You're New! That's great, we love new people.
What To Expect When You Visit
We know meeting someone for the first time can be intimidating, and going to a new church can be nerve-racking. We want to help make your first experience at Hope Covenant Church a great one! So here's a little info about what to expect...
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In total, our service is about an hour in length and begins at 10:00am.
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The service consists of:
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Contemporary music with a small band or just acoustic guitar
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20-25 minute sermon or message usually from our pastor, Jon
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Interactive elements like spiritual practices or other unique engaging things
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Communion on the first Sunday of every month.
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No asking for your money, Spiritual or emotional manipulation, flashy spectacle designed to "wow" you, indoctrination, or similar coercive or harmful practices often associate with houses of worship... yeah we hate that stuff as much as you do.
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Hope is an intergenerational church so expect to see people who from age 0-90 in the service. You can scroll down to learn more about what your kids can expect,
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Usually altogether we have 40-80 people on any given Sunday. This creates a beautiful space for that "local church" feel, where, over time, the faces grow familiar and the building starts to feel like home.
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Snacks and Coffee after the service in the Cafe. This is an opportunity to actually meet and get to know the best part of Hope... the people who call it home.
What about my kids?
At Hope, we want our kids to feel fully part of the faith community and have a great time. We also know that different kids need different things, especially when they are in a new and unfamiliar environment. So here are a couple of options for you and your kids at Hope.
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Stay with you. We like to list this one first because it's the most popular for Week 1 AND something that we know makes us unique. We have an area set up in the sanctuary for kids 0-6 to do art, play with open ended toys, or just generally fidget. Don't worry about them making noise or being distracting, we are used to it and we LOVE that kids can feel at home in the main worship space. And anyway, you'll probably be joined by some Hope regulars. Our kids love that space too.
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Kid Specific Programing. We currently have two options (outside of the sanctuary) for kids 0-7.
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For kids 0-3 we have a staffed nursery where they can play and engage with some awesome Montessori style toys. Some kids stay with their parents during music and just go to the nursery for the message. Others are down there the whole time. Some parents stay down with their kids, others just drop them off and give the nursery director a number to text if needed. It's whatever makes you (and most importantly your child) comfortable.
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For kids 4-7 there is Sunday School with Ms. Rachel. Sunday School consists of some open ended play, some structured play, and brief 10-15 minute "lesson." The focus of the lesson is always age appropriate and carefully delivered based on the developmental psychology of kids. The truth is, most churches just don't consider this and it can make church a challenging place for many kids later on in life.
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For kids 8-11 we have some in service binders with things like word searches, puzzles, fidget toys, and other things to keep their hands busy. Kids (or adults) are also more than welcome to bring something from home like a book to read or a handheld game to play. Stuff like that does't bother us; it's not disrespectful. Beyond that Pastor Jon tends to be a super engaging speaker and a lot of kids just enjoy staying in service and learning too!
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Literally anything else that makes sense for your family. Do you have a kid who needs to be "in and out" the whole time? Great. Do you have a kid who wants to stay for part of the service sometimes but not others? Totally fine with us. Do you have a child who has unique needs that might cause them to interrupt the service at times... or have a meltdown... or needs to wear headphones... or you name it, Great! We're glad you found a safe church with us. EVERYONE is not only welcome at Hope, EVERYONE is celebrated.
What about older kids/students?
For kids older than 11, we want them to engage fully in the Sunday Morning Service as full participants and then have age specific programing outside of that time.
For kids 11-14 we have Confirmation before Church during the school year beginning at 9:00a. Pastor Jon leads this class and probably not what you would expect. This class isn't about reciting creeds and learning systematic theology and catechisms, it's all about helping students to begin to ask good questions of their faith and take ownership of it... and because it's Jon, it's also about having a blast. Every week students have an opportunity to share about their week, play some sort of game, and then discuss together a question about faith and life, plus, Jon brings donuts.
Chat With Pastor Jon
If you'd like to talk with, or even meet with, our lead pastor; Jon, before checking out our Sunday morning service feel free to reach out here!