Children
Children in the Storyline Community live out the values of dependence on God, mission, life change and genuine relationships in their own special way.
Dependence on God
In the Storyline Community we believe wholeheartedly that sharing the story of God will our little ones is one of the most important things we can do to help them to depend on the God who released them to us.
In house church settings and worship gatherings, we use My First Look curriculum, published by the reThink Group, to teach our preschool children basic truths about God and Jesus through Scripture, creative experiences, and worship. This curriculum has a strong value for reinforcing lessons in the home and encourages parents to be active participants in the spiritual formation of their children. As children grow older, they participate more and more in the life of their house church and in worship gatherings.
Storyline also offers nursery care and spiritual formation opportunities for infants up to two years old at worship gatherings. Ministry structures for school-age children will develop as Storyline grows and develops.
Mission
We don’t want our children to keep God’s story to themselves. We want them to live it out in the world.
Children are therefore encouraged to participate in our justice initiatives, through which they learn love and compassion for the poor, and to love God’s earth and take care of it.
Children are also encouraged and equipped in house church and worship gatherings to share the story and mission of God with their friends and invite them into the life of Storyline.
Life Change
Our children live in a broken world, and they are already beginning to become infected by its brokenness.
We want our children to look different to the world – not selfishly wanting more stuff, but selflessly laying their lives before God. Not dying to fit in and be like their peers, but dying to themselves and letting God shine through them. Not lost and insecure in an ever-changing world, but safe and peaceful in the story God began authoring for them long ago.
In house church settings and worship gatherings, we aim to facilitate God’s work in our children’s hearts so that they resist the brokenness of the world.
Genuine Relationships
Jesus is our model of selfless friendship and true community. Through interactions in house churches and worship gatherings, we pray that sweet friendships will develop between our children. We pray that they learn God’s story together and forge strong and selfless bonds between each other.
We see our value for genuine relationship lived out in no truer form than in the jabber and squealing shared by two little ones brought together by God’s story.
