This coming Wednesday Missio Dei Church will be launching our Lenten series, Knit Together. This is going to be a great time of working through the one another statements we see throughout the New Testament. We are really looking forward to discussing how we can be better knit together reaching people for Christ.

Something we are looking forward to this year is having families worship together throughout this series. Our covenant children will be learning right along side us singing, reading scripture, taking notes, and entering into the large group discussion.

God-centered worship is supremely important in the life of our church. Just as we approach the Sunday morning worship hour with great seriousness, earnestness, expectancy, so it should be with any other gathering the church has. We, together with our children, are coming under the means of His grace that He has promised to bless as they are faithfully administered by His ministers and received by faith. Therefore, instead of just sending the children downstairs to engage in a time of “free play”, together we will be able to shepherd these children in light of the Gospel.

We believe God has designed parents with the primary responsibility for the spiritual nurture of their children. Therefore, here are some ways the church will come alongside you and your family.

• During the hour we have together we will sing, pray, read, listen, share stories, and discuss the text. The night will move on quickly and therefore should help prevent children from becoming restless
• The church will provide a few activity sheets to help your child stay engaged throughout the night. This will even include a specially designed note-taking sheet that will help them walk through the “one another” statements.
• Those who are leading the night will continually be thinking of ways to get children involved throughout the night. This could come through reading scripture allowed, asking how the text could apply to particular children, or praying out loud with the group.
• If your child becomes restless throughout the night, you are free to get up and walk with them for a few minutes and then encourage them to come back and take a seat. We all have our breaking points eventually.

Here are some ways you can prepare ahead of time.

• Even before arriving at church, talk to your children about the flow for the night and what your expectations are for while they are worshiping alongside you.
• Bring a “church bag” along with you that has a notebook, pen, crayons, or markers that your children can use if they need to draw what they have heard. If necessary, throw in a snack or two to help them push through those last few minutes.
• Encourage your child when he or she did something well (sat through the service respectfully, took great notes, participated when asked, or sang robustly).
• Be listening for ways that you can help bring what you learned home and how you can continue to have your child apply what they heard in their life.

We pray that having another time of family worship will continue to grow us together as a family and will help us ever-more be knit together serving on His mission of reaching people for Christ.