Setting up Christian Parents & Toddlers Groups

[catherineseiont]

Has anyone any experience in setting up a Christian Parents & Toddlers group? We are currently building a new church in the poorest area of our town, & I really know that it is on my heart to do this. If so, is it a good idea to be all out Christian from the start or go in gently. We don't want to hide who we are. By the way it is a lively Pentecostal Church with outreach into the community at its centre.
Any ideas for resource materials??

I haven't set up a P&T group but have run an established one.

I don't think you have to have a lot of Christian resources. The main point is to be a friend for people who come to the group - to give them a warm welcome and make them feel important. Do you have any mums/grannies without child responsibility to help out?

You need to stock up on toys. Active toys are good, such as ride ons and a slide (obviously depends on the space you have available). A baby area is important - some activity gyms, playmats, and rattles. A craft corner, dressing up box, pretend kitchen etc.

Give the mums a cup of tea (if you can keep it safe), and the children a drink and biscuit. If you have the helpers, you can take all the children off to one side during parent tea-time and read a story or do some singing (Christian, if you like).

We have two church-based P&T groups in our village. Neither is overtly Christian. They are run as 'normal' playgroups. The priest/minister might pop in from time to time, but that is it. They are popular. If you want to be religious, then I think you need to make it clear from the outset. I'm not sure I would want to go along to something and find I was being evangelised by stealth.

Stealth evangelism is never a good option! We would be totally open about it. My kids will both be full time at school by then leaving me fairly hands free which is useful

I know a variety of Christian P & T groups and their Christian content varies. All of them are up-front about their Christian convictions, e.g. a clearly stated policy something like 'we are a group run by X church which warmly welcomes anyone. You do not have to come to our church to attend.' I think personally it is best to be clear right from the beginning about who you are and what you believe.

The more church people who can take part, either as attendees or as helpers the better, IME.

In terms of activities, some groups sing a mixture of Christian and secular traditional songs during song time. Some do crafts based on Christian themes, have Christian literature (for child and adults) to borrow, and all the ones I know advertise church and other Christian events during the group. Some read a Bible story every week or every month, and even have a 'pram service' periodically. One group I have heard of has a very short talk aimed at the adults on a Christian or related subject.

I can't think of any resources especially for church P & T groups offhand but I will ask around.

HTH.

Unless you live in a very whitebread monoculture, I think you should allow a take-it-or-leave it approach to the Christian aspect (or are you really keen to keep out anyone who is emphatically not Christian and not interested in converting either?)
And if the area you are setting the group up in is multicultural and there are few or no other toddler groups, put it even further on the backburner, otherwise you could be seen to be discriminating and/or using council resources for a service that excludes council tax payers.

I don't think most church-run P & T groups use public resources or discriminate in who is able to attend. Certainly not the ones I am aware of, anyway.

How would they be using council resources? All the P&T groups round here operate as self-funding groups.

Our church was recently re-built and has large P&T groups.

We also have a coffee club for Mums waiting to drop children off at local playgroups etc, which welcomes many Muslim & other Mums from the estate.

The P&T groups have Christian Songs mixes in with tradtional songs/rhymes. The kids mainly choose what they want to sing.

At Easter/Christmas etc we have "specials" and invite them to a story-telling session with themed crafts etc, and invites are given to events & services as appropriate.

Lots of toys, and tea/coffee/squash as well as friendly faces.

Some Mums have joined Christianity Explored courses etc, and some kids progress to the Youth clubs.

We have a waiting list

Very best of luck!

Oh, and the church was built without loans or government funding (all £1M gifted) so we cannot be accused of any misuse of public funds.

In fact we are an incredibly popular, cheap venue for the local community to hire for parties, group meetings etc.

It would be totally self funding, we already run a kids club for over 50 6-10 yr olds in the same area so are well known. Everyone would be welcome just as they are at church, but this should not alter who we are.It is probably the Welshest estate in Wales, so not sure how u class that multiculturally??

Milliways thankyou, that sounds just like my vision. Our whole building project has been funded by congregation donations & it's not a rich congregation. I love your ideas, they obviously work. May pick your brains some more. What church is it?

Yes, plenty of toddler groups are run by churches and are nice friendly welcoming places open to all etc etc. But some are a bit off-putting to the non-christian parent if there is too much evangelising going on.

I go to a church run toddler group. The fact that it is run nby the church is not overly stated, but it is in the church hall.

They ask for donations for harvest etc and at specific regigious times, sometimes go into the church ie at christmas the vicar did a bit about baby Jesus being born wioth a doll etc and we all sang away in a manger. It is great and I love it and I am not a member of this particular church. It being in a church wouldnt put me off at all.

Some of the crafts are also based around the religious calender too, but again I think that is fine.

I went to a lovely mum and baby group run by a local church (am a humanist btw).

The thing that was totally wonderful about it was that the volunteers made sure that everyone was welcomed, talked to, introduced to others so that you didn't just walk into a room of strangers and sit and wonder when someone would talk to you (like NCT was). They would gently chat if you looked down, cuddle the babies, and generally offer a listening ear. A bit of grannie advice offered if you were looking for it, plus relaying what others in the group had done

Then they provided a simple lunch (bread, salad, ham, cheese and a choccie biccie) and played with the babies whilst the mums ate and had a hot drink (all in the same room so you could see them)

There was then a crawlers and a toddlers group as the children got older.

I also very much appreciated the cafe at another church where someone would pootle over for a chat if you were on your own

The (female) vicar turned up every week, and equally was there to cuddle and chat

We are a "free church" affiliated to the FIEC, that recently replaced a very vandalised small tatty building with a fantastic new venue with worship hall/sports hall/lounge etc etc

Photos of the building projecthere

Thankyou will have a gd lk at photos as my husband is designing & pm ing ours

Good luck to him - designing something to please everyone

We "moved in" 2 years ago but have only recently got the blinds, Projector etc.

New chairs for the extra people were needed soon though

The hardest thing to please everyone is yje chair colour. Seems to be missing the point really! we think we'll be overflowing b4 we move in. it onle seat 200 max

I think it depends on what kind of P&T group you are setting up and what your main focus is.
If you just want to be a blessing to the community you don't need any christian resources. Just run a group with lots of toys and tea & coffee & biscuits
If your aim is to lay a good biblical foundation for young children, then you can be as overtly christian as you like. There is a great program called 'See & Know' that we go to in our village. Actually most of the parents there are not christian, but they would like their children to grow up with christian values.
As long as you are clear about the focus of your group people can choose to bring their children or not and should not be offended.
I agree that stealth evangelism is always a bad idea. Be honest about who you are and why you are setting the group up. If everyone is clear then no-one feels cheated and you can truly bless your town.
Good luck

our group is run as overtly christian in that those who want to go out to the lounge every other week to do a bible study, listen to someone's testimoney or similar whilst some of the older ladies from the church look after the kids in the hall. there are a number of non-church mums who come along and they are welcome to come to the studies too. we occassionally have a session aimed particually at them which doesn't involve praying, reading bible etc but just a chance to chat away from kids. the kids get a bible story and songs most weeks and a bible themed craft. We do aim to share God's love with them by getting to them them and responding to their needs. the mums say it is a very welcoming group and are not put off by the christian aspect.

Been meaning to comment on this, as our church has a great P&T group (though all mine are too old for it now!)

Its called "Playbreak" and is meant to be just that - play for the kids, break for the parents/carers. So the children are looked after in 2 groups - prewalkers in the dedicated church creche, and older children in the hall, where there are 3 areas - one for "sitting down" play, one for crafts and one for ride-ons etc. The children are looked after by the "Aunties". a group of (mainly) recently retired older women who are all CRB checked and are trained by the church in childcare. Only things mums have to do is change nappies and volunteer in one of the groups once a term as a helper.

Sometimes its just mums chatting in the church lounge, sometimes they get a speaker on some topic - occasionally someone from church but mainly others - the fire brigade come to do fire safety in the home, there's a craft demonstration/try it our session etc. The minister will come and do a Christian bit at CHristmas/Easter but its not pushed.

The church is also registered to provide something called PPP (Positive Parenting Programme) which is a Glasgow City Council initiative (I think) - which runs during playbreak so that childcare is in place. They also run Alpha once a year, again during playbreak, for the childcare, but there is really no pressure to attend. Its very friendly and there are loads of non-church mums and babies/tots there - probably more than there are church ones, I think.

We hold a Christmas Eve Crib service which loads of playbreakers come along to, and quite a few of the children feed into the church run nursery school (a proper preschool) and into other activities.

Its great - its overtly Christian, totally not "stealth", and very popular.

Getting some great ideas here. thanks everyone!!

we have a p&t group at or church, we've been meeting for about a year, once a week. We were determined to build relationships with people & share our own journeys with them etc, so we think long-term, not instant numbers attending! We light a candle at the start of our singing/story time ('becasue the Bible says Jesus os the light of the world & to remind us Jesus is here today'kind of thing) & sing a mix of christian songs/nursery rhymes. New Wine have a couple of great pre-schooler cd's with modern songs on that aren't too cheesy but the kids love. See www.new-wine-org.uk ithink.
And we read a story - or act it out or something too! We have lots of tea/coffee/ snacks/homemade cake/biscuits if you can... And we just try to make people feel really welcome. OUr numbers are still small - usually 12 kids at the most, but we are getting to know people & i offer to pray for people/with people if they're haveing a hard time. Usually they say yes & then God answers prayers so it leads to more conversations etc. We did alpha on a different day last term with a creche, 3 of us from church & 2 'guests' - both came to faith, one was miraculously healed of something, the other is in church/house group every week now... and tomight we're going out for our 3rd 'mum's social' - ie girly might out. this is a long term thing like i said earlier!
sorry - compete ramble going on here, hope it helps

Resource wise - try www.childrensministry.co.uk - very specific pre-school stuff, which is very good. Very similar to 'see&know' someone mentioned earlier) also Care for the family (don't know web address sorry) & Mothers Union have info on p&t groups.
We're trying to get older women in the church to get involved through prayer & cake making!
We make it clear we sing Christian songs etc, but the group is open to everyone & most people who come in have nothing to do with the Church. We did invite people to Christmas services etc, some came, most didn't.