Week 1 – Saving you a seat – Crosses

Week 2 – Saving you a seat – The Light

Week 3 – Saving you a seat – Music

Week 4 – Saving you a seat – what do you see

Dear parents of a four (turning 5) year-old,

As your child has aged out of our Sunday morning nursery, we want to help you welcome your child to our worship spaces.

Over the next eight weeks we are offering you a new tool called Saving you a Seat. Each week a new page of Saving you a seat will be posted on our website for you to print and bring to worship with you. It is a tool for your child, introducing him/her to elements of worship and our worship spaces. There will also be parent tips provided.  We hope this page will give you and your child something to talk about and be another resource for you as you welcome your child to worship with you.

Click Here for the Worship Page

First Presbyterian Church places great value on having children in worship.  The presence of children in worship is a gift to the church. We encourage you to jump into this adventure with your child and know that we are partnering with you during this new chapter in your family’s life.

Children learn best by doing. It’s always a good place to start to think how your child can participate in worship in meaningful ways.  This might include, but is not limited to, the following ideas:

• Stand when the congregation stands;
• Sing the repeated refrain of a song;
• Sit quietly during the prayers;
• Watch the musicians;
• Put the offering in the offering plate as it is passed;
• Follow along with the order of worship in the Children’s Worship bulletin
• Participate in the sacrament of Communion
• Go forward to listen to the Time for Children.

Consider where you will sit in your worship space. Where will your child be able to see what is happening? Yes, it is usually the front seats. That’s okay. Seeing what is going on helps them engage in more of the parts of worship.

It’s okay to use your “worship voice” (quiet whispering) to give cues to your child about what is coming next in worship and for them to ask questions or to express a need they have.

If you attend The Table, invite your child to shake hands with those around you as the body of Christ passes the peace.

Some tools are provided to help your child engage with their whole body during worship.

Worship bags:   are cloth bags filled with things to quietly engage children (crayons, scratch pad, and a chart of the church seasons and colors.)

The Table offers worship materials to keep little hands busy while they listen.

Children are welcome to participate in Young Children and Worship. Young Children and Worship is for children ages 4-6 (not in first grade). Children sit with parents at the beginning of worship, then may exit to join Mr. Mickey (8:30 worship hour) or Ms. Deb (11:00 worship hour.)  It is a time to learn about worship to help them transition into participation in the full hour of worship.

The Faith group continues their Milestone year learning about worship with a study on generosity as our response to worship. On November 11 and 18 they will do acts of loving and sharing during the Sunday school hour to help them practice what they hear in the Bible stories.

On November 11, the children will bring home a generosity kit which contains a bank to help them make choices about spending, saving, and giving along with church offering envelopes.

YC&W starts a new year of worship preparation.

A new season of Young Children and Worship has begun and there’s still time to join.  This ministry is offered during both 8:30 and 11:00 worship services and meets in Room CW-110 which is located in the Children’s Ministry Wing.  Mickey Fitts and Deb O’Brien serve as YC&W worship leaders each week.  The groups begin worship in the Sanctuary and dismiss to YC&W after the “Time with Children” or Baptism.  Groups will meet weekly through August 2018.

Click here to register your child!  If you or your child have been participating with us, we ask that you please re-register.

Young Children and Worship (YC&W) is a ministry of worship preparation for young children and their parents.  Parents and their children who are ages 4, 5, or 6 and not entering 1^st grade this fall (Faith, Love, and Grace Sunday School classes) are invited to participate.  It provides a transition time from the church nursery to the hour-long worship service in the Sanctuary, in which our 1^st graders fully participate.

Participation in YC&W  is optional (parent’s choice) as a support to families.  Young children are always welcome to attend the entire Sanctuary worship service at any time parents feel they are ready to participate fully.  We know, however, that it is helpful for some children to have a child-friendly introduction to the traditions, the order of worship, and the elements of worship.

Parents whose children participate in YC&W are also asked to be “helpers” at least one Sunday per month.  This helps equip parents as they guide their child in worship, and also helps parents meet their child’s peer group “community of belonging.”  When you register your child, there will be an opportunity to select your preferences.  A schedule of helpers will be created and communicated by the end of August and will begin in September.