Overview
At Keswick Presbyterian Church, we seek to provide a safe place on Sunday mornings where the gospel of Jesus Christ is taught. Children are reminded that they are both beautiful and in need of the saving grace and love of Jesus. It is our hope to partner with parents so that our children grow to love God, love others and love themselves.
As a community, we welcome parents and children to worship together, and we consider the (even noisy) presence of children in our worship service to be a blessing to our entire community of faith. Please consider speaking with our team to help us understand how we can best serve your family, and let us know if there are any special needs we should consider.
When you arrive:
When you arrive you can find a sign-in form in the hallway before the beginning of the service. Then, you can bring your children into the service with you for a few songs and prayer.
Most weeks, partway through the service, one of our leaders will ask the children to join them up at the front for a brief story and song. After that the children are dismissed to go to their classes, which we call Grow Kids. They will move to their classrooms and will engage in a time of Bible stories and activities at their age level.
Children (up to Gr 4) will be kept in their teacher’s care until you sign them out, and we release them back to you. Older students are dismissed without parental sign out.
Children are divided into groups according to age:
Nursery-Toddlers (Birth-JK) - Children are always welcome in our service, and if you have very young children we offer a nursery area where you can still enjoy listening to the message while being present with your little ones. We have change tables, some age appropriate toys and a quiet space for nursing mothers. You are free to access this space at any time during worship.
Juniors (JK-GR4) - Meets in the Large Gymnasium after the Children’s Moment during the service
Middlers (Gr 5 - Gr 8) - Meets in the Green Room after the Children’s Moment during the service
OUR VOLUNTEERS
We staff each environment with lovely volunteers who try to get to know each child or teen personally, building a relationship that helps reinforce the kind of faith and truth you as a parent share with your kids.
We ask all volunteers to complete a process in order to help us verify their suitability for this trusted task:
Complete an application form along with reference checks.
Agree to a Vulnerable Sector Screening and provide the necessary documentation for the process. (We will initiate this process once we’ve received your application.)
We complete training sessions and follow Leading with Care Policy.