Family Integrated Church
Beginning at the time our oldest child (who is now 21 years old) was a preschooler, we have known in our hearts that the Lord's desire for our family, and our own desire as parents, has been to worship together as a family, and with other families, at church services. As a homeschooling family it has always been very natural for us to do everything together as a whole family unit.
We have spent quite a few scattered years without a church home. We knew that we were not comfortable dropping our children off each week in separate classrooms. We visited quite a few churches that allowed our children to sit with us, but we were usually the only family with children in the service. We also spent several years leaving very young children crying in classrooms, to go back to pick them up and find them there still crying. Eventually we would opt to stay home and again not partake of the gift of a church family.
Many churches believe that children need to be segregated by age and ministered to at their own level in order to have an understanding of God's Word. Just one month after we began our journey at Grace Church, I was reading a Bible story to my 6 year old twins. We were talking about the first sin in the Garden of Eden. I asked my little girls if they knew what sin was. One of them replied "Partiality is a sin." I then asked her if she knew what partiality meant, and she said "It means playing favorites. God doesn't have a favorite. He loves us all the same." Our church family was focusing on the book of James and our pastor had been teaching the two Sundays prior about not being partial, because our Lord isn't partial. Our children are listening, and understanding, by our side.
"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11 NKJV
It is the heart and calling of the people at Grace Church of the Valley to include whole families with children of all ages,
birth - high school, in worship and church functions. There is a preschool ministry available for children birth - 5 years of age as the pastor wishes to remain sensitive to families with young children who desire this option.
Not every family will be called to a Family Integrated Church. But if you are, and like our family have searched for this church model, we would love to invite you to Grace Church of the Valley.
Grace Church of the Valley
We have spent quite a few scattered years without a church home. We knew that we were not comfortable dropping our children off each week in separate classrooms. We visited quite a few churches that allowed our children to sit with us, but we were usually the only family with children in the service. We also spent several years leaving very young children crying in classrooms, to go back to pick them up and find them there still crying. Eventually we would opt to stay home and again not partake of the gift of a church family.
Many churches believe that children need to be segregated by age and ministered to at their own level in order to have an understanding of God's Word. Just one month after we began our journey at Grace Church, I was reading a Bible story to my 6 year old twins. We were talking about the first sin in the Garden of Eden. I asked my little girls if they knew what sin was. One of them replied "Partiality is a sin." I then asked her if she knew what partiality meant, and she said "It means playing favorites. God doesn't have a favorite. He loves us all the same." Our church family was focusing on the book of James and our pastor had been teaching the two Sundays prior about not being partial, because our Lord isn't partial. Our children are listening, and understanding, by our side.
"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11 NKJV
It is the heart and calling of the people at Grace Church of the Valley to include whole families with children of all ages,
birth - high school, in worship and church functions. There is a preschool ministry available for children birth - 5 years of age as the pastor wishes to remain sensitive to families with young children who desire this option.
Not every family will be called to a Family Integrated Church. But if you are, and like our family have searched for this church model, we would love to invite you to Grace Church of the Valley.
Grace Church of the Valley
