written by Kat Bair(May 19, 2025) — One of my toddlers insists on coming to church with me. The church my family attends has a nursery that’s open throughout the service, but, increasingly often, one of my toddlers clings to me and says she wants to go to “big church.” I’m lucky enough to be home with my kids more than half the time, and to be honest, I had always found the hour of sitting still without them climbing all over me to be one of the most sacred parts of going to church during this phase of life. She’s a special kind of toddler, pulling the pews and hymnals and offering envelopes out, stabbing holes through the bulletin with a pen, standing on

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 3, 2024 GLEN ALLEN, VA— The Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church is pleased to announce that Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded a $1.25 million grant to the conference through its Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to help Christian congregations more fully and intentionally engage children in intergenerational corporate worship and prayer practices. The Virginia Conference proposal, known as “Hatching Faith Cohorts” (HFC), focuses on the creation of an environment throughout the Annual Conference where churches learn the joyful art of integrating and promoting children in worship, in all of their chaos, their questions, and their joy. These cohorts, made up of 10 local ministries per cohort, will launch seasonally with the anticipation