Children's Ministry Update

Emily Cutter • June 5, 2024

Hello from the office of Children's Ministries at Rockford Reformed! Children’s Ministries target audience is kids in 5th grade and under, as well as their parents. Our goal in Children’s Ministries is to help the kids of our church understand God’s love for them and their role in building His Kingdom. That might look different depending on your personality and interests, but here are some examples! 

• Caring for little ones in the nursery and showing them the love of Christ while reading a book, playing with toys, or changing a diaper, or

• Having a discipling conversation with an older elementary student who has questions about walking in faith, or

• Making a choice to spend time doing what a 6-year-old is interested in to show your interest in them as a member of God’s family, or

• Asking a parent how you can be praying for them in their parenting ministry.

You don’t have to be an official KidLife volunteer to be involved in children’s ministry, but there is also always room for more volunteers. 

I’m writing to you not only as the director of Children’s Ministries, but also as the parent of young children, and Church, we need you. We need you to step in when we are too busy or tired or distracted from meeting physical needs: have our kids eaten a vegetable this week? Does the little one need a nap today or will that mean we are all up until 10pm? Do their shoes still fit? We need our brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage us as parents and to have meaningful, discipling relationships with our kids. We need you to lean into the baptismal promises you made, when you promised to love, encourage, and support us as parents, by teaching the gospel of God’s love, by being an example of Christian faith and character, and by giving the strong support of God’s family in fellowship, service, and prayer. The children of the church ARE the someday through every day. If you don’t have a relationship with them, you are missing out an a wonderful opportunity to expand God’s Kingdom - and it’s fun too. Don’t worry about how you will entertain them. They’ll take care of that. 

We recently finished our KidLife Club season, and it was so good. Preschoolers through first graders have studied Old Testament stories of God’s faithfulness, while 2nd-5th graders have been working through the New City Catechism, studying what we believe and the Biblical foundation for those beliefs. They’ve grappled with big questions like why it was necessary for Christ to die and what the difference between justification and sanctification is.

Looking forward to the summer, we will have weekly gatherings on Wednesday mornings from 10-12, including a brief Bible lesson and plenty of play time for kids of all ages, with parents also building relationships with one another while the kids play.  A light lunch will be served during the last half hour (11:30-12). I’d love to see adults from all stages of life join us to invest in relationships across generations. If you've ever wanted to get to know the kids of our church without the pressure of being responsible for a group of them, this is your moment! Even if you are not able to join us, please be in prayer that this would be an opportunity for God’s love to be shared, both within our church body and with those who might be invited to an outdoor, low pressure gathering. If you think you WILL be able to join us, we would appreciate an RSVP to allow us to plan for food. You can do that here.

Thinking ahead to the fall, please be in prayerful consideration about whether God might be asking you to step into a teaching role for KidLife Worship, Sunday school, or KidLife Club. For those who may not know, KidLife Worship meets during the Sunday morning service for kids aged 3 through 2nd grade. Sunday school meets after church on Sunday mornings. KidLife Club meets on Wednesday nights during Focal Point. All are times when kids learn Bible stories, hear God’s truth, and experience God’s love through relationships with Christian adults, ideally outside their own family so they have the opportunity to develop discipling relationships that support the work their own parents are doing on a daily basis. Please join me in investing in the church’s someday by enjoying every day relationships with our youngest members.