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- The Kids Cove at New Heights Lutheran Church is a place where “wiggly worshipers” are invited to play before, during and after worship. The space is in the church’s gathering area at the entrance to its worship center.
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- The children’s ministry wing is called The Canopy, located in the repurposed elementary school that now houses New Heights and a regional community center.
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- A view of The Canopy. A Ministry with Children Grant helped transform the school for the children.
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- The Nest is the nursery for the youngest members of New Heights.
For a congregation in Wisconsin, a grant helped transform a school into a community center focused on children. In Colorado, seed money allowed a congregation to expand their weekly family night to invite boys from a nearby foster home facility.
Both were aided by the ELCA Ministry with Children Grants program, which offers seed money to help congregational programs at a time when funding for children and youth ministry is hard to find. The program, using endowment money given decades ago, began awarding grants in 2023, with plans to continue doing so each year.
“Children’s ministry is a hard ministry to get paid for, especially schools and early learning centers,” said Janelle Hooper, ELCA program manager for ministry with children. “Even if it’s a profitable school and not losing money, it struggles to pay staff a good living wage. Even if they’re doing well, they’re just getting by.”
The grants, she said, can be used for “anything to help them realize their dreams, anything to help them with ministry they hope for.”
“Our congregation got behind it because we’ve been sharing for a long time that our church is called to be something way bigger than the church, that our mission is for more than just the churched.”
In Mazomanie, Wis., the grant helped members of New Heights Lutheran Church think big. When they outgrew their building, members purchased 10 acres of land five minutes away from their location to build a new church.
But as the congregation raised money for the new building, the price kept growing to the point that it seemed unattainable, said Auna Lynn Nelson, children’s ministry director. “We had our large congregational meeting, shared new prices, and you could see the faces of everyone drop,” she said.
After the meeting, leaders received a call from community members who, knowing of the church’s struggle, told them about an elementary school in a neighboring town that was going up for sale. “We went to see it that afternoon and within a week had put an offer on that building,” Nelson said. “It was an amazing shift for our congregation.”
The congregation bought the 60,000-square-foot school, sold its 12,000-square-foot church, and transformed the school into a regional community center.
“It was something that our people went for right away,” Nelson said. “It was a massive, massive move. It was a huge success. Really, to God be the glory, because that would be hard for most congregations to shift, and yet it was amazing because we purchased a building complete with a beautiful gymnasium, cafeteria, kitchen. We can offer a lot of community programming here.
“Our congregation got behind it because we’ve been sharing for a long time that our church is called to be something way bigger than the church, that our mission is for more than just the churched.”
The new building, called The Grove, includes an entire wing with space for a food pantry, clothing closet and other resources for families. A regional social worker is also housed there.
The $4,000 grant from the ELCA was used to help paint and carpet classrooms and purchase toys for worship bags in the Kid’s Cove, a play structure intended for toddlers that’s in a corner of the gathering space just outside the worship area.
“I’m a queen of repurposing,” Nelson said. “Because we repurposed a grade school, I was able to take down bulletin boards and reuse bookshelves and made them trees that became sensory things for the kids.” The Kid’s Cove includes play mats, a kid’s slide, a loft structure and benches that look like bushes. Grant money was used to purchase quality wood so kids wouldn’t accidentally get slivers.
Nelson said the project has infused the congregation with new excitement and energy in an area of small towns in central Wisconsin west of Madison. The new building is in a town of about 1,300 people that’s just a couple of miles from its previous community of 1,500. The congregation worships about 250 to 300 people in three weekly services.
Children’s ministry programming includes a weekly Wednesday night event that serves more than 100 children from birth to fifth grade. About 40 to 50 children attend weekly worship.
Click here to watch a video that shows The Grove and the children’s ministry of New Heights.
“Truly thinking about ministry to kids is doing it to serve the kids and having them know God’s love. That’s why it’s an essential ministry.”
in Monument, Colo., Mary Frohs, interim pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, said that because members are touched by the hand of God, they believe they are called to touch the lives of others. Through the Ministry with Children Grant the congregation is giving boys from Brad’s House, a nearby foster home facility, a chance to encounter God through the people who live near them.
The $4,000 grant helped expand the congregation’s Family Faith Night. As many as 10 boys from Brad’s House attend the weekly meal and are invited to stay for faith formation afterward. The boys are also invited to help set up and prepare the meal.
The congregation, formed in 1985, is located in a newer development. Members have been building a new playground with Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant facilities, including a merry-go-round with space for wheelchairs, as well as a wheelchair trampoline.
“It’s all about outreach and touching other people’s lives,” Frohs said. “This is the congregation’s love of neighbor and wanting to make sure everyone feels welcome.”
Click here to hear the boys talk about what the weekly meal and fellowship mean to them.
The Ministry with Children Grant program awarded $20,000 in grants in 2023. It is in the process of naming recipients for $20,000 in grants in 2024, whose recipients include outdoor ministries and programs for underserved populations, Hooper said.
The grants, she added, are serving others. Some of the congregations “aren’t getting members out of this, but [they are] ministering to the most vulnerable kids in their community,” Hooper said. “Truly thinking about ministry to kids is doing it to serve the kids and having them know God’s love. That’s why it’s an essential ministry. It feels great to be a part of that.”
Click here to learn more about ELCA Children’s Ministry.
