Children & Families

Children are Important.

There is no question that children are a precious gift from God. Because of this, how they fit into the life of a community is no small matter.

At The Well we believe that the family is the best place for spiritual formation of children. Because of this, it is the role of the church community’s to partner with the parents in helping children to grow up to love God and love others. In doing this, we make an intentional and serious commitment to do our best to work alongside parents.

How does this look?

Infants & Toddlers In Our Sunday Gatherings

On Sunday we celebrate the presence of children in and around our gathering. We have a nursery for infants and small toddlers that is available during the entire gathering. However, we love having small children and babies around during the gathering. If someone feels more comfortable sitting with their child they are welcome to sit in one of the comfortable couches in the back. Please be assured that crying children do not bother us. We simply find the cry of a child a great reminder that we are a family of diverse people called to live the mission of Jesus together, from generation to generation.

Infants & Toddlers In Community Life

For our regular times together, when it is appropriate we love to include infants and toddlers in our gatherings, especially for meals and other informal gatherings. When appropriate we provide childcare (community meetings, worship nights, etc) so that parents can fully engage in the event.

Elementary Age Children In Our Sunday Gatherings

Again, we love having children sitting and standing in worship with their parents and other adults. We believe that this is when they learn what it means to worship God and we get a chance to hand down some of the core practices of Christianity. We do offer a children’s Sunday school class during the message. This is a place where kids can go learn about the story of the Bible in ways that apply to their lives and ages. This time is focused on helping children understand the story of scripture through, story telling, memorizing Scripture, crafts and prayer. After the message, we always invite the children to take part in the rest of the gathering along with the adults.

Elementary Age / Middle School Age Children In Community Life

We encourage full participation in our more formal gatherings by children who are old enough to sit somewhat still for an extended period of time. Our goal is to value having children around as much as possible and our prayer is that they will grow and learn with other adults rather than just their parents. For all other community gatherings, we leave it up to the individual parents to decide if their child should or should not participate.