Children's Ministry
‘Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.’ Proverbs 22:6
We have a thriving Sunday school where children aged 3 to 15 are taught to understand and appreciate the love of God through Christ Jesus. Our children enjoy attending Sunday school and eagerly participate in other aspects of the Children’s Ministry.
We provide activities that occur during the holidays and for the older children a weekly gathering under the banner of Youth Ministry takes place on Friday evenings.
Class Genesis is for children aged 3 to 5 years. The children learn through bible stories, songs and simple but profound lessons about basic biblical principles that will be expanded on throughout their Sunday school experience with us here at NTA Tooting. We encourage the children to participate in prayer. Some feel confident enough to volunteer to say the opening or closing prayer. As they begin to develop we introduce the fundamentals of biblical play which gently tests their learning and understanding of what has been taught.
Fruits of the Spirit is for children aged 6 to 8 years. At this stage we begin to expand on the foundations of the biblical principles previously taught. Children are encouraged to participate more in lessons, taking turns to read scripture and joining in with whole class discussions. They are actively encouraged to ask questions about any topic or aspect of the lesson that they feel unsure about. We also introduce role play and bible sketches which the children enjoy taking part in. They also enjoy the creative/artistic aspect of the lessons.
The Prophets is for children aged 9 to 11 years. Our focus is to expand on the biblical concepts they learned when they were younger and introducing them to new areas of the word of God so that they continue to grow spiritually and, build on solid foundations. The children participate in creating sketches to act out bible stories in class, and often represent the Sunday School by presenting what they have created or learnt during Next Generation youth services.
The Disciples is for children aged 12 to 15 years. Here we encourage the children to actively embrace what they have previously learnt by applying biblical principles to their everyday lives. We discuss challenges and issues that the children face day to day, and model how those principles can be applied. We acknowledge that discipleship is not easy and encourage discussion to help tease out the very real difficulties that the children and young people encounter outside of church. We also engage the children in more in-depth Bible study. We recently introduced a scheme whereby children who wish to remain in the department after the age of 16 can train to become classroom assistants. This was successfully trialled with an older teen who is now working alongside us. Her contribution is as valued as the rest of the team.
We at NTA Tooting believe that these are crucial stages in a child’s life and like the scripture says in Proverbs 22:6
We sincerely hope that you will sign your child/children up for Sunday school which automatically includes membership to the children’s choir.
