Welcome to Walnut Street’s Children’s Ministry Website!

Our ministry seeks to provide children with a strong foundation in Jesus Christ and the gospel through fun and inviting Sunday school classes, activities, and services. We seek to disciple kids in Biblical truth using Sunday school lessons that challenge and encourage them to dig deeper into God’s word, plan, and purpose for their lives. Our ministry provides a place that is exciting, contemporary, and innovative to reach the children of this generation.

As a ministry, we want to see your child leave this ministry with:

• An excitement for church and learning about Jesus (JOY)
• A willingness to serve the church, fellow Christians, those who do not know Christ, and those who are less fortunate. (SERVICE)
• A solid foundation of Biblical concepts, stories, and promises, and how to apply it to daily life. (KNOWLEDGE)
• An understanding of what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. (FAITH)

We seek to instill in our children joy, service, knowledge, and faith through our fun programs and thorough bible lessons. We want to see kids have a passion for learning about Jesus Christ, for following Him, and for living for Him. We see serving your children as a blessing, and we hope that this ministry blesses both your child and your family.

• We are very proud of our volunteer staff! We have wonderful helpers who love children and enjoy sharing God’s word with them! To help them, we ask that if your child has any disability or special need, please let us know so we can give them the help and attention they need! Our volunteers are trained to handle many situations, but informing them of any special circumstances will help immensely in giving your child the best experience possible.

• Especially in JAM, our children are extremely active and moving around most of the time! Switching from class to class creates commotion, and to relieve some of the chaos for the teachers, we ask that children not be allowed to bring toys or other things from home to Sunday school. Keeping track of many kids is hard enough, but keeping track of their dolls and dinosaurs is even harder! Teachers are not responsible for lost toys.
  Our ministry is growing everyday! We are blessed to have more and more kids each Sunday, but as the classes get bigger, our rules must get tighter. We separate the kids into groups according to age/grade, and each group receives lessons that are tailored for their age and developmental level. It is because of this that we ask that students not switch grade levels or join with siblings in other age groups. Not only does it make it harder on the teachers, but also does not reach the children effectively when they can’t read the lesson or participate in the activity. Of course, there are exceptions, but please talk to the teacher before the start of class to discuss the best placement.

• We may be painting, sculpting, or playing outdoors. We use paint shirts, but please dress your child with these activities in mind.

Parent Information:
Want to get updates on the ministry and opportunities for you and your child? Get email updates by sending to kids@walnutstreetumc.com your name and your child’s name from the email address you would like to receive the updates from.

Volunteer Information
Volunteers are always needed!
Want to help out in the fastest growing ministry? Want to see what your child is doing during that hour you’re in the sanctuary? Love teaching God’s word to children? We have a spot for you! We need lots of different people in lots of different areas. Here are some places where you could serve:

Teachers: Either for JAM or traditional Sunday school. Traditional teachers can teach for 6 months, the school year, or the summer. JAM teachers take a subject, such as art, movies, cooking, etc. and teach it two various grade levels during a one month period. For JAM, many times teachers receive one week off per month, which can be scheduled around them. Curriculum is provided, though there is preparation involved. If a teacher needs any help planning or getting materials, staff is always willing to help out!

Shepherds: JAM Sunday school. Shepherds are asked to help for 6 month to year rotations, although we will always welcome their help for any length of time! Shepherds are crucial to our JAM program! These people stay with a certain age group throughout the year, getting to know the children and their interests, activities, etc. Shepherds do not teach any class, but merely assist in helping the children with the activities. Shepherds therefore require no preparatory work, though they are expected to be helpful and committed during Sunday school time.

Snackers: JAM Sunday school. Snackers help whenever they can! These people help by either providing snacks via donations or by helping prepare the snacks for the children. This usually requires the volunteer to come the last 20 minutes of the time period to lay out the snacks and drinks for the children. An easy, no hassle job!

Keen Eyes: traditional and JAM Sunday school, break periods. Keen Eyes are our hall monitors, and help whenever they can! Keen Eyes are expected to watch for children who are wandering the halls alone, creating disruptions, or children who are sent to the bathroom and other places during class time. This ensures no child is lost or is unattended within the church. An easy, no hassle job!

Einsteins: constantly! Einsteins are the brilliant thinkers that write our curriculum for JAM! We try to have curriculum written in advance for our teachers, and we use a team of people to brainstorm ideas for lessons. As an Einstein, we ask that you be able to attend meetings and be available to help guide teachers in how to teach the lessons.

Special Service: special activities and events. Our Special Services crew helps out at our lock-ins, VBS, camp, field days, and other special events. This crew is simply a list of people who are willing to help out for special occasions, but are unable to help on Sunday mornings. Simply inform us of your interest, and we will call when events are scheduled to see if you’re available.

• Traditional Sunday school starts at 9:30 and JAM starts at 11:00. Children’s choir takes place at 10:30 before JAM. We do not expect our teachers to watch children at other times, so please don’t expect them to either! Usually teachers are doing last-minute prep work before class starts, so we ask that you not drop kids off earlier than 10 minutes before the start of class. Teachers will not be responsible for the children before then.

• If there are any problems with children, such as separation anxiety or class disturbance, we will come find his/her parent in the sanctuary or small group when necessary. We want our Sunday school to be a friendly and comfortable place for everyone, and we hope that all children enjoy their experience here. We will make parents aware of all situations in the classes.

• We do give snacks during classes and occasionally have cooking rotations in JAM. If your child has any food allergies or cannot eat certain foods, please make us aware when your child first comes to Sunday school.

What to expect:
Want your child to get the most out of Sunday school? Here are some helpful things you can do, and some things to expect from us!

Prayer Warriors: What volunteer list would be complete without prayer warriors? They’re needed constantly, and are the fuel that drives our ministry! Please, whatever your involvement in the children’s ministry here at Walnut Street, be praying for our kids, our staff, and our volunteers!