ACP Children’s Worship

Embracing families is our first and most important priority of the ACP ministry to children. We want our children to know God’s love for them in Jesus Christ and worship is at the heart of the faith. But corporate worship is structured and full of words and symbols based on stories and memories children do not yet have. It is why we invite to the ACP Sunday worship time for children aged 4 (moyenne section) to 5th grade (CM2) during the 11:00 a.m. service beginning in September.

There are three essential elements that support this Sunday morning approach:

1. The Shepherds for our children on a Sunday morning are the adult worship teams who are present to love children, and guide them into an encounter with the God who loves them.

2. The environment of the room serves as a channel for encounter with God in a sacred space and sacred time. Through the religious imagination the worship leader helps the children transform the room into a special place to listen to and talk with God.

3. The room is filled with biblical and liturgical materials for working with the stories of God. Children have appropriate freedom to use the scriptural and liturgical materials that surround them. Materials and symbols are accompanied by a story. Told from a worship perspective, it may lead to prayer, to awe and wonder, to a dwelling on the mystery of God.

We follow the same pattern as adult worship. It begins at the Sanctuary with the entire church family, as the children participate in the opening songs and prayers of worship. Then they are sent and welcomed to their special worship space to continue to meet with God. Children are reminded that this is a special place and time – we don’t rush or run in this place. And we speak softly in this place – because someone else may be listening to God, and we do not want to interupt them. The leader presents a Bible story. The narrative style is meditative, encouraging the children to focus on the story so that they can enter into it and experience God. The children now respond to the story first with their imagination, and then with their hands. The children and leader offer prayers of thanksgiving, reflecting the meaning of the word Eucharist. The traditional nursery school snack is transformed into a feast as a sign of the Messianic banquet and a reminder that every Sunday is a feast day in celebration of Jesus' resurrection. As each child departs, he or she is sent home with a blessing.

The registration of the children will begin on Sunday September 6^th, 2009. Parents are invited to an orientation session during the children worship on Sunday, September 13^th during the 11:00 a.m. service.  

If you have any questions about the program or if you would like to join the worship team, you can contact the ACP Children’s Worship Coordinators :

• Ania Bannister (01 40 47 08 58 or abannister@free.fr)
• Anne Speicher (01 45 71 05 31 or anne.speicher@free.fr)