Do you have children’s and youth ministry at Evergreen?
Yes, we do! Now, it might not look exactly like you are expecting. The most common way of doing children’s ministry is as a distinct ministry that separates children or youth off from the adults for age specific instruction. That is a practice that many find meaningful and it is one way of doing Christian education.
At Evergreen we take a different approach. We choose to educate children by having all the generations together. We believe that children learn by watching others and imitating them. We believe that they learn how to worship by worshiping. Just like they learned to talk by listening to adults talk and trying to enter into the conversation and talk back, we believe they learn about God in the same way, by listening and trying to enter into the conversations.
This does not mean that we just want children and youth to sit still and be seen and not heard. We invite children to be full participants in worship as their ability allows and with all their wiggles and noises. So really young kids might start to learn how to hold their hands to pray and to put a few coins in the offering. They may learn how to dance or raise their hands to sing. As they get older they may learn how to light candles, how to greet those coming in and how to give the communion bread back to the land after worship. As they grow up they will be able to do more things like serve communion, or read scripture, or lead the congregation in a song or preach.
This is not just children and youth being expected to into fit into “adult” church. When children and youth are part of worship, they are fully a part and they influence how we do worship. Children and youth being present changes us. For example, in worship we change up the prayer practices that we do and change up our responses after the sermon. We take the children into account and sometimes those prayers and responses involving coloring or moving around. When we have time for discussions the thoughts of the youth challenge the adults and help them to think deeper.
Jesus said that we as Christians are part of the body of Christ, some of us are an ear, some hand, some an eye and we all need each other. It is the same with the ages. When the children and youth are separated we miss what we can learn from them.
Just as different educational setting in schools work for different kids and families, some kid thrive in homeschools, some in public schools, some in online schools, and some in Montessori schools, we recognize that Christian education is the same. Some kids and families will thrive in a set apart educational setting for children, and some families and kids will thrive by the type of education we have that keeps the whole family together.
We invite you to come some Sunday and check us out. We would love the opportunity to love you and your family.