First Presbyterian Church is committed to providing quality care for our children during Sunday school and worship service so parents have the opportunity to nourish their faith with Bible study and worship of our Lord. The nursery is on the first floor of the Education Building and is staffed by devoted volunteers. The facilities are geared to accommodate infants and toddlers (up to three years old).
Our program and our volunteers are governed by our Child Protection Policy: a copy of this is posted outside our nursery and is available upon request. The following is a brief description of our program. A more detailed explanation can be found in the pamphlet, “Welcome to Child Care,” provided in the nursery.
Registration: All children who attend regularly require a photo registration card with accurate and current information. A claim tag with a family photo is given to the parent and must be returned to pick up your child.
Check-in procedure:
• Parents obtain their registration card and claim tag from the alphabetical file.
• Parents sign in the child(ren).
• They give the card to the volunteer and keep the claim tag.
Check-out procedure:
• Parents give the claim tag to the volunteer, and
• Wait for the volunteer to release your child to you.
Visitors. Visitors are welcome. Simply sign in your child(ren) and fill out a visitor card. Visiting parents are issued a visitor claim tag and follow the same procedures.
Young Children and Worship
The program uses a traditional order of Christian worship in a way that young children can understand: praising, listening, and responding to God’s stories. Biblical stories are told using beautiful wooden figures that allow the children to see, touch and imagine the story being told. The children are then encouraged to respond to the story using a variety of art supplies as well as by working with the story materials.
Young Children and Worship provides our young children an opportunity to experience God through a multisensory style of worship that meets their need for love, security, continuity, order and meaning while directing their hearts and minds toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
This year our children began the second phase of this program, Following Jesus, by Sonja M. Stewart. This program uses the Gospel of Mark to follow the life of Jesus in a way that shows
• who Jesus is
• what he is teaching about the kingdom of God
• why Jesus is calling people to follow him
• what he is sending them into the world to do.
This is a wonderful program that we hope will benefit your family. If you are uncertain about your child's readiness to participate in this program, please speak with the adult leaders or Christian Education Coordinator. Transitioning from a nursery environment to the children’s worship service can be difficult, and we will support you and your child. Some developmental cues that your child is ready for this environment include the following:
• potty trained
• able to sit and listen to the story
• able to manipulate small items and art supplies
• ability to communicate needs with our volunteers and be redirected when needed
• able to play independently in a supervised environment
- are comfortable separating from their parent
For more information or to register your child, please contact us. You also may register your child for this program on Sunday mornings.