youth

Youth at Trinity Presbyterian Church

At Trinity Presbyterian Church, we recognize the importance of raising up the next generation in the fear and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ. To that end, children and youth are very important to the work and worship of Trinity Church.

The journey begins shortly after physical birth. All member parents of Trinity Church are encouraged to bring their infant children to receive the New Testament covenantal sign and seal of grace -- baptism. This is in keeping with the precedent of Scripture, like every other aspect of congregational life, service, and worship at Trinity Church.

In our day, many people blur the distinction between the doctrine of the covenant and the doctrine of election. Although it is possible God could save an infant at the time of his or her receiving physical water baptism, we realize that what saves a person, adult or infant, is faith alone in Jesus Christ alone! We do not believe that simply because a person is sprinkled with water that he or she is redeemed from the punishment of personal sin. We obey the precedent of Scripture in bringing our infant children forward to receive the Sacrament of baptism, just as God's people brought their infant boys for circumcision, and thereby received the mark of the covenant (which is not the mark of election).

With Christ's first physical advent, the new covenant was ushered in. And with this new covenant came a new sign for God's covenantal people. No longer was the shedding of blood necessary in God's covenantal people receiving a bloody rite of initiation (circumcision); the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ satisfied that demand. The new covenantal sign of water baptism signifies the washing away of sin accomplished by Jesus Christ in His life of perfection, his atoning death on the cross at Calvary, and His being raised from the dead on the third day. At no time, do we see the requirement abolished for believing parents to have the mark of the covenant placed on their children. In fact, the new covenant sign is actually more broadly applied than the old covenant sign, in that females, adult and infant, receive it as well as males.

At Trinity, we believe the first and most important responsibility for teaching and admonishing children in the Lord rests with parents (Deut. 6:1-9). We attempt to provide adequate instruction and resources to parents to assist them in this endeavor. For example, our Sunday School ministry exists for all ages of youth, preschool through high school (see the Christian Education page for more specifics on this). We also provide a Children's Sermon for children up to age 12 at least twice a month during Lord's Day worship, and we provide Children's activity pages for children preschool through age 6 to assist parents with teaching their children along with Lord's Day worship. Another avenue of ministry is our annual Vacation Bible School ministry, widely regarded as one of the most effective in the Aledo area (see the Vacation Bible School page for more specifics on this).