WORDS OF WORSHIP INITIATIVE
St. Peter is excited to announce that we are partnering with CPH and several other churches in the area for the Words of Worship initiative. What is Words of Worship? This program equips congregations and families with tools to nurture children’s faith through meaningful, age-appropriate engagement in worship and prayer.

Key objectives include the following:

• Equip parents, caregivers, pastors, and church workers to pass along the faith to children from birth to age 8.

• Develop companion resources to help families use the common language of faith at home.

• Help children to express their faith by nurturing worship and prayer practices.

Over the coming weeks, you may receive surveys soliciting your feedback or helpful tips for your family. We encourage you to participate fully. We value your families and want to serve your needs. Please reach out throughout this process if you have any questions or even suggestions of things that work well for your family. Below are a few tips for extending worship beyond Sunday mornings.

Sunday mornings can be busy, especially when you have a family of young children. Just getting everyone into the car with both shoes on in order to get to church on time can be a challenge.

Once you get to church, you do your best to focus on the hymns, liturgy, and message. Before long, the service ends and it is time to head home. Success! But now what? How can your family already begin to make space in your week to connect what happens on Sundays with the rest of daily life?

Consider times outside of Sunday morning worship when your family might engage in faith conversations:

• Eat together as a family, especially on Sunday afternoon. This provides opportunities to discuss what children saw and heard in the service earlier. Questions such as “Who was there today?” or “What was your favorite part of Sunday School or Kids Word?” or “What was your favorite song?” can help kids remember the morning as you begin the conversation.

• Every family schedule has brief pauses, such as periods when you are waiting for older children to get out of sports practice, lessons, and the like. Use these times to discuss the language used in worship, favorite hymns, and so forth. “Is there something you want to pray about?” can provide all kinds of conversation starters.

• Have a worship music dance party where you sing and dance to your favorite songs and hymns. This can happen in the car or in the kitchen!

• Make bedtime a pleasurable experience with time to review the day: Read a favorite Bible story book and pray together as a family. Begin early when you can so that this can be as peaceful a time as possible. And on those crazy nights? Just a simple song and prayer are great.

• Establish a routine for the day that allows time for prayer together as a family, but also embrace moments to pray one-on-one with each child occasionally. 

• Start your Sunday routine early. Since getting to church on time can sometimes be a challenge, create a plan that makes getting ready on Sunday as stress-free as possible.

  • Lay out church clothes, busy bags, and other supplies the night before. Show excitement in being able to go to church together.

  • Develop a standard routine for getting ready on Sunday and practice it with your children to help them develop independence when preparing for worship.

Start small! Choose one of these ideas and go from there. Any time your family is able to pray, sing, or read the Bible together, you are growing in your words of worship.

THANK YOU FROM ACCESSIBLE HOPE
Thank you so much for the opportunity to come and speak with you in February about the ministry of Accessible Hope, and thank you for your generous partnership in caring for and reaching vulnerable and marginalized people with disabilities with the gospel of Jesus. We are grateful you have joined with us in taking steps to ensure that one-by-one, this vast and unreached population of people hears the good news and moves closer to a relationship with Jesus. If you would like to continue to have an impact individually, click HERE and join our team! The winners of the door prizes for having signed up for our newsletter are: Christine Derengowski and Susie Rateike!