♦ first time parents ♦ adolescence ♦ culture watch ♦ teen & college years ♦ single parents ♦ family spiritual training ♦ moms in touch
Nursery and nursing mothers—staffed with caring moms, dads, and volunteers, we endeavor to keep the nursery a clean and sanitary place. Nursing mothers are offered a private curtained area in the “newborn/sleeper” room designed to provide privacy during feeding times.
Parent Room - In an effort to minimize distractions in the service, a Parent’s Room is available. The Parent’s Room is located around the corner from the Nursery and has been equipped with comfortable seating, a closed circuit TV monitor of the service, and diaper changing facilities.
Security—providing a safe and loving environment is of utmost importance to us. To that end, safety and security checks are routinely performed on all of our children’s workers along with enforcement of a check-in/check-out tag system. This tag system is in place for newborns through five years old. When you sign your child in the nursery, you will receive a tag with a number on it. This is your child’s number for the morning. If your child needs you, you will see the number appear on the “kiddie keeper” boxes which are located under the screens on each side of the worship center. Only an adult with the correct security tag may claim your child—No Exceptions!
Click here to find out more about the Children’s Ministries of Calvary Church
Resources below, and many others, can be found at www.family.org
The BabyCare Home Video
Sometimes the worries of knowing how to take care of your baby can dull the excitement this new birth brings. Be reassured with the advice on this video. It covers 16 topics on basic care including correctly holding, bathing, feeding and calming your little one.
Baby & Child Care
If you have a child who is an infant, a teen, or anywhere in between, you won’t want to find yourself without this essential guide on how to meet his or her most important needs.
The First 2 Years
Planning to start a family? You won’t want to make a move without this comprehensive manual. From conception through the first two years, answers to all your questions can be found here.
Baby dedications - We put our faith in Jesus when we understand our need for a Savior - something infants or young children are not able to do. We believe that God graciously watches over them until they are able to do this - and if they die, they go to be with Him. At Calvary Church, dedication is not done to make a child right with God, but as a public declaration by parents of their commitment to raise their child according to God’s principles.
Deaconess visits - Anytime that Calvary is notified of a baby being born, an announcement is put into our bulletin and a deaconess schedules a visit to the baby’s home. This visit is meant to offer the family encouragement and to be a pleasant visit from someone within the Calvary family. A gift is also brought along.
One area that a parent should be knowledgeable in is the culture that their child interacts with on a daily basis. This can include movies, music, magazines, other influences, and trends. However, finding time to stay current with adolescent culture can be a challenge. Check out the Culture Watch link on the home field front page.
Preparing for Adolescence www.family.org
Do you have a child approaching puberty? Do you fully understand all that is about to happen and are you prepared to explain those changes? Let the wisdom and sincerity of Dr. Dobson help.
Adolescence Isn’t Terminal www.family.org
Believe it or not, your child’s teen years won’t kill you. A beloved parenting expert will help you understand and relate to your sometimes less-than-lovable teen.
Young Believer 365 www.devotionalresources.com
This daily devotional encourages pre-teens to build a personal, active faith based on the core beliefs of the bible and the Christian faith.
Sticky Situations www.devotionalresources.com
Everyday kids have choices to make. Do they watch an R rated movie? Do they cheat on that test? What kind of friends do they hang out with? In this daily devotional, you and your child can explore 365 sticky situations and discuss what to do when faced with tough choices.
Suddenly 13 www.family.org
What do you do when your loving pre-teen suddenly becomes as untouchable as a prickly cactus?
www.lifeway.com — Website for one of the world’s largest providers of Christian products and services.
Recommended Link: Family (across the top of the home page)
Recommended Resource: Bible Express—a devotional for preteens
www.pkfamily.com — This ministry is “a filtered internet service provided by Promise Keepers and is dedicated to making the internet a useful and practical communication tool, and is available to all people, all ages, and all faiths.”
www.family.org — This is the website for Focus on the Family. The home page will offer you many different options dealing with marriage, parenting, internet safety, and many other specific topics. Along the left side of the page will be links for resources and these links are categorized by topic and age.
Recommended Link: Focus on Your Child
Recommended Resource: ClubHouse Magazine and Brio Magazine
Music Movies Video Games Websites/Chat Rooms
One area that a parent should be knowledgeable in is the culture that their child interacts with on a daily basis. This can include movies, music, magazines, other influences, and trends. However, finding time to stay current with adolescent culture can be a challenge. Check out the following websites to help you become educated with what your children see and hear in the world around them.
Ministry and Media—www.ministryandmedia.com
As a parent, do you know what is new in music, videos, and movies? Are you consistent with checking out the lyrics of the songs your teens are listening to? This website is designed “to be a storehouse of pop culture information and programming ideas that will help adults relate the gospel to teenagers.” This site may help you be able to talk to your child about the movies and music they experience and enable you to point these experiences to God. We recommend taking the free tour of the website to learn the details of its purpose.
Center for Parent and Youth Understanding—www.cpyu.org
The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding is a nonprofit organization committed to building strong families by serving to bridge the cultural-generational gap between parents and teenagers. The mission of CPYU is to work with churches, schools, and community organizations to build stronger relationships between young people and those charged with helping them grow into healthy adulthood. CPYU does this by offering parents and adults a wide variety of articles, books, seminars, and newsletters all designed to educate adults about the society our teens and adolescents are engaged in.
CPYU events in our area:
Click here for CPYU events calendar in our area.
Promise Keepers Internet Filter—www.pkfamily.com
This ministry is “a filtered internet service provided by Promise Keepers and is dedicated to making the internet a useful and practical communication tool, and is available to all people, all ages, and all faiths.” They readily endorse an Internet that provides a vast amount of information and communication that is beneficial to society. However, sites that contain pornography, hate speech, violence, and other destructive content clearly present a major problem. While we believe in the freedom of speech, we firmly believe that parents have the right to as sure that their children and homes be protected from exposure to subjects that may cause them harm.
You may also want to take a look at some of the following sites—just to keep your head in the game:
For the parent
One area that a parent should be knowledgeable in is the culture that their child interacts with on a daily basis.
Take a look at the website www.cpyu.org:
- The Latest Youth Culture News
- Teens web use to surge
- Teens flunk themselves on healthy habits
- Articles for Parents Only
- Parenting in the MySpace era
- Advice: Know Your Video Games
- Daily Youth TV Tip
- Youth Culture Featured Articles
- Dear Diary, Dear World—a look into the world of online journals and the teens who use them.
- Hot Link of the Week
- Resources for your teen
Spiritual Mentoring of Teens www.family.org
A great tool that you can use to show your teen how to integrate faith in God into everyday life.
Fuel www.devotionalresources.com
With these simple, 10-minute devotionals parents can maximize their time with their teens.
College Transition Initiative www.cpyu.org
You can visit the links on the CTI portion of the website to learn more valuable information about this transitional stage and how you can help prepare college bound students for the road ahead.
Also check out:
www.ministryandmedia.com
www.pluggedinonline.com
For the teen/student
Teen Devotional Bible www.devotionalresources.com
Being a teen has it’s ups and downs. It’s cool to discover new things about yourself, but you’ve got to make a lot of choices. Open up this bible and read devotions written by teens like you who are dealing with the same stuff
Breakaway www.breakawaymag.com
Since 1990, Breakaway magazine has been encouraging teen guys to break away from the pressures of the world around them and to get real in a relationship with Jesus.
Brio www.briomag.com
Brio has been teaching, challenging, and encouraging teen girls towards a healthy self-concept and a closer relationship with Jesus Christ
TrueU www.TrueU.org
TrueU.org is a community for college students who want to know and confidently discuss the Christian world view. Their hope is that you’ll graduate with your faith not only intact, but stronger than before.
Survival Notes for Grads
100 true-life devotionals aimed at helping graduates as they begin a new and exciting chapter in their lives.Bridges: Help & Hope For Single Parents
The mission of Bridges is to:
- Intentionally introduce single parents to Jesus Christ and help them to grow to be fully devoted followers.
- Help meet the practical needs of single parents and their child(ren).
- Provide biblical instruction for parenting and building relationships.
- Provide an opportunity for single parents to connect with other single parents.
Calvary Church is pleased to offer this ministry to support our single parents and the physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual needs unique to single parenting. We offer support with sensitivity to the varied circumstances of single parenting:
- Unmarried
- Separated
- Divorced
- Widowed
Single Parent Fellowships
We gather several times throughout the year for food, fun, fellowship and prayer. This is a wonderful arena to build friendships with other single parents, encourage each other in our journey, openly discuss parenting, and support each other with prayer.
If would like to find out more about this ministry, email or call Betty Shaw in the church office at 215.723.0963, ext. 184.
The mission of Family Time Training is to train families to teach children Christian principles and values in the home.
In addition to spending time together, Family Time lessons are used to teach specific Christian values, character qualities and spiritual beliefs.
The number one reason why most families do not offer children spiritual training in the home is business. Family Time encourages parents to do a lesson once a week and most lessons take less than 20 minutes.
Another reason is a lot of kids find devotions boring. Family Time lessons use the language of children, activities, and object lessons to make spiritual lessons fun, effective, and memorable.
To see a sample of one of the lessons, click here.
You can print this lesson and give it a try with your own family.
Twenty minutes of formal training each week sets up informal training throughout the week. For example, let’s say that this week you teach your children a Family Time lesson on self-control. How many times will you be able to apply that lesson on self-control in the week ahead?
You can download a new, free activity every month. You can also access more than 20 additional free activities by searching the archives on the website.
To get free activities, other resources, and encouragement, go to www.famtime.com.
The Purpose of Moms In Touch:
To pray that our children will receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, then stand boldly in their faith.
To pray for teachers and staff.
To pray that teachers, administrative staff, and students would come to faith in Jesus Christ.
To provide support and encouragement to moms who carry heavy burdens for
their children.
To pray that our schools will be directed by biblical values and high moral standards
To be an encouragement and a positive support to our schools
To see if there is a Mom's in Touch group at your school, please click on your school district below:
Souderton Area School District
Parenting Through the Holidays - Christmas
Here are some resources and ideas to teach your children the history and true significance of Christ’s birth.
Parenting Through the Holidays - Easter
As Christian parents how do we navigate the Easter bunny, jelly beans, and Easter eggs? Home Field is pleased to provide you with some resources to help you point your children to Christ during the Easter season and beyond.
For parenting thru Christmas & Easter downloads, click here