Parents of young children: This is for you!

Jan. 30, 2025

By Rev. Rick King

If you have young children and seldom attend church any more, or have stopped going altogether, I’m sorry. After the pandemic and Katie Johnson’s resignation, we felt discouraged in our efforts to get a critical mass of children and their families back to church. Pastor Riz says that’s been their experience, too, at New Life.

With this merger process, we have a chance at a rethink and a reset: a chance to listen to you, and for us all to design a welcoming experience for you and your kids—and for families in the community that surrounds us. Because in case you missed it, what we want to do in this merger is to jump-start a new church engaged in its wider community as never before.

Two stories in Luke right after Christmas tell us a LOT about how the Bible sees children and their faith:
Children do NOT need us to introduce them to God or teach them spirituality; they have them already (Luke 2:21-38). What they DO need is an immersive experience of community and welcome (Luke 2:41-52).

As UCC faith formation expert Marian Plant says, “Jesus welcomed children and taught adults. We welcome adults and teach children. Someone’s got this backwards, and I don’t think it was Jesus.”

If you’re not currently coming to church here, but would come back if there were more children and worship, and small group faith formation were reimagined and redesigned all around, would you be willing to tell us more about that?

I’d love to hear from you!