we are going to try something new starting right after Easter Sunday. It’s an overall earlier Sunday schedule. That may thrill some of you; it may challenge others. But we ask that you join us for this “experiment”; we can’t do it without you! We’ll check in with you to see how it’s going and also to report back on what we are seeing in terms of engaging children and families.
Here’s the schedule, starting Sunday, April 16, 2023.
Sunday School: 8:30-9:30am
Fellowship Time: 9:30-10:00am
Worship: 10:00am-11:00am
This is a good time to invite people to church; I hope to see you there!
In Christian love,
Robert