Infants and toddlers are lovingly cared for throughout the morning so parents can focus on the service and Adult Ed.
Children attend the first part of the worship service with their parents. They are dismissed after the music to attend children’s church where they will have age specific teaching. This is optional. Children are also welcome to stay with their parents for the entire worship service.
Children attend age appropriate classes during this time. They are taught from the Show Me Jesus curriculum from Great Commission Publications.
Class | 6:45-7:45pm
Children attend age appropriate classes during this time. All classes use the Children Desiring God curriculum.
Joyful Noise | 7:45-8:15pm
Children enjoy general music training and learn songs to perform at Christmas as well as at a spring concert.
Infants and toddlers are lovingly cared for throughout the evening so parents can attend men's and women's Bible study.
We use a security tag system for check-in and pick-up. All children birth-5th grade must be checked in before entering their classrooms and will be dismissed when their parent/guardian returns with a corresponding tag. We have two check-in stations. One is located in the nursery and the other is near the children’s hallway.
It is our desire to provide a healthy and safe environment for all of the children at Christ Covenant. In order to prevent the spread of communicable diseases among the children, these three rules are in place concerning disease. Both parents and caregivers must be familiar with these policies.
To ensure that your child is able to participate in Children’s Ministry activities, parents are asked to comply with the following guidelines:
Neither caregivers nor church staff is allowed to give any medication to any child.
“Our children are worshippers who have an eternal destiny—either heaven or hell. God can use us as parents to help point them to Jesus. What an enormous privilege, but what weighty responsibility that is. Churches also have a responsibility to steward the gift of children. Several hours a week, parents entrust this very precious gift of children to churches—to watch over, instruct, and protect the kids under their care. Church workers then should consider the time spent with other people’s children not as a burden, but as a great privilege and important responsibility.” (Deepak Reju)
To ensure a safe environment for all children, every applicant who wishes to serve in children’s ministry is required to submit a background check and attend childcare training before serving.
To ensure safe and quality care, Christ Covenant has established several criteria all caregivers must meet to work with our children:
All caregivers must attend childcare training before they are allowed to work with children. Additional training sessions will be scheduled for existing caregivers to update them on policies and procedures. Parents with questions about childcare training are welcome to attend these sessions.
Any parent who would like his child to participate in a children’s ministry program will sign the child into the appropriate classroom, nursery, or activity when he arrives, granting permission for the child to participate in the event or program.
Classes frequently have snack times, and it is the parents responsibility to inform teachers and volunteers of allergy needs. When parents sign children in, volunteers should direct them to note any allergy needs in the space provided on the sign-in form.
At least two qualified, adult caregivers must be present in each classroom at all times. We consider adults to be age eighteen and older. Youth who are at least eleven years old are welcome to assist (subject to the approval and direction of the Director of Children’s Ministry), but they are always in addition to and supervised by the two adults. If at any time there is only one adult in the room, the class door must remain open to the hallway.
For all class through fifth grade, any child needing to use the restroom shall go with another child of the same age and sex. If coming from the trailers into the main building, the children must be accompanied by an adult caregiver who will wait outside the closed restroom door until the children are finished. The children must wash their hands with soap and water, and then accompany the adult caregiver back to the classroom.
All children’s ministry volunteers are responsible for providing a loving, respectful, and orderly atmosphere in which children can learn, play, and interact with others. This atmosphere should be maintained by preparing beforehand, proactively directing children towards acceptable activities, verbally encouraging positive behavior, and, when necessary, correcting or redirecting inappropriate behavior.
Acceptable means of redirecting inappropriate behavior include correcting the child verbally, withholding a certain privilege or activity for a brief time, or separating the child from the group for a brief time (particularly if his behavior is endangering or upsetting other children).
Children’s ministry volunteers and staff members should never yell, spank, or hit a child. If behavior is uncontrollable or the child does not respond to the discipline measures above, ask the Director of Children’s Ministry to call the parents.
According to North Carolina law, “Any person or institution who has cause to suspect that any juvenile is abused, neglected, or dependent…or has died as the result of maltreatment, shall report the case of that juvenile to the director of the department of social services in the county where the juvenile resides or is found. The report may be made orally, by telephone, or in writing” (G. S. 7B-310).
All children’s ministry volunteers who have any such suspicion should immediately report their concern to the associate pastor who oversees children’s ministry.
Requirements to serve in any area of children's ministry are as follows:
The search for theologically sound and relevant books to use with your children can be overwhelming. These sites may help you filter through the myriad of resources available. It is not possible for us to research every resource on these sites, however, the content of what they sell or promote is overall reliable.
WTS CHILDRENRisen Motherhood
If you have any questions or are interested in being involved with children's ministry at Christ Covenant, contact Marci Ballard.
EMAIL MARCI