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Children’s Ministry
Nursery Ministries

For churches seeking to reach and serve today’s generation of parents, the nursery is one of the most valuable components of that strategy. If the nursery is unacceptable, visitors may continue to church-shop elsewhere next Sunday. It is vital for us all to take a look at our nurseries and make changes where necessary.

We checked in with two nurseries which have good reputations to see how they run their programs.

West Portal Church, Saskatoon SK

The coordinator has put together a friendly informative brochure for the parents of all the children involved in the nursery. It begins in large print... “We love kids!” The brochure explains that they have three separate rooms (infants, crawlers/walkers, 2 year olds) that are clean bright and cheerful rooms. (On an average Sunday approximately 18-22 children are cared for in the nurseries.)

In large bold print is the statement, “Nursery Children are Safe at West Portal...” They qualify this by saying only well babies are received; the volunteer staff are well qualified and supervised (workers must be willing to agree to the nursery philosophy and be reliable); the staff must follow strict cleanliness procedures at change stations and model loving care guidelines.

The brochures goes on to explain the check-in and check-out procedures. Parents are encouraged to stay and familiarize themselves with the nursery. Their brochure closes with, “Children are indeed treasured at West Portal!”

Some other important notes about West Portal’s nursery:

Toys are all age appropriate and are sanitized and culled regularly. Crawlers and walkers do not have a set program but are read to from the Toddler Bible and colour Bible related pictures. Two year olds have set activities which include playdough, toys and colouring. The ratio of worker to child is six babies to two adults and one youth; six crawlers to one adult and one youth; six toddlers to one adult and one youth.

Waterloo MB Church, Waterloo ON

The nursery is served by a committee of three which reports to the Children’s Ministry Pastor. They have put together a very professional program for the children. They responded to the questionnaire mailed to them as follows:

Their nursery has two rooms; one approximately the size of an average living room for infants (which is dimly lit so infants may sleep), and the other double that size for toddlers (brightly lit with lots of toys to keep them active). They have a very detailed room and toy cleaning schedule. They have three services each weekend. Thus they service four hours each week; each hour is serviced by different staff on a six week rotation basis. A real emphasis is put upon Christian Education with the nursery program. Their program seeks to reach the need of scheduling of the average toddler and their worship service includes singing, snack, and a short story. They have a detailed check-in and check-out proceedure. Parents are encouraged to detail any special needs and staff are encouraged to let parents know how the children were during their visit. Each child/parent is assigned a number and if the child is having difficulties in the nursery a black box in the sanctuary denotes this without any disturbance to the service. Families are important to the success of the nursery. At least one mom must be in each room of the nursery. As well, grandparents, aunts and uncles are encouraged to help staff the nursery.

As you can see both of these nurseries have a lot to offer the little ones. For more information contact Elma Froese of West Portal Church at (306) 382-1622 or Ruth Pape of Waterloo MB Church at (519) 885-5330.

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Last modified October 31, 2000.

Ideabank is a quarterly newsletter published by the Board of Christian Education Ministries, a board of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

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