During our Sunday worship service, the children who are of primary school age (4-12 years) can attend Children’s Church. In Children’s Church, the children are taught from the Bible at their own level.
All children start the Sunday service in the church room with their parents. After singing some songs and listening to a children’s talk, the children gather in another room for their own moment of worship. Often we sing children’s worship songs, accompanied by a musician. After the worship, the children split up into two classes.
Three age groups
There is creche for children aged 0-3, the Junior class is for children aged 4-7 and the Senior class for children aged 8-12. In the Junior class, the emphasis is on learning Bible stories. We often read a story from the Children’s Bible or watch an animated Bible story. After the Bible story, we have activity time: a game, a craft or occasionally visiting the playground area across the street.
The children in the Senior class read the same stories from the Bible as the Juniors but go deeper into the material and try to understand what these stories mean to them. We often use a group discussion, a simple Bible study assignment or a game.
When the worship service has ended, parents can pick up their children from the Children’s Church rooms.
Language in Children’s Church
Most children visiting IBC speak their mother tongue and Dutch, but not necessarily English. For this reason, the lessons in Children’s Church are usually in Dutch. If we have children in class who do not speak Dutch but do speak English, we switch to a dual-language lesson.
King’s Kids
On some Sundays, we hold a special ‘child-friendly’, all-age worship service: King’s Kids. On these Sundays, the children stay in church with their parents. During the sermon, the children are given activity sheets that align with the theme of the service.
Annual picnic
Traditionally, we round off the church season with a grand picnic in a nearby playpark, De Splinter. The picnic is for all who attend church, not just the children! All the children look forward to sharing this event with their church friends and family.
