4 Tips to Help When Picking a Children's Church
Today's theme: Faith and Compassion
Today's post is by Jomary, wife of Kurt Schulz, Co-founder of Working Class Parenting.
When my daughter was 4 years old, we started looking for a church that would have a children's program that my daughter could grow spiritually with. Finding one was not as easy as I thought. Some good churches do not put as much effort into their children's programs as I had hoped.
We experienced everything from the lesson being through a television using a Christian video to an open play gym with no lesson. I realized that not every church has the means or the volunteers to support a highly structured children's church program. During the process of trying out different churches, I realized I was looking for 4 things:
1) Bible Based - I know that sounds redundant, but some children's churches seemed to be nothing more than Sunday daycare with one or two teens watching over a group of kids. One of the things I like about the church we finally found (Generations Christian Church) is that the children learn the same lesson taught at their age-appropriate level, that we learn in adult church. This helps spur conversations on the way home with our daughter, such as her asking, "what did you talk about today in big church?" and us saying, "The 10 Commandments" and our daughter replying, "That's what we learned about too!" and the conversation goes on from there.
2) Interactive - Kids are a part of the lesson, meaning they actively participate throughout the class. Some examples may be; role play, music, lesson based activities. I am a public elementary school teacher and I can tell you it is hard to keep a child's attention by just reading from a book. It helps if they are actively engaged so that they can gain an understanding of what is being taught.
3) Safe - This is not always a problem in a small church when you know the person that is teaching the lesson, but with large churches where there are several hundred children, a strict drop off/pick up policy is imperative. At GCC you check in your child at a computer and 2 name tags print out. One for you to keep and one goes on the child's shirt. When you come to pick up your child after service your ticket has to match the one that is on their shirt or the volunteers will not let you leave with that child. As an added bonus, the ticket has a number on it and if something happens with your child during service, that number flashes on the screen in big church to let you know to come back to children's church.
4) Fun - You know church is fun when your child has a temperature on Sunday morning and she cries when you tell her she will not be able to go. Remember, they are kids, if their service is educational and fun, they will get more out of it than if they are just talked to for an hour. Their excitement on a Sunday morning always helps get your family out the door.
These are things that we looked for and luckily found in the church we attend now. But I realize every family has their own concerns that need to be addressed.
Question:
What are some of the things that you look for in a Children's Church program?
Today's post is by Jomary, wife of Kurt Schulz, Co-founder of Working Class Parenting.
When my daughter was 4 years old, we started looking for a church that would have a children's program that my daughter could grow spiritually with. Finding one was not as easy as I thought. Some good churches do not put as much effort into their children's programs as I had hoped.
We experienced everything from the lesson being through a television using a Christian video to an open play gym with no lesson. I realized that not every church has the means or the volunteers to support a highly structured children's church program. During the process of trying out different churches, I realized I was looking for 4 things:
1) Bible Based - I know that sounds redundant, but some children's churches seemed to be nothing more than Sunday daycare with one or two teens watching over a group of kids. One of the things I like about the church we finally found (Generations Christian Church) is that the children learn the same lesson taught at their age-appropriate level, that we learn in adult church. This helps spur conversations on the way home with our daughter, such as her asking, "what did you talk about today in big church?" and us saying, "The 10 Commandments" and our daughter replying, "That's what we learned about too!" and the conversation goes on from there.
2) Interactive - Kids are a part of the lesson, meaning they actively participate throughout the class. Some examples may be; role play, music, lesson based activities. I am a public elementary school teacher and I can tell you it is hard to keep a child's attention by just reading from a book. It helps if they are actively engaged so that they can gain an understanding of what is being taught.
3) Safe - This is not always a problem in a small church when you know the person that is teaching the lesson, but with large churches where there are several hundred children, a strict drop off/pick up policy is imperative. At GCC you check in your child at a computer and 2 name tags print out. One for you to keep and one goes on the child's shirt. When you come to pick up your child after service your ticket has to match the one that is on their shirt or the volunteers will not let you leave with that child. As an added bonus, the ticket has a number on it and if something happens with your child during service, that number flashes on the screen in big church to let you know to come back to children's church.
4) Fun - You know church is fun when your child has a temperature on Sunday morning and she cries when you tell her she will not be able to go. Remember, they are kids, if their service is educational and fun, they will get more out of it than if they are just talked to for an hour. Their excitement on a Sunday morning always helps get your family out the door.
These are things that we looked for and luckily found in the church we attend now. But I realize every family has their own concerns that need to be addressed.
Question:
What are some of the things that you look for in a Children's Church program?
Comments
Post a Comment