Children's Ministry

WELCOME, CHILDREN!

JESUS SAID, "LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME, AND DO NOT HINDER THEM, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS TO SUCH AS THESE.” - MATTHEW 19:14

Welcome to New City Kids and New City Youth Ministries Page!

Jesus spoke of the importance of loving and ministering to children and pointed to them as those to whom the Kingdom of Heaven belongs! We can tell that Jesus thought very highly of children and made a point of including them during His ministry on earth. We also see the importance of making children a significant part of our church, both by including them in our weekly worship celebration, as well as creating specific programming for their spiritual growth and education.

CHILDREN AT SUNDAY WORSHIP CELEBRATIONS

This is one of the reasons children are purposefully included at the beginning of our worship service with sermons or songs geared just for them! By attending alongside parents, church becomes a family worship experience in which parents model for their child(ren) what it means to go to church and begin a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ. We want the habits created in a child’s most formative years to be carried on into adulthood and believe that children attending church with their families is an important aspect to this.

PROCEDURE

Children, infant to 5^th grade, are checked in by their parents at the Children’s Check-in Table in the Church Lobby. All children will be given a name tag for proper identification. Visitors and newcomers will be asked to fill out a form to provide information on the child as well as parent contact info so that Teachers can contact them as needed during service. Any allergies or special needs a child may have should also be noted at check-in. All children will go to the Worship Center with their parents and worship with their families for the initial part of the service.

After the children’s sermon, song, skit, or additional cue, the children are escorted by their teachers to their classrooms for Sunday School. Following the service and coffee fellowship time, parents pick up their child(ren) at their classroom, and sign them out with a teacher or volunteer at each classroom. Service typically concludes between 1030am-1045am. Classrooms are open for class and child care until 11am.

SAFETY

All volunteers and paid childcare workers have had a background check completed to help ensure the safety of all the children. We utilize a 3-4 child per one childcare worker/volunteer ratio in the nursery to make sure our infants and toddlers are well taken care of. Our check-in/check-out procedure helps ensure the safety of our children. The Nursery/toddler room is a Shoe-Free Zone for all our crawlers’ health and safety. Nursery items and play materials for children under two are cleaned and sanitized before the onset of each class. Our church also follows all CDC guidelines in relation to Covid-19.

TEACH THE CHILDREN WELL...

“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” - Matthew 18:5

We want the habits created in a child’s most formative years to be carried on into adulthood. We believe that children attending church with their families is an important aspect to this. All children go to the Worship Center with their parents for the initial part of the worship service. After the children’s sermon, children go with their teachers to their classrooms for Sunday School. After the service, parents pick up their child(ren) at their classroom.

Children's Ministry also creates events designed specifically for families. And many activities are designed so that children are easily included. Keep an eye out for announcements of opportunities throughout the year. For more information on volunteering in the Children's Ministry, please contact our Children's Ministry Coordinator, Karen Palacios, to begin the application process.

Currently, we have 3 Sunday School Classes:

Combined Nursery/Toddler Room: Nursery (0-17 mos.), Toddlers (18 mos-3 years)
Kindergarten – 2^nd grade
3^rd-5^th grade

We are working currently to hire more staff to get back to pre-pandemic age splits and having 5 classrooms: Nursery/Toddlers up to 35 months, a PreK-K class, 1^st -3^rd and 4^th-6^th grade classes.

CURRICULUM

Our preschool and elementary and tween teachers utilize curriculum through The Gospel Project. The Gospel Project takes our children through the Bible with age specific curriculum designed to encourage the children to understand the connection of all stories in the Bible as they relate to Jesus and weaves all of God’s word into that one connective story. Our toddlers use the Wee Wonder, Sharing God's Love curriculum geared specifically for this age group. Click here for the New City Kids Parent Brochure.

EVENTS

Our Children's Ministry creates events designed specifically for them. And many New City activities are designed so that children are easily included. Keep an eye out for announcements for activities throughout the year.

For more information about Children's Ministry, please contact Brooke at Brooke@newcitychurchsb.org