Children’s & Families
Arrows is the name of our Sunday programme for kids aged 3-11! With a creche for 1-3 year olds. The programme takes place in our wonderful ‘basement’ space, plus the chilled-out prayer room for the 8-11s and our very own sensory room for those needing a more varied morning programme.
‘Arrows’ is based on Psalm 127:5 which describes children being like arrows in the hands of a warrior, we believe that warrior is Jesus! What better hands to be in and we believe they will go exactly where He wants them, and not be tossed about by the coming and going winds.
Arrows is a fun and friendly time and place to feel safe together as we GROW, FLOW & GO!
Flowing in the Presence of the Holy Spirit
We have started to spend some of our Sunday mornings fully downstairs in order for us to spend time together in worship and learn what it means to worship God. We have had some special times in God’s presence, responding to Him and writing songs, as well as a few praise parties!
As a team we always pray for God to come and do what only He can do, we pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to every child and overflow in their lives. We have regular times allowing space for God to move. It’s a classic phrase but we wholeheartedly agree, there is no junior Holy Spirit!
Growing in the family and word of God
In every session children will engage with their Bibles in fun and engaging ways, encouraging highlighting, discussion, response and scripture memory.
Children have regular opportunities to be involved in wider church activities such as serving on our Kids and Youth Takeover Sundays and joining adults in reflections within the monthly Families Connect Group.
Going in the mission of Jesus Christ
We believe that every child is called to the Great Commission that Jesus lays out for us, at any age! We encourage children to pray for their friends to know Jesus and tell them about Him. We encourage sharing testimonies about this each week in our ‘Show & Tell’ slots where we sometimes get to hear from other members of the church family!
Some of our recent series include:
The ‘I Am’ Statements of Jesus, Launching ‘Arrows’, Stories in the Old Testament - Pointing to Jesus, and Christmas Prophecy Detectives! It has been so much fun!
Our sessions usually take on the form of upstairs for worship with the whole church family (or registering downstairs and having ‘friends time’ as children get registered), heading downstairs together for sharing names, with snacks, a visual timetable to show what we will get up to, show & tell, praying together for our session, spin the wheel (interacting with God’s word in different ways), an introduction to the theme/story through role play/use of props/game, breaking into groups (3-7s, 8-11s) and getting into the Bible, discussion, interactive reflections and prayer and an exciting craft. It doesn’t always look the same each Sunday but we like to follow a safe routine when we start so that there is familiarity for everyone.
We have a wonderful team who are full of God’s love and are also skilled in a variety of ways that massively benefit the kid’s programme! All are DBS checked and are kept up to date on Safeguarding training. You can find our safeguarding policy here.
We look forward to welcoming you soon! Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Anna, our Children & Families Pastor: annan@riversidechurchexeter.com