Valuing our Tamariki (children)  and Rangatahi  (youth)

This week our children and young people head back to school, and our children and youth ministries begin.  The foundation we lay for our children is of crucial importance.

It is easy to devalue our children and youth by

•  seeing this ministry as less important than what happens in the “main auditorium”
•  not allowing young people to minister
• seeing them as the “church of the future”  rather than the “church now”
•  giving them inadequate resources

We  are working to ensure these things are not true at TBC.

•  Worship on Sunday is what happens in the whole building, not just the auditorium
• Nearly 1/5^th of our budget is spent on these ministries.
•  We employ ministry leaders to oversee these areas
• Children and young people worship with the adults approx half of the Sundays in the year

We do want to work at our young people taking a more active role in our services, especially high school age.

Our vision is to be a multi-cultural and intergenerational church, where all ages are encouraged and valued.  This will only happen if we are very intentional in what we do.   We welcome your input on how we can do this better.

Keith Harrington

Senior Leader