FCC to Pilot The Benediction Project
We’re excited to share some good news with our church family: First Congregational Church has been chosen by the Ministry Leadership Center to pilot The Benediction Project, a program designed to help churches explore new ways of bringing children more fully into the life of the worshiping community.
From October 18 through November 15, we’re going to try something a little different on Sunday mornings. During these five weeks, our children will remain with us in the worship gathering rather than heading off to Sunday School. Our Sunday School teachers will be right there with them, helping them participate in worship and find ways to engage that are meaningful for them. We’re also going to make a little more room for our children. We’ll be removing one of our pews to create a special space in the sanctuary just for them, a kind of “pray-ground,” where children can sit, move, play, create, and participate while still being right in the middle of the congregation.
This isn’t about getting rid of Sunday School. We’ll continue to offer Sunday School, and we expect it will remain an important part of our ministry with children. But we also want it to become more normal for all of us, young and old, to worship together. At the heart of The Benediction Project is a simple idea: our children aren’t just the future of the church. They are the church right now. They belong in the center of our life together, including our worship.
We know that changing something as familiar as our Sunday morning routine can take some getting used to. Our hope is that this will be a gentle and joyful change rather than a startling one. It may look a little different. It may sound a little different. And, honestly, it may occasionally be a little messier. But we think that’s part of the beauty of being a church family together.
Most of all, we’re excited about what this might mean for our children and families. We want our children to know that they belong here. We want them to experience worship not as something the adults do while they go somewhere else, but as something we all do together.
And we want to discover what we might learn from our children when we make more room for them. So, for these five weeks, we invite everyone to come with a spirit of curiosity, patience, and joy. Let’s see what happens when we worship together a little more fully. We’re grateful to be one of the churches chosen to participate in The Benediction Project, and we’re excited to try this together as a church family.
