Children’s Ministry Team: Update to Families
Greetings, Western families!
With the weather starting to warm up and flowers beginning to bloom, it’s an exciting time to welcome kids and families back to worship at Western. As much as we’re looking forward to seeing each other again, we know that coming back to church can feel familiar and a little bit foreign at the same time! To help ease the transition, the Children’s Ministry team would like to share a few updates:
Sunday School –The Children’s Sunday School class will now meet in person during worship. Kids will be dismissed following the Children’s Lesson and be led by the teachers upstairs to Room 202. The class will be geared for ages 5-10, and all kids are welcome. We’ll meet for a short lesson indoors with activities, games, and art projects to help us learn more about our faith and the way Jesus wants us to love one another. We’ll mostly be indoors, but when the weather is nice, we may go outside to play a bit!
Nursery – Families with infants or preschoolers are always welcome to worship with their children in the sanctuary. The nursery room will also be open for those needing a space to let their toddlers roam, babies play, or take a nap. The sound system in the nursery allows you to keep up with the service. Our goal is to hire nursery staff this year to offer families more flexibility when they come to church.
Child Safety Policy – We’ll be holding training on Western’s Child Safety Policy after worship on March 20 in the TBY room and also via Zoom. We encourage parents to attend to better understand the steps all adult volunteers follow to keep our children safe. Any church volunteer working with children must receive this training every 3 years.
We’re also excited to share some special events we’re planning to help us reconnect with each other and celebrate the Easter season:
Prayers…and Pretzels! – Western’s famous pretzel baker, Stephen Arbuthnot, will be our special guest Sunday School teacher on April 3. He’ll teach the kids how these tasty snacks have reminded people of prayer, especially during Lent, and even show them his pretzel making secrets.
Easter Egg Hunt – It’s back! Bring your baskets with you Easter Sunday, April 17, for an egg hunt after worship outside in the Courtyard. If you have extra plastic eggs or a bag of candy/small toys for fillers, feel free to pass them to Bill Rappolt at church.
Children’s Music – We’ve all missed singing and making music together. That’s why we’re so excited that Ben Pattinson has offered to work with the children on some music on April 3!
We’re so excited to get to see each other again. We also hope you’ll see a place where you might like to get involved—through teaching Sunday School, assisting with a special event, or identifying an opportunity for Western’s kids to engage with our church community. See you Sunday!
Children’s Ministry Team
Caitlin Boon
Kate Brittain
Ben Evans
Rebecca Jackson
Bill Rappolt
Kathryn Urban
Nicole Wallace