Worship is an integral part of our lives as Christians.
Worship is not so much for us, God’s people, but is our service to God through the words and actions of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and commitment. How did you learn how to worship? Where did the idea of "going to church" come from for you? Perhaps you were exposed to worship as a child, teen, or young adult and now, as a result, you desire to be in worship. It may be, however, that you have only come to know about worship as an adult.

One of the ways Children's and Family Ministries and Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church have committed to bring the entire community of faith together in worship will begin this fall by including children in worship each and every Sunday. All in all, the children will be in worship about fifteen minutes—but what a meaningful fifteen minute introduction and exposure to worship that will be.

John H. Westerhoff III in Will Our Children Have Faith? suggests that it is critical that three generations be involved in worship together. The older generation is the generation of memory. The younger generation can be the generation of vision, but only if there is memory, which is provided by the older generation. The middle generation is the generation of the present, which confronts memory and vision with reality. Children complete the family of faith. Research shows that congregations open to welcoming children in worship are also more open to everyone including the poor, the powerless, and the foreigners. Our words and actions communicate what it means to be community. So let us all, especially parents and others committed to the care and nurture of children, welcome them with open arms.

If you have any questions, as all of this is new, please feel free to call me, Susan Rice or Children's and Family Ministries Director, Carolyn Beitmann or Assistant Director, Jane Wilber.

For more information:  

Rev. Susan Rice, Associate Pastor for Congregational Life,
ext. 8810, Email Susan
 

Carolyn Jervis Beitmann, Director of Children's and Family Ministries,
ext 8812, Email Carolyn
 

Jane Wilber, Assistant Director of Children's and Family Ministries,
ext. 8813, Email Jane
 

Jana Fitzgerald, Program Assistant for Congregational Life, ext. 8811, Email Jana