Children’s Ministry

Visit our Children’s Ministry Journal, Wonderings, for writings, blessings, and prayers!

St. Mary's believes in the dignity and worth of all children as image bearers of God. We hope to help families foster the innate spirituality of each child, to create space for children to come close to God, and to send them into the world knowing they are beloved by God.

As Jesus did, we welcome children of all ages as integral members of the body of Christ, and we welcome the sounds and activity that accompany them! Children are invited to experience and participate in worship according to their needs (whether that is in the main service, the nursery, or in Godly Play); we trust families and caregivers to work out the best option(s) for them and their child(ren) on any given day.

We also understand that it takes a village to raise a child. A few tips for our community to engage families with small children include:

• Greeting/learning the names of the young children sitting near you in worship.

• Offering to read or color with one child during worship, especially if another child in the family is especially fussy or upset.

• Helping preschoolers and elementary-aged kids navigate the liturgy remembering that children learn to worship by participating!

• Inviting kids to serve alongside you in worship as greeters, ushers, etc.

• Recognizing that certain conditions of disabilities don’t present physically, and some children (and adults) may make noises or act in ways that seem strange or upsetting, but are perfectly normal for their situation.

• Celebrating that God put the wriggle in children, and that children’s “mode of being” in worship is intrinsically more vocal and physical than that of adults.

Nursery: under 4 years old

Nursery (down the hall, 2nd classroom on the right) is available for children from birth through age 4 from 3:45pm through the end of the service. Some caregivers opt to bring children back into the service with them for communion, but this is your choice. Nursery workers and volunteers have completed safeguarding and abuse-prevention training and must pass background checks before serving in the nursery. Masking is currently optional.

Godly play: 4 years old through 4th Grade

Godly Play (down the hall on the right) is available August-May for children ages 4 years old through 11. Please walk your child down the hallway to line up outside of our Godly Play room between 3:50-4:00pm. After about 45 minutes of storytelling, wondering, and play, children will walk back to the main sanctuary and rejoin their families for communion. Godly Play is a Montessori style curriculum that invites children and mentors to enter into God’s story as we listen, wonder, and respond together. Our Godly Play mentors have completed specialized training for Godly Play as well as safeguarding and abuse-prevention training and must pass background checks before serving in Godly Play. Masking is currently optional.

PRAYGROUND

Our Prayground is available for kids and grown-ups alike! Children are welcome to the front of the sanctuary at any point in the service; there are cushions to sit on, materials to work and play with, and art supplies to use. Children may sit there or bring supplies back to sit with their families.

“The aim of spiritual conversations with children is not doctrinal knowledge of God. The aim is to keep hot the living, breathing relationship with God that is already happening within the child—whatever that looks like. While listening with children, we attend to the Spirit in the life of the child, we are helping a child learn the fine art of divine perception.” - from Spiritual Conversations with Children by Lacy Finn Borgo.