Liz Tolkamp
I am a Children's Pastor at Willoughby Christian Reformed church in beautiful Langley, BC. I love my ministry work with children....my primary area of interest is faith nurture. Prior to becoming a Children's pastor I was a school teacher for 18 years. My husband and I are parents of three teenagers. I think the teen years are the best when it comes to parenting.
Posted in: Does anyone have a copy of the position description for a church administrator?
Roland,
We have one for a full time church administrator. What's your email so that I can send it to you?
Liz
Posted in: Does anyone have recommendations for parenting classes?
Brad,
Try Home Grown: Handbook for Christian Parenting, a new publication by Faith Alive Resources. It comes complete with a 7 week study guide and a DVD with some introductory comments for each session. We will be using this publication in the spring for an evening parenting discussion group. It looks really good!!!
Liz
Posted in: What are good books to give children for their Profession of Faith?
Allen.
In the past, I've given WALK WITH ME, JESUS by Karen Wilk, published by Faith Alive Resources designed for Middle Schoolers. They are written, however, more for family devotions than for personal devotions. I guess it depends on what you're looking for.
Liz
Posted in: What Kinds of Activities Are Appropriate for the Church Nursery?
Nursery care is a very important part of our ministry with children and their parents. At our church we believe that how you welcome children is as important as how you welcome the seniors. The welcome and care babies and toddlers experience in a church nursery is often the first experience most of them have, outside of their family relationships, with the LOVE of God. Therefore we are very intentional about our nursery care and are constantly reminding the nursery volunteers (both adult and teen) that the nursery is the beginning of the child`s lifelong journey of belonging to a faith community. That first experience is so important.
All this goes to say that our volunteers are asked to interact with, play with, hold, cuddle, read, etc the children. It`s really all about developing belonging and beginning the discipleship journey at a very young age. (So, no watching the service from a video feed...too distracting). In fact, this fall we hope to begin a short circle time with the 2 year olds using the God Loves Me program from Faith Alive. It will require another level of care and involvement from our volunteers but one that we feel is going to be very valuable in the lives of our little ones.
Faith Alive has a wonderful publication entitled: So You Have Been Asked to Serve in the Nursery. It has some great information in it on how to establish a welcoming nursery. You may want to purchase one! The booklet ends with this...(the nursery is) a place where each little one can experience concretely the reality of God`s love. I think that`s exciting stuff!
Posted in: Are Candles Keeping People Away from Worship?
Thanks Mark, for posting this! Timely for our congregation as we are looking to designate our church scent free. In many ways this is a pastoral care issue in that we need to be compassionate towards those who are allergic to scents as much as we need to help others be less judgemental and more accepting of those who live with allerigies towards scents, etc.
Posted in: The Next Year
Dear Jolanda,
I will miss you and your blogs on the network! Thanks for all that you have given and written to equip and motivate those of us 'in the trenches' . I, for one, have always appreciated your gentle words of encouragement and insight. Glad to hear that while you are leaving, you are in fact sticking around! and I look forward to hearing from you from time to time.
Blessings,
Liz