Directly following the Sunday service, our children gather for a healthy snack followed by a time of musical expression. In addition to music and story, the children participate in and explore the stories and lessons through creative arts and crafts, discussion, reenactments, service projects, plays, games and constructions.
See what FBC Children and Youth are up to at their website: https://lkatw6.wixsite.com/youth.
Nuturing Spiritual Growth
Here at FBC of Ithaca we value the full participation of children and youth at all ages in worship, education and ministry. The Children’s Education Ministry Team has some suggestions for nurturing spiritual growth in the children while at the church.
Worship:
- In order to create what theologian Thomas Borg has called a “thin place” (a place where we can tune in to God) we ask that children and youth walk when in the sanctuary. Please feel free to remind them with gentle reminders and if the opportunity arises share how adjusting our behavior in sacred places is how we make them so. Keeping some spaces preserved in this way is a resource for everyone. Children and youth can’t learn if they can’t safely make mistakes so should a child be running thank you for being respectful and kind with the reminder!
- Most of us enjoy being recognized in public spaces. Don’t forget to say hello to children and youth during worship, especially when “passing the peace”.
- If you are on a ministry team please keep children and youth in mind for helping out with ushering, communion and other responsibilities. They love to help out!
Sunday School Transition:
- Sunday School can be a hectic transition when friends are sharing fellowship after the service or running off to other activities. It is particularly challenging for teachers if children arrive late. We encourage parents to either walk their children to their class or remind them to be on time (11:30 is best). After Sunday School ends (12:30) children come downstairs and youth upstairs. It helps to have some adults in the foyer to supervise and direct kids to parents who are finishing up with adult education hour or other activities.
Special Events:
- There are times when a FBC event is long or children are not interested in the topic. Don’t miss out! The Children’s Education Ministry Team often provides child care. Please ask if you need child care for younger children or activities for youth if they are not interested in the event but would like to come.
Children and Communion
There are a variety of meanings and levels of meaning in the Communion Service. It is a remembering of the life, death, resurrection and teaching of Jesus Christ. It is a reminder that each of us is a child of God, in God’s grace and seeking rightness with others. It is a family meal celebrating our common faith in Jesus, during which our commitment to act as the body of Christ in the world is renewed and strengthened. It is a time of absolute and perfect equity. An example of the great Welcome Table in the
Kingdom of God; where no one is a stranger, a foreigner, un-affirmed or unwelcome.
There is both mystery and the familiar in this meal. It is a common meal, using common elements, to celebrate the nature of our family, the nature of community. At the same time it is mysterious, not in the elements themselves, but in the fact of God’s love for us, God’s grace and God’s work in drawing us together through our remembrance of Jesus Christ into community and outreach.
The invitation to join in and partake of this simple meal, celebration, and sacrament, this remembering is extended to all. No matter the level of our developing understanding and faith, no matter our age or affiliation. For each of us is a “child of God” part of the family, loved and special.
As we partake together, we encourage our families to gather and each and every one of us to embrace this opportunity to further deepen our own and our children’s understanding of the Communion Service.