At IBC Eindhoven we want to help guide our children toward God and foster his or her spiritual development. We teach the children at their level of understanding and aim to provide a safe, happy and positive environment and experience for them as we teach them about the Bible and God’s truth.
Children’s Church (4-12 years)
During the Sunday morning service the children are divided into groups according to age: the juniors (age 4-7 years) and seniors (age 8-12 years). This allows our children to learn together in age-appropriate ways. The children remain in their age-based groups throughout the school year (September to June). Children who turn 4 years old can transferred from crèche to the juniors group throughout the school year.
Each class is supervised by one adult teacher (older than 16 years) who is assisted by at least one Happy Helper. The Happy Helpers (who can be younger than 16 years) are under the supervision of the teacher. The children are never one-on-one with the teacher or a Happy Helper, with the exception of children who need assistance to go to the toilet.
Children’s Church meets in a school building on the block next to the main church building. The group of adults and children walk together from the main church building to the school building. One adult walks at the front, one at the back and the others in between to help the children safely transfer between the buildings. The adult supervision ends when the children have been safely brought back to their parents in the main church building.
In case of an emergency, one of the Happy Helpers will leave the school building to inform one of the parents of the child involved in the emergency. Depending on the gravity of the emergency, external help may also be called. The teacher and other Happy Helpers will continue to supervise the other children.
The teachers and Happy Helpers display and teach children to respect their peers and the educators for a safe and good working and teaching environment. If a child is disrespectful the teacher takes the child aside in the classroom –to avoid one-on-one contact– and discusses this problem with the child. If the behavioural problems persist, the teacher will then approach the child’s parents and discuss the issue with them. If no solution is found, the church leadership will be informed to discuss further measures.
All the educators of the Children’s Church are volunteers and do not necessarily have pedagogical training. Though we aim to show and demonstrate Christian behaviour towards the people around us, we reserve the right to make mistakes.
Crosslife (12-18 years)
The teenagers meet together for the youth ministry at another church building on a weekday evening every other week. Currently, about 8-16 teenagers join. The teenagers arrive at the location on their own or are brought by one of their parents. There are at least two adult leaders, and whenever possible, one man and one woman. If there are sufficient leaders and teenagers, the group can be split into smaller groups by age or gender. During these evenings we avoid one-on-one situations where a leader and a teenager are isolated from the rest of the group.
One-on-one situations are accepted when a teenager is mentored by an adult who coaches his or her spiritual growth. This mentorship can start, for instance, after baptism. In all cases, the teenagers’ parents need to approve the mentor.
These guidelines are also available HERE.