Sunday morning "children's time" during worship at 10 AM is followed by a one-room Sunday School class for preschool through fifth grade students. A professionally staffed nursery is also open on Sunday morning for infants and toddlers.
Children and youth are invited to serve and become an integral part of the faith community in many ways: as an acolyte, reading Scripture on the first Sunday of the month, serving through our Food Pantry, as a Greeter with their families. You will soon discover that at Community of Faith, we believe that children and youth are as much a part of our present as they are our future.
Throughout the year, the next gen ministry offers a variety of opportunities for children and youth to have fun with one another and build relationships with other children. Some examples from previous years -- Christmas Pageant, Rise Against Hunger, Futbol Fridays, Easter Egg Hunt, Field Day, Blessing of the Back Packs, Community Garden Days, Global Young People's Convocation (GYPC).
Even small actions can have a BIG impact!
The children started the community garden as a Serve Sunday project in April 2025 as a way to demonstrate that serving others can be made of small actions that build into a big impact.
We connected with the local branch of the Hands On Harvest and participated in their Grow A Row Program which donates the produce to local food pantries. We, of course, donated to our very own food pantry: Grains of Hope!
Over the course of the growing season, April to October, the children (with the assistance of the gardening club) planted, weeded, watered, harvested, labeled, and packaged a garden full of basil, chives, tomatoes, squash, radishes, and carrots. Donating 10 lbs. of produce; putting their love for the earth and others in to action to help address food insecurity.
In the fall of 2025, the gardening club donated a rain barrel. This allowed the children to water the garden independently.
In 2026, the children expanded their operation to include more herbs and flowers that could be dried into tea. They wanted to not only to nourish their neighbors with good food but with a nice hot cup of tea when winter comes!
James Huang, an Eagle Scout in Troop 158, saw the drive of the kids to provide for others and the waste produced from unsalvageable produce given to the Food Pantry. In May 2026, he designed, built, and donated a compost bin to turn food waste into soil for use in the garden!
James attended Sunday School to lead a class for the children about composting. He explained to the children what composting is, how it helps the earth and our garden, what can be put in the compost, & how to use the composter. He helped shine a light on how we are all connected and in turn can each help each other!
In the summer of 2026, the gardening club donated some moveable raised beds. This doubled our growing areas!
We filled them with our eggplant sprouts with the hope that they would do better away from the bigger squash plants.
The children learned about how we store food so that it will last. They dried flower petals and learned how to cure onions. They also learned how to harvest the seeds from the plants as well!
Using the Head and Heart Worksheet, Adrian thought through a need he saw in the community. Adrian was worried about people not being able to stay warm during the winter. He observed that not everyone was fortunate enough to have warm clothing. He wanted to help as many people as he was able to get some warm winter clothing.
With this in mind, the Next Gen Team started planning. We coordinated with the Grains of Hope Programs Director, Hannah Godfrey, and COF's Missions Team to pinpoint a community partner that would best be served by our efforts: She Believes In Me. This would allow Next Gen Children to support children just like them in their very own community!
Adrian knew that we needed ways to tell people about his plan. He worked with the other children to germinate ideas for how they wanted their flyers to look. They narrowed it down to it having animals in winter wear and a snowman.
The children spent their August Serve Project Day working together to create flyers or emailed in ones they created at home!
After hosting a hat drive over October, The Next Gen Children were able to donate XXXX winterwear items to She Believes In Me
Sometimes the smallest action spreads the most love. A loving desire to keep everyone warm will help so many children this winter!
Next Gen ministry takes many forms. Sunday morning children's moment and small group learning, family service events, the Christmas pageant, and outings throughout the year are just some of the opportunities to build a deep foundation of faith to last a lifetime.
