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  1. Why does Blacknall Children’s Ministry Exist?

    The fourfold vision of Children’s Ministry is as follows:

  • To disciple children in the way of Jesus Christ

    • Sunday School, Children’s Worship, Nursery are primary vehicles!

    • Forming hearts, souls, minds, strengths to love the Lord!

  • To help adults and children worship together

    • How do we invite children into our worshiping life?

    • Have you seen our pew cards?

  • To integrate children into community life

    • Is there a space for children at church events?

    • Do we include children or treat them as an afterthought?

  • To strengthen the home-church partnership

    • Catechism, Lent/Advent boxes

    • How do we encourage families in the Monday-Saturday faith

2. What are our hopes for children at Blacknall?

Our hopes are that our children would grow to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mk 12:30-31). But how does this play out?

  • HEART: We hope that…

    • They would continue to grow in their love of the Lord

  • SOUL: We hope that…

    • They would have meaningful relationships with peers and church leaders

  • MIND: We hope that…

    • They would ‘think scripturally’ about the world around them

  • STRENGTH: We hope that…

    • They would be prepared to deal with the pressures of adolescence

We do not passively hope for these things to come to pass. By active participation with the Holy Spirit, we work to bring these hopes about, while releasing the outcome to the Holy Spirit.

3. What age(s) are you leading?

4. The “W.O.W.” Discipline Model

When engaging with children, I use the W.O.W. model, and I have seen it work well over the long run. This is a good model for low-stakes intervention. If there needs to be a more immediate intervention in the case where the safety of a child is in question, please remove the child(ren) from the harmful situation and contact the Coordinator of Children’s Ministry, Director of Children’s Ministry, or one of the pastors.

5. Abuse Prevention

At Blacknall, we use the “Darkness to Light” abuse prevention curriculum. We hold trainings at least annually and are encouraging folks to make sure they complete a training at least once every 5 years. If you have not yet completed a training, this does not preclude you from participating as a leader, but we do need you to commit to attending the next available Darkness to Light training if at all possible.

We are currently doing a safety audit as we rewrite our policies to ensure we are keeping our children and each other safe. Once our new handbook is complete, we will share this broadly. In the meantime, you can see our previous edition here. Here are a few highlights:

  • There should always be at least two adults present in the room with any group of children

    • If an adult is temporarily in the room alone (if the other adult present is having a conversation with another child OR taking a group of children to the bathroom), the door should be left open so that anyone walking past would be able to see into the room.

  • For children PreK(4) and up, adults should not enter the bathroom with children, and should not let more children into the bathroom than the number of available stalls

    • We also encourage the adult leader to knock and make sure bathrooms are empty before sending children in.

  • For children who are in diapers, adults should change diapers within site of other adults

  • For children who are potty training, adults should leave the door to the bathroom ajar and only enter into the bathroom when asked by the child

    • Any adult who is uncomfortable with assisting a child in this situation will be able to opt out.

  • Please report any suspicious behavior even if you’re “not sure”.

    • Any information about possible abuse is treated very seriously.

    • You can report to the Coordinator of Children’s Ministry, the Director of Children’s Ministry, or one of the pastors

6. Safety

We are currently doing a safety audit as we rewrite our policies to ensure we are keeping our children and each other safe. Once our new handbook is complete, we will share this broadly. In the meantime, you can see our previous edition here. Here are a few highlights:

  • First Aid Kits are available:

    • The Commons above the sink

    • The Nursery desk

    • Before administering any care, wash hands, use gloves. If a nurse or other medical professional is available, have them provide first aid

    • If there is an incident in which first aid needs to be administered, please fill out the Incident Report Form available at the nursery desk.

  • In the event of a fire:

    • All nursery classrooms (Ground floor) should exit through the closest exterior door, take the kids down the alley toward 9th street, and congregate under the awning of the closest businesses.

    • All elementary classrooms (First floor) should exit through the Commons and take the kids down Iredell to “The Yard”

      • Take attendance often and have one adult lead and one adult “sheepdog”

      • From your safety location, children can be dismissed to parents

  • In the event of an armed individual

    • Exit the building swiftly and surely using the same plan as in the event of a fire.

    • If it is judged to be safer to hide than run, we will lock down in the Children’s Worship Rooms facing the wall.