Have you noticed all the children who have been attending worship this summer? I remember in the first year or two after Covid hit that we would typically have only five or six children come forward for the Children’s Story. Sometimes only four kids came up. But this summer we have been blessed to have a dozen or more children attend worship virtually every Sunday. The Sunday after VBS finished we had a huge number of children. But even on other Sundays we have had close to 20 children attend.
To help me learn each child’s name, I have started writing their names on a 4 X 6 card. When I reviewed my card, I counted 34 children who have attended two or more worship services this summer. Most of them have come at least four or five times!
I am delighted to tell you that ten of these children have started attending a “Young Believers Class” which Pastor John and I are teaching on Sunday afternoons. By reading through the Gospel of Luke they are learning a lot about Jesus and what it takes to follow him as a believer. This is probably the most important thing that I can do as a pastor.
But you need to help with the children also. If there are two or three children who sit near you in the sanctuary or in the overflow room, learn their names and welcome them by name each Sunday. That greeting will make the children feel welcomed and loved. Everyone can do that! If you have any ability to teach children, or to assist another adult who is teaching them, please volunteer to serve as a teacher or an assistant. A couple of years ago we could get by just fine with one teacher and one assistant each Sunday. Now we need to double the number of adults who are working with the children. Please pray about our need for more teachers and more assistants!
Some will notice that a church filled with children gets a little noisier and a bit messier…that is a problem that I gladly welcome at Haymarket Baptist Church!
In Christ,
Pastor Mark