Kids Ministry is committed to equipping parents to be the primary spiritual influencers in their children’s lives and empowering our volunteers to do the work of the ministry.
Southbrook Kids serves kids from birth to 6th grade during our Sunday worship services at 9 and 11 am. It's a place where kids get excited about knowing Jesus—where they hear the gospel, become disciples, and are inspired to make disciples of others kids make a big deal of Jesus where they live, learn, work, and play.
Our ministry meets children right where they are to help them discover God and His Word on their level. We know that children are not just the church of tomorrow but the church of today!
We encourage parents to know what their child is studying and make applications throughout the week. Each month, we connect with our families via a personalized email from our Kids Ministry Team with information about what your child is being taught and ideas to keep the learning going at home.
Our Ministry Areas
Nursery | Birth - 24 months
This area serves babies from birth through twenty-four months. Our rooms offer swings, exer-saucers, bouncy seats, age-appropriate toys, and cribs. Volunteers enjoy a low teacher-to-child ratio. Faith in Jesus is introduced to babies and toddlers through music and movement.
For nursing mothers, a room with chairs and closed-circuit television is available, so moms can watch the worship service while tending to their baby.
Early Childhood | Two - Kindergarten
Our Early Childhood area serves children from two-years-old through Kindergarten. The two-year-olds learn about Jesus through a small lesson and active play. Three-year-olds through Kindergarten will learn through active play and Bible teaching, consisting of fun worship songs with motions, an engaging story lesson with visuals, and activity or craft time. This is where children are first introduced to an organized lesson time and begin building relationships with each other and their leaders while learning about Jesus.
1st - 6th Grade
Our 1st through 6th grade classrooms provide a fun environment as the setting for our children to build strong relationships with each other and their leaders through intentional small groups. Children will learn about Jesus and God’s plan for their lives.
1st through 6th grade will join together for a multigenerational, age-appropriate worship experience. Children sing high-energy worship songs along with our worship team and learn Scripture. After worship, 1st - 3rd grade will participate in interactive Bible teaching while our pre-teens in the 4th - 6th grade will be led to dive deeper into God’s word through gender-specific small group time by their group leaders.
All the children will participate in small group discussions, large group worship, and activities based on their classroom and grade level to help provide an authentic encounter with Jesus in the context of true community.
Curriculum
Southbrook Kids Ministry offers The Biggest Story as the curriculum for two-year-olds through 6th grade. Each week’s lesson will contain a teaching and small group discussion based upon Scripture, a Bible verse to memorize, a Big Truth understanding summarizing the teaching/discussion, an activity and/or craft, and an activity page to share what they learned about that Sunday morning.
The Biggest Story leads children on an exciting journey through the Bible, from the garden of Eden to the return of Christ. This fun curriculum of 104 Bible Stories is designed to help children dive into Scripture and understand God’s plan to redeem the world through His Son, Jesus, by shepherding them through the overarching story of the Bible over the course of approximately two years.
We recommend checking out www.thebiggeststory.com for more information.
Check-in & Safety
Kids’ Registration for First-Time Guests
If you're visiting Southbrook for the first time, save time by registering your children for check-in ahead of time. Click here for a printable PDF.
Your child's safety while in our care is of great importance to us.
For your child to attend any of our classes on Sundays, you will need to visit one of the Kids’ Ministry Check-in stations to obtain a security/check-in tag that contains a matching number on the tags.
The security tag is for the adult (parent or guardian) to show to the volunteer when picking up the child. The check-in tag is for the child. Place that tag on your child’s shirt and drop him or her off at the classroom based on age/grade. If you check in more than one child, you can check all your children in at once.
As the parent or guardian, you must show the security tag to the volunteer in your child’s classroom pick-up.
Remember to keep the other security tag. You will need that tag to pick up your child(ren) after service.
If we need to contact you during the service, your security tag number will pop up on the large screen in the main service.
All of our amazing adult disciple-makers (volunteers) have gone through an application process that includes a background check and references.
Due to various food allergies, we do not have food in any of our environments. However, babies/toddlers will be able to have their own bottles.
For your safety, the Kids' building doors and the main building’s nursery area will lock 10 minutes after service begins. If you are late, please ring the doorbell, and someone will open the door for you.
Kids Ministry FAQ's
How early can I check in my child?
Our Kids’ Ministry check-in stations will be available 30 minutes before the start of services; however, our classrooms are not open for child drop-off until 15 minutes before the start of services.
Who are the teachers?
All of our adult volunteers are Southbrook members or regular attendees who have completed a background check. We adhere to the “Two Deep Rule,” which always requires two adult volunteers in each classroom.
What is your health policy?
We desire to provide a healthy and safe environment for all children at Southbrook. Parents are encouraged to be considerate of other children when deciding whether to place a child under our care. We cannot accept any child who exhibits any of the following symptoms within the 48 hours before service:
- Fever, diarrhea, nausea, scarlet fever, or vomiting
- Discoloration of discharge of the nose and eyes;
- Croup, thrush, pink eye, chicken pox, unexplained rash;
- Lice (A staff member will need to check the child for head lice before returning into the classroom. If a nit or lice is still present, the child will not be able to enter the classroom);
- Measles, strep throat, poison ivy;
- Eye or skin infections and/or
- Other symptoms of communicable or infectious disease.
Children our volunteers observe as ill will be separated from other children, and the parent or guardian will be contacted to request that the child be picked up immediately.
Additional Information
Environment Placement & Promotion Sunday
We follow Union County Public School's birthday cut-off. Children will be placed in their specific environments based on their age as of August 31st or their grade as of the current school year.
Promotion Sunday is when we move children up to their new environments. This typically takes place yearly, on the Sunday of the week school begins.
Who can I contact to learn more about the Kids' Ministry?
To speak with the kids' ministry director and/or for general questions about the kids' ministry at Southbrook Church, you can contact Amber Freeman.