Ministries

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said that about children, not about a program built for them off to the side. That is the heart behind everything we do with children at Bethel.

A pastor once described a small church where children were not handed a separate service full of performances, but something plainer. They worshiped. They prayed. They read Scripture. They were loved by adults who were not their parents. They scrubbed walls on a workday, handed out bulletins, and wrote notes to the grieving. What looked at first like a church with too few resources for anything flashy turned out to be a gift. The children were never spectators. They were part of the body.

That is what we are after. We are not trying to build a parallel church for children. We are trying to bring them further into the one we already have.

Our Philosophy

The purpose of Bethel Kids is to help covenant children know Christ, love his church, participate in worship, grow in biblical truth, and serve God's people. We are not aiming to entertain children apart from the church. We are aiming to raise them as members of Christ's covenant community, present tense, not someday when they are older and ready.

What This Looks Like

Worship, every Sunday. The center of children's ministry at Bethel is corporate worship, not a separate room down the hall. Children sit with their families in the service, learn the liturgy simply by hearing it week after week, and sing with the congregation long before they can read the words themselves. As they grow, they take on more, reading Scripture, leading the call to worship, greeting and ushering as they are ready.

Christian formation, August through May. Sunday school is the main teaching ministry for children at Bethel, running alongside the school year and resting over the summer, when Vacation Bible School carries the teaching instead. The goal is simple. We want children to know the storyline of Scripture from creation to new creation, learn the Children's Catechism or the Westminster Shorter Catechism as they grow, memorize key passages, understand the sacraments and prayer and worship, and build real friendships with other children along the way.

Service, a few times a year. Children learn to serve by serving. A few times each year we fold them into something tangible. Writing encouragement cards to members who are sick, grieving, or homebound. Helping prepare for VBS. Packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Rehearsing and singing with the Children's Choir at Easter and Christmas. The goal is for children to see themselves as contributors to this church, not merely as an audience for it.

Celebration, through the seasons. A handful of anchor events mark the year. Special activities at Easter. Three days of VBS in June. Reformation Day in October, a whole family event. A Christmas party in December, paired with packing those Operation Christmas Child boxes.

How Children Fit Into Bethel's Vision

Bethel wants to be known as a discipleship church, a training church, a family church, and a rooted church, and children's ministry is not exempt from any of those marks. Our children learn the same gospel the whole congregation is being formed by. They practice the same things we ask of every member, prayer, reading Scripture aloud, and serving. They build relationships across every generation at Bethel, not just with their peers. And they grow up inside the ordinary rhythms of this particular church, rather than a curriculum imported from somewhere else.

Ages and Structure

Nursery care is available for children from birth through age three during both worship and Sunday school. Bethel Kids gathers children from age four through sixth grade for one combined Sunday school hour (9:30 AM).

An Invitation

If you are visiting Bethel with children, you do not need to find a separate building or a different service. Bring them with you. Let them sit in worship, sing what they do not yet understand, and be loved by people who are not their parents. That is not a lesser experience while they wait to grow up. It is exactly where we want them to be.

We are asking God to raise these children inside his church, not beside it. To give them worship instead of performance, truth instead of entertainment, and a place to belong long before they are old enough to choose it for themselves.

We would love to have your family join us.