Introducing DIG Our new Sunday morning children’s ministry BY STEPHEN EMICK, PASTOR FOR DISCIPLESHIP


One of the most spirited weeks in the life of our church annually is when we offer Vacation Bible School for children. Classrooms, hallways, and lawns on our campus are electric with the laughter, voices, questions, and energy of a lot of children.


As the week goes on, friendships are strengthened, enthusiasm grows, and children can’t wait to return each day to experience all that awaits them. Tey learn about Jesus and Christ’s love for them in music, hands-on mission and art projects, storytelling, worship, and recreation. Not only do the children meet other children, they also have the opportunity to interact and learn from middle and high school youth and adults of all ages. In many ways, the week of Vacation Bible School is the church at its best! It is intergenerational, drawing on the varied gifts of the entire church family. It is intentionally attuned to multiple intelligences and learning styles, assists the youngest amongst us in their growth as disciples of Christ, and offers a glimpse of community as God intends.


Perhaps the only lament is: Why do have we to wait another year to experience it again?


We don’t! Beginning this fall we are offering a new approach to Sunday morning faith formation for children in kindergarten through fifth grade that will look, feel, and sound a lot like Vacation Bible School. It is named DIG and


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will take place Sundays from 9 to 10 a.m. While DIG will be our Church School offering for this age group, there will still be separate faith formation classes for those in preschool, pre- kindergarten, middle school, high school, and adults taking place at the same time each Sunday.


DIG is short for Digging Into God—through God’s Word, people, creation, and other divine manifestations. DIG will focus on the same theme our entire church family will experience for 2017–2018 in worship, study, service, and relationships. Tat theme is “Rooted in Christ: Growing as Disciples in Community.” We will explore this theme through several series from September through next May in Sunday morning worship and Sunday morning faith formation (including DIG), as well as through each of our ministries, including youth and mission, to name a few.


In a snapshot, here is what DIG will look like. Participants, a.k.a., the DIG Crew, will begin each Sunday by all gathering together in a time of lively worship. Ten they will head off to one of four different stations each week with their age group. Participants will focus on the same biblical story or text each week of a particular series but through a different learning style. Tey will express themselves through art at Creation Station, drama at the Holy Word Studio, mission projects at Destination Discipleship, and music at Spirit Studio. Each week’s session will conclude with the whole DIG Crew re- gathering to wrap up their hour together.


Ordinarily, on the final Sunday of each series, the DIG Crew will participate in worship leadership, alternating between the 10:10 a.m. alternative and 10:30 a.m. traditional worship


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