Our vision:
We love our kids, and it is a wonderful truth that God loves them even more! Christ Church Cascades is blessed with lots of children and in our kids ministry we want to partner with parents in growing them in the love and knowledge of God, that they would see God’s story and their part in it, and would know and follow Jesus Christ in a true and meaningful way, reflecting His love and grace to others.
We ensure that the programmes and activities we offer our children are safe, age-appropriate, relevant, engaging and fun.
Pre-primary:
On a Sunday we have trained a friendly and caring team of leaders who are excited to share all about the God who made them, the Saviour who forgives them, and the Spirit who empowers them to live a long life of God-honouring obedience. We offer a range of kids lessons.
Splashes: 18mths-4yrs
Our aim is to create the first building blocks of a strong, gospel-centred foundation for our children. Each Sunday has a regular format: free play, inside for songs and our true Bible story lesson, outside for a snack, craft based on the lesson, games based on the lesson followed by free play or more games and singing until the children are picked up by their carer or parent.
We are currently using material from Mustard Seeds called ‘Bible Tots’. To categorise our Bible Tots lessons, we have borrowed foundational truths that The Village Church also uses with this age group: God made everything, God is in charge of everything, God is good, God wants to talk with us, and Jesus came to save sinners.
The Splashes kids are dropped off by carers or parents with a teacher and an assistant at the start of the service for fun, hands-on playtime before we start our lesson inside. Parents are welcome to stay if their child is still a little unsure.
Primary School:
Our children from Grade RR-7 join the adult service for singing and family news before being taken by their teachers to their classes.
Grade RR-5:
The age group is divided into 3 classes: Grade RR-1, Grade 2-3, and Grade 4-5.
They are currently all using the same lesson material, ‘The Biggest Story Curriculum’ by Crossway. Each class is structured in a way that suits their age and developmental stage, with our very little one’s learning concrete, real truths to lay a strong foundation of Bible knowledge. Then, as they get older, it becomes more interactive as developmentally children start thinking more deeply about the truth they have learned and what it means to their everyday lives.
Grade 6-7:
This age group uses separate material, currently we are using ‘Forged: Faith Refined’, from Lifeway Resources. At this age the emphasis is more about reading the Bible themselves and learning some Bible handling skills. We also want to introduce them to bigger doctrinal and theological ideas to give them a framework to hang the truths of the Bible on, and prepare them to join the adult service in Grade 8. It’s a more interactive format and the teachers love interacting with these ‘almost teens’ as they ask questions and discuss the impact of what the Bible teaches, and how to apply it in their lives as they learn what it means to love and walk with Christ.
Our Grade 5-7 gather on the first Friday of every month, to have an Epic, fun get-together and build Christian friendships around a meal, games, and a short teaching. We’re hoping this will become a more regular gathering but for now it is an absolute highlight for our senior primary kids. For more info on Epic you can contact Sheena Warren.
……………………………………………………………………….
Our vision:
Our desire is for our youth to be life-long disciples of Christ. We want to partner with parents to help them deepen their personal faith and relationship with God and to live purposefully for God, committed to Christ, his church, and his Kingdom mission.
We love having our high schoolers in the adult service with us. It is a chance for youth to see worship and service modelled, to commit to and serve in the church family themselves and to learn to sit under the preaching of God’s word. Our preachers are mindful of the youth being a part of the service and try to ensure teaching and application are accessible for high schoolers.
We have a committed and caring team of leaders who spend Friday evenings from 18h30-20h30 with our youth, building friendships, having fun and sharing faith. It is a safe space to come and dig into the Bible and ask questions about life and Jesus.
“Once a term we connect with the other REACHSA Churches in the midlands area for Crossword Connect. We share in food, singing, teaching and games.
At the end of the year all the REACHSA churches in KZN get together for Crossword, a youth camp held over 4 days. This is fun-filled weekend of intense discipleship and connection which adds to our continual discipleship throughout the year.”
If you have any questions or want to know anything else regarding our kids ministry or youth you can contact Sheena Warren who heads up these vital ministries. Teaching our children is always a privilege. Being able to teach them life saving, life altering truths is priceless. Watching our children grow in their knowledge of the truth is priceless and why kids and youth ministry is such a priority at CCC.
