For our Fifth Sundays  we will be trying something new. On these Sundays we won’t offer a separate children’s church for children in elementary school, but instead craft a family friendly worship service that is geared to be engaging for both adults and children.  Our recent First Sunday of Advent worship service was a trial run at this type of service. For that service we had a hands-on activity in decorating the tree, familiar (Christmas) music, and used an object lesson in the sermon to engage kid’s attention. Pastor Ernie brought a wrapped present and showed it to the kids in the sermon and referenced it for each point of his sermon. At the end of the service the kids came to the front and opened the present to receive a gift (a chocolate Advent calendar). We won’t use these same exact elements for every Family Worship Service, but instead we will try to ensure that each service includes several elements to engage children in worship. We want them to feel that they matter and that church is for them too!  Here are a few examples of ideas we may try this year: