The sounds of laughter, screams and music spills out of the galleria and into the atrium each Sunday as the 2-year olds build their earliest memories of Children’s Ministry. Families sit beneath stairs, and fill all corners of the atrium as they lean in to hear the sermon. The air is electric with expectancy and community. Four-year olds now fill the chapel, where families used to gather in a loud-friendly place to catch the sermon with little ones. The excitement is thick as growth gets more and more real. In the last year alone, our Central Campus children’s ministry average attendance increased by nearly 120 new kids! As we wait for God’s provision to BUILD more room for Him, He fills us with resilience, and each space we have with opportunity for people of all ages to have an encounter with Him.
Moving Mountains in Early Children’s Ministry
Names of the following story have been changed for privacy purposes.
“I’m sorry. Unfortunately our three-year old room is full,” said the hospitality volunteer to the family.
“Ok, thank you,” said the lady. She took her daughter’s hand and started to turn away.
As Pastor Dorothy Martin watched the exchange, she had a niggling in her spirit. She didn’t recognize the family being turned away at all. The niggling grew. Do not let that family walk away.
“I’m so sorry,” Pastor Dorothy interjected, “if you just hang on one moment, let me see if I can do some shuffling.”
“Thank you!” said the lady with a look of surprise. “Actually, we’re new here. Tell you the truth, we’re not really church attenders. But our family just adopted Elizabeth here.”
Elizabeth smiled shyly. “Elizabeth was coming to this church with her foster family and after we adopted her she asked us if we could bring her to her church,” the lady explained.
Dorothy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She thought, this is their first day here and we’re full? As the woman told her story, Dorothy learned how this bright eyed little three-year old girl had come to find community at CSC through a foster family that attended the church. Her new family found out through the adoption agency that the little girl’s foster family had been attending Centre Street Church. They also learned that little Elizabeth’s foster sister was regularly with the 4-year olds room.
Dorothy pulled some strings. Dorothy moved mountains. Moments later, when Elizabeth entered the 4 year olds room, shrieks could be heard as the two little girls ran towards each other and fell into each others’ arms.
“Listening to that nudging from the Holy Spirit is that next level of ministry we’re encouraging all our volunteers to be sensitive to,” said Dorothy, Early Childhood Pastor at CSC, noting the continued space constraints despite the interim space solutions. Although the 2 and 4-year olds have found new space solutions in the chapel and galleria, other age groups – like the 1 and 3-year olds – continue to face space challenges.
“Despite the chaos of life and church growth, He is making His path straight here,” added Dorothy. “It is not by accident that any one of us is here at CSC during this time of growth and expansion.
“As we BUILD more room for God, and as do the work of the Lord here, we have to be sensitive and listen to these nudges,” Dorothy continues. “We need to be obedient because the fields of Calgary are ripe for harvest.”
To learn more about how you can BUILD more room for God, please
browse our website. Sign up for monthly BUILD prayer updates and events at buildmoreroom.ca/pray.