Children's Ministry
The Children’s Celebration (CC) Ministry Team consists of 9 “shepherds” (children’s workers) and one of the pastoral staff providing oversight for this important ministry. Our vision is to guide the children at Toronto Life-Spring Christian Fellowship to “Know, Love and Follow Jesus.” The children (from Preschool to Grade 7) meet in the lower sanctuary where they celebrate Jesus in worship and learn Bible truths. We trust God for growth and harvest from the work that He is doing deep within the soil of the children’s hearts as the shepherds commit themselves to sowing into these precious lives under our care.
The CC Ministry Team is committed to feeding the children the unchanging Word of God, packaged in a new and exciting format with puppet skits, drama, object lessons and Bible stories told with vividly-colored felt figures. The Scripture convicts us to feed children God’s Word at a level which they can understand; not with a watered-down curriculum but with one that boldly teaches children principles of Spirit-empowered living. After much prayer and thought, we embarked on the new 'SuperChurch' curriculum in September 2004 and have since completed the series on “Growing Up Spiritually”, “The ABC’s of Faith” and "Walking In Love". We are now starting the series on ”Our Redemption” in January 2006.
Children need to see both the reality of Jesus in their everyday lives and to learn how to live out God’s Word by doing what it says so that they can “Know, Love and Follow Jesus.” Every Sunday, those from Preschool to Grade 6 gather first for the large group time. This fun-packed large group session ends with a time of prayer and response to the message. The children then meet with their shepherds in small groups for a time of relationship-building, review and application.
The 7th Graders who are transitioning between Children’s Celebration (CC) and Overflow meet separately. In the months of September to December 2005, they studied the Hebrew names of God using the book “God, What’s Your Name?” from the “Discover 4 Yourself” series. This is an exciting way to equip them with inductive Bible study skills to prepare them for a lifetime of discovering God’s Word for themselves. In January 2006, the 7th Graders started training in Children’s EE (Evangelism Explosion) by 2 trainers from EE Canada. This training is to equip the children to effectively share the gospel.
The hearts of the shepherds are often revealed through their tears and prayers for the children as the process of intentional shepherding often involves long periods of sowing before yielding the desired harvest. As a team, we have committed ourselves to praying daily for every precious child we serve. We thank God for raising up some parents who are committed to daily intercession for both the children and the team as well. So in partnership with the parents, we continue to press on toward the goal to win each child for Christ. We are encouraged by God’s promise that if He builds the house, we will not labor in vain.