Our Future Ministry . . .

The last of our recommendations for the future mission and ministry of Resurrection which was adopted by the voters is this:

“Recognize and fully support the mission and ministry of our preschool/child development center as a cornerstone ministry of Resurrection.”

For many years, there has been a love/hate relationship between the church and school often manifested with competing interests, diminutive comments and a “we versus they” mindset. By adopting this recommendation formally, Resurrection has elected to say “no more” to this dysfunctional relationship: “No more” of this “we versus they” thinking or talk. It’s all “us.”

The mission and ministry of our preschool/child development center is continuing to shift in our transition period. From a graded parochial school, we have weathered the change to a preschool with before/after school care. The future ministry will see the transition to a child development center beginning with infant care. The Child Development Center (CDC) Board has started the move toward providing a longer-term relationship between the church and the families of our children.

How so?

Currently, if a family places their children into our preschool, we have two years (at most) to connect with that family. If they have a number of siblings, that connection may be longer, but it is primarily limited to the period their children are in our preschool. Some of our preschool children may continue through elementary school in the before/after care program, but some don’t.

By connecting with families beginning with infant care, the church can establish a longer-term relationship with these families – at least 4-5 years. Additionally, we have been receiving calls from people (double-income, working parents) looking for a place for all their children. They do not want to have to go to two or three different places for each of their children; and they elect to go to one place with all of their children when it is possible. By expanding the CDC program, a family who has siblings ranging from infants to elementary school age children can come to Resurrection on their way to work, drop-off their children; the infants and preschoolers will be with us the whole day while the elementary children will be taken to school and returned to Resurrection for Mom or Dad to pick up on the way home from work. These children are going to hear about and learn about Jesus; and, as Resurrection adopts these families as our own, the entire family can experience Christ through his people.

How can I help?

  • Put our preschool/CDC on your personal prayer list; pray for our ministry; pray for our families involved; pray the Lord’s grace to work faith in the hearts of our children and their families.
  • Whenever we have church activities to which our families will be invited (e.g., Advent suppers), make it a point to meet and greet our CDC families in a winsome way.