A Look into Kid’s Ministry
The following is an excerpt from our kids ministry handbook. All volunteers will review this handbook soon, but we want to share this part with all of our parents and visitors so they can hear the heart behind our program.
Purpose
Here at Griggs our philosophy for kid’s ministry is ”A church within a church.” Simply put, we want Sunday morning for all ages to focus on sharing the Gospel, building community, and growing in our understanding of God. We don’t want the kid’s ministry to just be a “childcare service.” We want it to be a safe, fun environment where children can learn about the Gospel at age-appropriate levels while their parents focus on worship and instruction during the service upstairs.
We accomplish our purpose by focusing on three main categories: Safety, curriculum, and connection.
Safety
To ensure that parents feel comfortable with leaving their child, we have a check-in system to make sure every child is accounted for. The sticker they get has their name, any important medical notes the parents want added, and a parent contact number.
We also have all volunteers backgrounds checked. The volunteers talk with the Children’s Directors before serving to make sure they feel comfortable with their roles on Sunday mornings.
We have Service Leads every Sunday who lead a pre-meeting with our classroom volunteers. The Service Leads also run the check-in system and assist the classrooms if anything comes up (child needs to go to the restroom, needs water, someone gets hurt, etc.).
There is a simple first-aid kit in every classroom and a robust kit at the check-in station. Our directors are CPR, AED, and Epi-pen certified and can to step in if ever necessary.
Curriculum
We use The Gospel Project curriculum from Lifeway. It is broken down into 12 volumes (there are 13 lessons per volume) that begin at creation and work their way through the whole Bible.
This program is gospel centric and has a “Christ Connection” that goes along with every lesson to show the students how the OT and NT are all connected.
We practice one scripture passage and catechism for a whole month to help it really sink into the students memory.
All students do a review coloring page during class and then get companion activity pages that go along with that weeks lesson to complete at home with their parents.
Connection
We want to make sure we are connecting with the students and showing them genuine Christlike love, by encouraging them, teaching scripture, and getting to know each of them on a personal level. We want them to know we listen to them and are genuinely interested in their likes, dislikes, hobbies, and lives.
We want to make sure we are connecting with the parents. We need to check in with them and see how they are doing, encourage them, and discover what ways the church can help them. This may include getting them connected with other families in the same season or with people who have some wisdom because they’re on the other side of the toddler tantrum or pre-teen years.
We want to connect with the volunteers. We want to make sure volunteers feel confident about what they're teaching and how the classroom should run. We want to pray with them and make sure they know that Children's ministry can be difficult at times. We want to make sure volunteers feel comfortable sharing the wins and the hard parts of their classroom. We also want to take a genuine interest in our volunteers lives and know how we can support them.
