Children's Church
We provide Children’s church for those children who are not mature enough to sit through a sermon. Of course we leave it to parents to decide when their child is old enough to be with them to hear the sermon. Children’s church serves children from 3 years-6th grade. The children are excused midway through the church service. Children’s church is taught by the Elders and Deacons of Soaring Oaks. We have designed the time to be interesting, spiritually significant and enjoyable. All ages meet as one group. We believe this promotes a sense of community among the children and teaches the older ones to be a good example to the younger.
Children’s church covers the Westminster Shorter Catechism (for more information about catechism and its value please read the article at the end of this page). We feel this is one of the best ways to teach the doctrines of the Christian faith effectively. We use the book, Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade as a help. The catechism lesson will cover a question and answer from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Each week the leader will introduce the catechism to the children (we go throughout the year), and then have a short lesson on what the catechism means.
After the catechism lesson the children have an intercessory prayer time led by the Elder or Deacon in charge that morning. The topics for prayer include: praying for missionaries, for our local city and region, for revival, for our pastor, elders, and deacons. We have a systematic program for praying with topics for each week of the month. We believe it is important for children to establish a habit of praying early in life. And, it is good training for the children to learn how to pray for others, for their church, and for the world.
After prayer we provide the children an opportunity to praise God through singing traditional hymns as well as contemporary praise songs. The emphasis of this time is to glorify God through music.
If there is time left the children are able to play with games, toys, and art projects that are provided.
On the first Sunday of the month the children will return to the church service in time to observe the rest of the congregation celebrate communion.
What is a Catechism and why is it important?
A catechism is simply an instructional guide. It is a ‘handbook’ of questions and answers designed to teach the doctrines and principles of religion. To “catechize” children is to teach them to memorize the answers found in a catechism. So the catechism questions are asked, the children reply with the memorized correct answer. Because a good catechism is at the same time concise and thorough, when children learn it well their understanding of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith can be tested and found to be complete.
Once, catechisms were used routinely. Church and family worked together to provide the most effective teaching possible for children growing up in Christian circles. Parents would work with their children at home memorizing the answers to the catechism. Families would then discuss together the meaning of the question and answers. Pastors would preach on topics addressed in the catechism and would systematically visit each church family, asking the questions to see how well family members had learned the answers. (From Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade)
We emphasize the Westminster Shorter Catechism because it is such a successful and useful method for teaching the basic fundamentals of the faith. A child who memorizes these answers will be better equipped to defend their faith to others as an adult. We use the modern English version of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.