Westcliff Baptist Church

Children and Young People's work

We are a church with a strong safeguarding policy to protect children. 

 We love having children around and enjoy their enthusiasm and energy, so as part of our commitment to children we seek to provide age-appropriate group activities on Sunday for them to enjoy.  Our aim is to help them make friends across their age groups, to learn to care for each other and to make them feel a part of the wider church community.  

What do we do?

We run children's activities on the first and third Sunday of the month*. The children and young people leave the main service about 11.20 am and go to the church lounge. We all  meet together, there is a bible story, currently using the 'Saddleback Kids' resources, and maybe a video. We have a discussion, encouraging everyone to share their ideas, maybe talk about their week at school, or ask questions. We then have a short time of prayer .

The younger children ( up to year 5) then go to the Lower Hall to do craft activities, often related to the story, or just to play and build friendships. The youth then have a deeper look at the story and it application to their lives. We go back into church towards the end of the service.                                   

 They learn about the stories and important themes of the Bible   and about Christian living.  We hope that their lives might be   informed and transformed by a living and active faith, enabling them to   develop in their own journey of knowing God and His son Jesus. 

 

 We currently have 2 children's work leaders who lead alternate weeks, alongside our youth leaders. We are ably assisted by members of the fellowship.  We would love to have more people involved in our children/young peoples work so we can expand and diversify our offering, especially for the 3 - 10 age range.  Please talk to us if you feel this might be for you.

We have a safeguarding policy in place to protect all children.  All workers have safeguarding training and DBS checks. Younger children (under 3) can join us if they are accompanied by a parent/ guardian over 18. 

So ..... if you are looking for a child-friendly church, please bring your family along. We would love to see you and will do our best to make you and your children welcome.

* On the 2nd Sunday we have 'Creative Church' , which is very child friendly, and on the 4th Sunday there is an all-age service, where we stay in church, and which will include activities for the children/ youth. If there is a fifth Sunday, we usually do something completely different!