Family Ministries: A faithful community for kids
Story and photos by: Chang Liu
Waco junior Bekah Briscoe, youth minister at Central Presbyterian Church, started a new program called Family
Ministries. Briscoe stepped into the role in June and has
been working on building up the program since then.
“Central Presbyterian Church used to have a very
active youth group, and then those kids grew up, so there
was not a program anymore,” Briscoe said. “We’re starting out, but we’re doing lots of different events, like
children’s programming on Wednesday nights and youth programming on Sunday nights.”
The children’s program, also called the kids’ program, is for children under 5 years old. The youth program serves children between 6 and 12 years old. Both programs are part of Family Ministries. Every Wednesday night, the
church hosts a choir program and dinner for the children. Sometimes they hold movie nights and other activities.
“We’ve done game nights, and we also had lots
of bracelet-making nights,” Briscoe said. “We have a few
service projects lined up to work on. So there’s lots of
different things that we’re doing to help the kids get connected. That is not necessarily like, let’s sit down and read a Bible; it is more like let’s show what God’s welcoming community looks like and how that feels for you and provide that for other people.”
Ginna Wayland (middle) and her son (left) attend the kids program where Bekah Briscoe plays board games with them.
Briscoe said the church hopes to continue to grow this program and have families attend regularly. She also said the church has some opportunities for summer camps for children. The church supports sending kids to two Texas summer camps: Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly and Camp Gilmont.
“Growing our youth group and our children group can lead to the point that we have a lot of programming that matches larger, more established churches, so I think that would be the ultimate goal,” Briscoe said. “But right now, we just want to showcase that we are a welcoming community that can help kids and youth see how to be good neighbors and good friends.”
Briscoe said she posts the program’s events with updates on its Instagram and Facebook. She said that the church also announces things during services so people can know what is going on now.
Central Presbyterian Church provides spaces where children can draw, play with toys and read books.
Briscoe said people sometimes worry about what message is shared with children in the church setting, so she hopes the Family Ministries will make children feel welcome and affirmed and parents feel more secure.
“Both of my parents are ordained ministers,” Briscoe said. “My dad is an ordained Methodist minister, and my mom is an ordained Baptist minister. I grew up in a very divided situation, and now I work as a minister at a Presbyterian Church. I just span all of the denominations, but I grew up in a youth and children group, and I love working with kids, so I wanted to get to be a part of all of that and start that up. And I’m also from Waco, so I’ve been here.”
Ginna Wayland and her family have attended Family Ministries
multiple times. Wayland said her kids love these activities and enjoy them, and she recommended Family Ministries to her friends.
“My kids seem to really benefit from the interaction with Briscoe,” Wayland said. “She is absolutely wonderful, and I think most programs that we’ve experienced building strengths with the kids.”
