Ecclesia Church - Houston, Texas - holistic, missional, christian, community

The kids led us this week too in an exclamation of Mercy triumphing & playful worship! I'll let the pictures tell the story.

What an amazing Easter Sunday we had together.

This past weekend the kids were asked to lead us in worship.  They were called forward as Chris engaged them in conversation, offering us their clear, pure insight.  They then read the reading which engaged us in scripture for the week & asked us to viewe the stop action video they had worked on during Lent. Towards the end of the service children served communion and the 4th-6th grade class read the benediction that they wrote the week prior in class.  

Seeing the kids engage and be such a big part of all we do in the larger church gave adults a window into what our kids have to offer us and it gave the kids a clear cue that they are not disconnected or seperate from adults and "their" church, they are every bit a part of the church community. 

Here is...

I have some great pictures from our family reflection area over the last couple weeks. 
Please visit to work on our yarn letters which are spelling out a bold verse during the weeks before Lent. 

We have some plans for 2012, some big plans.  Plans involving space for the children's community to have room to grow in an inovative facility which will encourage creative play, exploration & intimate storytelling while creating room for families to share a worship experience together.  We know that everyday we are closer to being in our new space and we love working with all of you to see it realized. This year will be an amazing year to be a part of Ecclesia and the Children's Community that thrives here.  

You and your families are very loved!

For Christmas Eve we have a special Family Reflection Area planned in the coffee shop.  This will enable families to use the stations before they are seated for the service.  Or you may sit in the Family Reflection area, with live feed, enabling your family to have a bit more room to explore.  

I have pictures below of our "worship" station in which you may take a candle to place along the "path to Bethlehem".  We will light the candles as the candles are lit in service.  

We hope you will join us!  

Merry Christmas from the Children's Community!  

Today's post is written from one parent (me) to another.  

It is intended to draw us into a conversation of how we create space in our families this season for Christ, how we create new traditions that help us breathe in the season, and how we conspire together to do the season differently.  

This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent.  And it marks the journey we begin towards the birth of Christ. At Ecclesia we use this time to also consider spending less, giving more & worshipping more fully.  Here is the Advent Conspiracy Video that helped to start it all. Give it a watch if you haven't already, or if you have because it is always a good reminder and has been updated for the year. 

Approaching the season of Advent with our children and...

Over the last several weeks we have experimented with art worship in the kids space. Using our music time to lead the kids thru a process of exploring their connection with God, their emotions, and God's love for us.  

It has been a beautiful process to watch unfold.  Seeing children carefully & thoughtfully writing, drawing and sharing their experiences thru art while engaging in the music in rooted worship.  

Later, when prayers are offered, the children seem more likely to share personal prayers and ask for His help in what they are experiencing.  

I wanted to share a quick story that the Children's Team kind of sees as a tiny but significant miracle. 

During kids camp, we planted quite a few seeds in the patch of garden that lines the side of the Children's building at Taft.  For a while some plants flourished but, unfortunately, died out in the Summer heat, never yielding fruit.  We stopped watering or caring for the garden, except for one faithful maintenance man, Lloyd.  Lloyd & then Haley, spotted some plants that had started a vine and had grown outside of the small outlined garden and, unexpectedly, started growing in the grass. They made sure the small vines were not mowed down and carefully started watering them as often as he thought of it. As the drought started hitting Houston, and everything...

The kids love watching Scott Erickson, our 'artist in residence', paint. One of these days I will get around to blogging about how I believe having Scott paint impacts the children at Ecclesia.  But for now, I want to share an art worship piece the kids worked on last week which imulates several of his paintings where he uses concentric circles.  It was a lot of fun and the kids took to the work of worship and did an amazing job.  Most of what I love about these projects are the areas that go not according to plan... I love the lone button or the rocks piled on top of each other.

I have really enjoyed seeing the Family Reflection Area at House of Blues over the last several weeks as it has gone from the idea phase of what could be to the reality phase of what it becomes as people enter and engage in it.  It is something that is difficult to describe, but the area feels like "us" and our children and families seem to love the space and what is being cultivated there in relationship & worship.  I think the kids love it because they get to be with us. They seem excited about it and excited when they see me and can show me what they liked about it. 

Each station is meant to engage the children and adults who work at it in Story, Worship, or Prayer. 

Our prayer station stays the same as we focus, during this season, on praying for our new...

I wanted to share some images of our first Sunday at House of Blues with you.  

Inside the Bronze Peacock with our Kindergarten-1st graders PLUS Pre-K classes. 

This week, I wanted to share with you some images and ideas that we are working on.  These ideas are still evolving, but we are excited to share what Ecclesia Family worship at House of Blues could look like.  

This Family Worship area will be used by our families leading up to and during our Worship time at House of Blues.

We are planning three stations: 

PRAYER  

Prayer for 8 weeks will focus on Elder, the building we have bought and are in the process of refurbishing to become our church home. At this station we will learn about what Elder is now, what it has been, and how it will be transformed in the coming months to become our church home.  Once we learn we will then offer up prayers for Elder and everything that we will need to serve the community...

When you enter the Children's Space at Ecclesia many people notice immediately the natural materials we use for our play, storytelling, and furnishing.  It is a marked difference from many children's spaces with their vibrant colors & molded plastic.  

In fact, I just bought and received in the mail one of the most beautiful materials I have been lucky enough to purchase for our children, a hand cut & oiled Arc which we will use to tell the story of Noah's Arc to our Preschool children in a month or so.

You might have a guess at why we lean towards natural materials and your guesses would probably be correct, there are lots of good reasons. There is a method to our madness, and we hand select much of what we have in the Children's Space using specific...

We had an amazing time at HEAD HANDS HEART (camp for kids) last week. 

And we have the pictures to prove it.  

Click Here to see our kids camp photo stream.  

Click Here to see the smile booth photos from our photography workshops (password is 2115taft) 

If your child participated in a workshop and has not gotten their final proof back of their work.  I will be sending those out to the parents shortly. 

THANKS TO OUR KIDS & FAMILIES WHO PARTICIPATED IN CAMP.  

WE CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!