Children & Youth at Apostles By-the-Sea
“Let the little children come to me”
Happy to be an Acolyte!
To the parents of our young children, may we suggest... Relax!
God put the wiggle in children! Don’t feel you have to suppress it in God’s House!
We invite you to sit toward the front and on the right side where it is easier to see and hear. Quietly explain what’s happening during the service to your children. Sing the songs, pray the prayers, and say the responses. Children learn how to worship by copying you. Feel free to leave the service with your child if you need to, but please come back!
The way we welcome children in Church shapes the way they respond to our Heavenly Father and to Jesus our Lord! So let them know that they are at home in this liturgical gathering. Let them know that they belong and that God loves them and wants them to be here!
A nursery is available for our littlest children.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
God put the wiggle in children! Don’t feel you have to suppress it in God’s House!
We invite you to sit toward the front and on the right side where it is easier to see and hear. Quietly explain what’s happening during the service to your children. Sing the songs, pray the prayers, and say the responses. Children learn how to worship by copying you. Feel free to leave the service with your child if you need to, but please come back!
The way we welcome children in Church shapes the way they respond to our Heavenly Father and to Jesus our Lord! So let them know that they are at home in this liturgical gathering. Let them know that they belong and that God loves them and wants them to be here!
A nursery is available for our littlest children.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
Kids Church and Acolytes
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Each Sunday, all children start the service with the rest of the Church family. (Except our littlest ones whose parents might wish to put them in the nursery which is available - but not mandatory!) We open our time together with prayer and songs. Most children love this time of the service.
Some children will participate by being an Acolyte (which is a fancy word meaning someone who is serving at the altar with the priests). Depending on the time of year, acolytes will put on vestments like those seen in the picture above. They carry the Cross, the Book of the Gospels, and other items to help in our worship. They lead the way as we make our pilgrimage in worship each and every Sunday. After our opening songs and prayers, everyone sits to hear God's word, the Bible, read out loud to the congregation. We listen to the readings because God speaks to us through them. After the readings, we sing another song as the Acolytes and a priest bring the Book of the Gospels out into the midst of the congregation. A reading from one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) is read. After that, a priest invites everyone to sit for the sermon. It's at this time that our younger children are invited to go into Kids Church for a message based on the readings for the day. Meanwhile, the adults stay to listen to the sermon. Any child who wished to remain for the sermon is welcome to do so! After the sermon, the kids are invited back into the service for Holy Communion. This is the time of the service in which everyone who is baptized approaches the altar and kneels to receive from God the bread and the wine - the body and blood of Christ. It's how God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, feeds us as his sheep. We are fed by his Word and the Sacraments. God loves to feed each one of us by hand. When the service is coming to an end, we say a prayer thanking God for loving us and feeding us. And then we ask him to send us out into the world so that we can be his people and bring his light and love to everyone, everywhere we go. Our service ends with another song, and the Acolytes lift high the Cross and lead us out into the world. |
