Children at Koinos

We believe that children are special people who are as important to God as adults are. We aim to take them seriously as individuals who are an important part of who God has called us to be as a church.

All of us are constantly learning all the time, but none of us as much as children. They are regularly exploring new ideas and worlds. As parents and those who care for children, we often stand amazed at how much they learn and how quickly they develop. One of the reasons children learn so quickly is that they approach new subjects holistically. They do not only learn by listening to words being spoken. They touch things; they smell and taste things. They get involved and move things. They ask questions. They often explore with abandon, going after whatever interests them. All of this leads to incredible learning and, at times, incredible challenges for parents!

As a church that takes children seriously, we realize that we have an awesome opportunity and responsibility in helping to shape children’s formation and learning. For good or bad, what we do or do not do will often mark children. Much of what we live will be passed on to future generations.

We know that we are not the only factor in forming children and that we do not replace caring, thoughtful parents. However, we do believe that a healthy, loving church can have a tremendous, positive impact on children - and perhaps in different ways then we would normally think. Many things that are taught to children through classroom-style-learning really are not learned or remembered well. But environments that children are in, experiences they have, what they see others do - as well as what others say - can, over time, dramatically affect children. Probably the most important things children learn at Koinos are caught rather than taught. 

Therefore, we want children involved in our church community.  We want them to pray with us, to sing with us, to take communion with us. We want them to share what is happening in their lives with us and be with us as we share with others. We want them to know other adults in the church besides their parents and experience what a healthy church can be. But we also realize that children are children, and so they just need room to play and talk and laugh and be children. (Incidentally, they learn through all of this as well.)

To accomplish these desires, we are attempting to bring together both parts for children: being in community with the rest of us and also giving them room to be themselves.

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We, therefore, seek to intentionally include children in as much of the worship gatherings that we can. If we are engaged in activities that may help children, such as singing or praying or sharing together, we include the children with us so that they may learn and experience people seeking God together. But if there are parts of the worship time that children may not connect with, such as teaching from the Bible from up front or periods of silence and reflection, we provide other avenues for children to engage in that are more helpful for them in their learning. We believe that this two-fold approach of helping children is probably the most beneficial. Our pastor, Brian, grew up without his father in the home and recalls how great it was to get to know other adults in church who helped to form him in specific ways. We pray we can follow that example with others.

For practical reasons, we obviously provide a nursery and arenas for infants and toddlers that run throughout the whole worship gathering as they are at a special age where they simply need all the space they can handle!