At Fairfield Christian Church, our children’s ministry has 2 hours of programming for kids every Sunday morning, but in reality, it is closer to 2.5 hours. Sunday school coincides with the church’s 2nd worship service, and it starts at 9:15. The church’s 3rd service begins at 10:45, which is when we begin 2 separate kids worship services, 1 for preschool and 1 for grades 1-5. I designed our rotation stations to end at 10:30, so Sunday school is actually 75 minutes. I like to minimize the downtime because kids can just start to run wild if you don’t give them something to do. Also, the way I see it, the time we have kids at church is very limited, so I think we should take full advantage of that brief opportunity to share the word of God and help them grow in their faith.

HOW MANY KIDS?

We average 65-70 kids on Sunday mornings. Easter Sunday we had 100 kids, and some other random weeks we might have 80-90 kids.

SUNDAY SCHOOL SCHEDULE

• 9:15 Large Group (toddlers-5th graders all together): Sing 3 worship songs, offering for missions, divide up into age groups and begin rotations around 9:30.
• 9:30-10:30 Rotation Stations: Toddlers go to toddler room, where they hear the story, do coloring pages, listen to music and play. 3 other age groups (ages 3-K, grades 1-2, grades 3-5) rotate between the stations. Imagination Station often includes a snack component.

KIDS WORSHIP SCHEDULE

I lead this service with a couple volunteers helping me. We usually have anywhere from 25-40 kids (grades 1-5) in this service.

• 10:45 Begin 3 minute countdown
• 10:48 Open with group recitation of Lord’s Prayer
• 10:50 Sing 3 worship songs
  • *I handpick every worship song to match the Bible story’s theme or key points. I often speak briefly between songs to tell kids how the song helps retell the story.
• 11:00-11:10 Missions offering and group memory verse recitation
• 11:10-11:15 Sing 2 more worship songs
• 11:15 Communion
• 11:20-11:25 Group activity to introduce the story
• 11:25-11:30 Story video
• 11:30-11:45 Sermon style lesson, which typically involves some kind of activity that makes the kids move around so they don’t get bored.

PRESCHOOL WORSHIP SCHEDULE

• Preschool worship usually has 20-35 kids.
• The service schedule is identical through all the singing (they only sing 4 songs).
• Watch the story video right after the final song.
• Toddlers come into this service through the singing and the story video, then they go back to the Toddlers & 2s Room.
• After the story video, preschool worship divides into 2 smaller groups (ages 3-4 and 5-K). These groups have identical lessons and activities.