Our small but growing congregation currently includes about twelve children ranging from toddlers to early teens. Parents who participated in the focus group said they choose St. Anne’s knowing that this small number cannot support the full menu of youth programming that larger churches can offer. Parents choose St. Anne’s because they are drawn to the integrity of its message of love, inclusion, and justice; the thoughtfulness of its sermons; and its traditional worship that remains family-friendly and welcoming. Our new space includes a small nursery, and we pay a well-qualified adult to care for children there during Sunday services. In 2021-2022, St. Anne’s began to partner with two other Episcopal congregations in the Grand Strand area to form Grand Strand Episcopal Youth Ministries. This group has the potential to offer enriching opportunities for the youth of St. Anne’s, especially with ordained leadership. Currently, our members express greater interest in finding ways for our children to participate in the life of St. Anne’s and in the community of Conway.
Near-Term Goals
In the near term, St. Anne’s parents indicated that a priority is ensuring the safety of our physical space. Parents also expressed a desire to include the children more regularly and intentionally in our worship services. Given the range in ages, consensus was that once a month we would like to include a bell/voice choir for little ones and reading and/or music by older ones in the regular worship service. Older ones could also more regularly help with greeting and altar service. This Christmas Eve marked our first Christmas pageant which is led by parent members of St. Anne’s. The small-scale pageant took place right before the Christmas Eve service and included children from toddler-hood to ten years old, some who are St. Anne’s regular attendees, and some guests and newcomers. Parents also expressed the near-term hope of including children in more service-related projects. A strength of having a small congregation is that our children can be enfolded in a multi-generational community and form meaningful relationships with children of other ages and adults. We hope to facilitate this enfolding more intentionally by encouraging and empowering lay leadership and will also welcome rector leadership for these efforts.
Given that St. Anne’s cannot offer a full range of children’s programming at this point, some members have participated in the programming of other Conway churches. Rather than allow them to feel disloyal about doing so, parents in the focus group suggested that we lean into this as an opportunity to establish and strengthen bonds with other local congregations who share many of our core priorities and values. They suggested that information on local programming offerings be included in St. Anne’s communications materials. As St. Anne’s has lent its space to Palmetto Missionary Baptist for summer programming in the past, parents suggested that this might be one opening for further partnership. Members have also participated in programs at First United Methodist Church in Conway and expressed willingness to look into offerings at other churches as well.
Long-Term Goals
Some of our hopes for the longer term include improvements to our physical space and increases in our programming. In terms of indoor physical space, we would like to get the upstairs space usable for lounging and youth fellowship and education. We would also like to see an outside door installed next to the nursery. This door could lead to a fenced-in outdoor play area. As our numbers grow, we hope to include more religious education programming for all ages.