A Letter to Parents with Young Children at St. Luke's

To members of St. Luke’s with children:I am writing as the convener of the Worship Team responsible for planning our Sundays at the new Armitage location for our church.The team has visited the new location, and we are pleased that our new interim location offers a very usable space for Sunday school and worship. But, as you may have already heard, the new location does not include enough space for St. Luke’s to continue its practice of providing supervised child care during worship. The Congregation Council approved last Wednesday a recommendation of the Worship Team that we discontinue child care during worship, effective November 1^st, the first Sunday that we are at the Armitage location.The Congregation Council also approved our recommendation that two spaces be made available for children during worship under the supervision of a child’s parent/adult. The foyer will be set-up to accommodate quiet play and movement, and a somewhat secluded rear space will be available as a “cry room.” The major change for St. Luke’s is that, in all cases, children in these spaces during worship must be supervised by a child’s parent or other responsible adult.A second major change is the limitation of these spaces to kindergarten children and younger because neither of these spaces is appropriate for the play of older children. We realize that this will require elementary school aged and older children to remain in worship for the entire service, but these small spaces immediately adjacent to our worship space cannot accommodate the play of older kids.I welcome any advice you may have as we move forward.  I can be reached at mark.wilhelm@elca.org. Thank you for your patience during this interim time at 2837 Armitage.Mark Wilhelm, convenerWorship Team