St J’s Kids

for children ages 0-10

A safe space for kids to find out more about God, ask BIG questions, and connect with the love and life of Jesus. Participants have fun, play games, make music, laugh, bake, serve, eat, talk lots, reflect, create art, play games, and just enjoy being together.

St J’s Kids is run by a team of dedicated volunteers. They deliver an interactive and engaging Sunday morning programme for the children in a warm and welcoming way.

 

Sunday Mornings

During school terms: Join us at 10 am on Sunday mornings starting in the church. After the children’s talk and a sung blessing, children head next door to the St John’s Centre for peer group time.

St J’s Kids finishes at 11:15 am. Parents and caregivers, pick up your children and stay for a cup of tea or coffee.

Monthly Communion Sundays (second Sunday of each month): We start in the St John’s Centre at 10 am in our peer group before joining the congregation in church around 10:40 am for Communion. After quarterly communion services, the whole church has a shared lunch together in the St John’s Centre.

Long weekends and school holidays: Our holiday programme Sundays start in church at 10 am, then we migrate as one big group to the St John’s Centre (or sometimes up to the front corner of church) for chill-out activities such as paper-plane making, play dough, drawing, DVD watching, and games.

Activities outside of Sunday mornings

We get together at least once a term, often involving the wider church community. It’s a chance for us to get to know each other better. Sometimes the emphasis is social (like our Wheels Day), other times it’s worship (for example, Picnic Church or Kids Worship) and at other times it’s about helping others (such as our annual Pantry Raid for our local food bank).

 

Curriculum

The St J’s Kids programme is currently using the Spark House curriculum.

Aims of St J’s Kids

  • Welcome children and their families

  • Foster a sense of belonging to the wider church community

  • Enable authentic involvement in the life of the church – worship and outreach

  • Engage children and support their faith development

  • Equip parents to help their children’s faith development

St John’s in the City is a member of the ‘Kids Friendly’ network. Kids Friendly is an initiative of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) that recognises the vital contribution children and families make to healthy congregations and aims to equip churches to intentionally minister to children and families.

 

Visitors

Visitors are always welcome. Please introduce yourself when you arrive and someone will explain what is happening that morning, or let us know that you are coming and we can arrange to meet you.

Please contact us if you have any questions about St J’s Kids.