At Coast Church we're HUGE believers in kids and we want to see kids from all over Ventura County thrive, succeed, and do incredible things to impact the world around us as they grow. Even if you're not a "person of faith" we want you to know that there is a place your children can find community at in a safe, loving, and caring environment. Here are a few of the reasons our team came up with of "Why Your Kids Should Go to Church (even if you don't). Enjoy.
1. They have BIG GOD questions and we don’t have all of the answers.
Where did God come from? Who is God’s daddy and mommy? Was God a baby? Is God real or is he like Santa Claus? Can God bring me presents? Can I talk to God? The questions only get bigger, tougher, and gnarlier from here on out! Kids are full of questions. Where do you find answers to these “God questions” that they are sure to ask? Google, pull them out of the air, go ask grandma, etc. are all some of the ways I’ve heard of parents address these questions. At Coast Kids we strive to answer the tough “God Questions” in ways that are understandable, appropriate, and relevant for children. We want their eyes, their mind, their hearts, and their futures to be open just as you do!
2. Church is a place to experience community in a diverse, totally selfless way.
At Coast Church we want to be a community that reflects our local community. We are not an old church, a young church, a white church, a black church, an asian church, a hispanic church…we are a community of people from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, faith experiences, and histories. What a better place to allow your children to experience diversity than in a place that truly cares for them. A church community is a place where we leave behind our “identity” to embrace the “identity of Christ” to serve others in a selfless way. When children catch on to this concept at a young age everyone around them will be doing double-takes saying, “who is this kid and where did they learn to be so kind?” Church.
3. The principles taught in Sunday School will benefit your children.
Where did our criminal, civil, and justice code originate? Mosaic (from Moses) Law has been the single biggest influencer on the way we do life as humans and societies. We teach precepts and concepts that deal with how we treat our fellow man, how we take care of the resources God has given us, why giving is better than receiving, working hard and thinking of others before ourselves. Whether you’re an atheist, agnostic, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, etc. I think we can all agree that every child in the world could use a bit more emphasis in these areas. Math is great, learning to read and spell is fantastic but where are our children learning the source of these principles? Church.
4. We reinforce creativity, art, and music.
Art and music programs are typically the first place that our public education systems make budget cuts. Nearly every week we draw, color, paint, cut (with safe scissors), art projects that coincide with our lesson. We encourage creativity, art exploration and sharing our work with one another (and of course with our families when we get home). Music is a big part of our church community and it carries over into Coast Kids. We sing, introduce them to fun instruments, and encourage them to be a part of music even if they’ve never tried. It is no wonder why so many famous musicians trace their musical roots to church…we value the arts and music as an extension of who God created us to be. Where does the next Picasso learn to paint? Church.
5. Hope.
Where do children go to find hope? School? Schools reinforce many great things, but they don’t reinforce hope. They don’t give hope, they’re not a source of hope. For a lot of children, school can be a place of frustration when dealing with bullies, homework, pressure for grades, etc. How about family? Family should be a place of hope, but unfortunately it doesn’t always pan out that way. At Coast Church we want every child to learn that not only can they find hope but they can grow to be a source of hope in their world. Spiritual, intangible concepts are hard to understand when we grow up, but children have an incredible way of grasping concepts like “hope” and living them out. Where can they find out what hope is and how to be a source of hope for others? Church.
6. The “Anchor Concept”.
Kids need anchors, places where they know they will be and things they know they will be doing. Consistency is hard to maintain in our busy day and age. When you incorporate something like church/Sunday school in your child’s life, it gives them an “anchor” in their life of consistent teaching, art, friends, community, and giving. We love soccer teams, Little League, swim clubs, art classes, etc. but we believe that Coast Kids gives every child “meaning” to their life and their future more than a team championship. Once your child gets plugged in, makes new friends, they’ll be bugging you for this “anchor” in their life: church.
7. Our church communities NEED the children.
Children, with their wonder and amazement, their creativity and craziness, their charm and their mischief, are an inspiration to every single person who follows Christ. We have come to the realization that we need kids around to show us how we are supposed to respond to Jesus’ great love…with awe and wonder! When children are present, smiles abound. When children are present, the weight of responsibility for our future seems more significant. In other words, we NEED children in our church community. We are totally okay with the messes they make, the glue-stick clean up, the mischief, and the spilled Capri-suns because it means that children are present and where children are present, HOPE is present. We never want one gathering to go by where we don’t see smiles from one certain group of little humans…can you guess where we want to see you and your children this Sunday? You got it, CHURCH!
At Coast Church we are a grass-roots community of faith, growing weekly, reaching out to our city and county, serving others and lifting up Jesus Christ. We’ve seen some incredible stories unfold in the short time we’ve been meeting together and we can’t wait to see what happens next. We have several Coast Kids volunteers who have backgrounds in child education, art, music, parenting and huge hearts to see children thrive! We meet each week at 4300 Telegraph Road in Ventura in the round building on Telegraph (look for the orange and blue signs). Our children meet in a safe place connected to the building where we hold our main gathering, accessible by parents and of course filled with fun and smiles. If you need a ride to church, if you’d like to schedule us to pick up your children for Coast Kids or if you have any questions please feel free to give us a call/text 805-215-3558 or email coastchurchventura@gmail.com. Much love to you all and we hope to see you soon…at CHURCH!
