OUR MISSION
Tuckston UMC Children’s Ministry provides a safe environment where children can be filled with God’s grace, expand their knowledge of the Bible, and grow into life-long Christians. Our ministry promotes unconditional love, outreach and service while inspiring families to be witnesses for Christ.
Sunday School
Children’s Sunday School Sunday morning 9:30 and 11:00 - Each Sunday morning, our teachers help our children experience God’s Word in fun and life-changing ways. Our teachers help all our children begin to build a lifelong faith through Bible stories, crafts, and other activities as they use Grow, Proclaim, Serve curriculum. We provide curriculum and lessons in an age appropriate way for all ages from birth to 6th grade.
Club 56
Club 56 and Confirmation This ministry is designed for 5th and 6th graders. Club 56 members participate in special activities and service projects throughout the year, including a Winter Retreat and Confirmation Classes where they can learn about how to be a member of our local church.
Worship
Worship We encourage you to worship as a family at 8:30, 9:39, or 11:00 am. We have a Children’s Sermon at both 9:39 and 11:00 services, and have worship folders available for kids to use during the services. After the Children’s Sermon children 2nd grade and under are invited to join our Sunday School classes in the Family Life Center if they do not wish to stay in worship. Our children help us with the celebration of Palm Sunday and also lead in worship on Children’s Sunday.
Children's Choir
Children’s Choir Children in Pre-K through 6th grade are invited to join Mrs. Anna Crook and Ms. Kim Fuller each Sunday evening from 5:00 – 6:00 PM as together they sing praises to God.
F.I.S.H.
We are kids that are Fully In Service 2 Him and meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:15 -7:30. Our children in Kindergarten through 6th grade are out to spread God’s love as they complete projects that provide help and demonstrate God’s love to persons in our community and around the world. Join us and see what FISH is all about! This ministry has reached over 1000 people in the surrounding community and around the world in the last year.
Nursery
Our nursery program provides nurturing programs for our children while adult programs are being held. All paid nursery staff are CPR certified, Reduce the Risk trained and background checked for our children’s safety.
Special Events
All of these events are open to the public and have no cost to them, in an effort to make it a time that people can invite families to enjoy time together and to grow in the faith. We have many people that enter our church family through coming to these events for the first time.
Lenten Festival - This is traditionally held around the time of Ash Wednesday to help the children understand what the season of Lent is all about, Prayer, Fasting and Giving to Others. We have multiple activities that give them the opportunity to explore the significance of traditional elements of Lent, such as fasting from something for the time in preparation for Easter and understand the history of the season.
Easter Egg Hunt Held in Pittard Park in Winterville, this time of Easter crafts, egg hunting and treats is an awesome event for the whole family. The Easter Bunny even makes a special appearance and we have lots of fun.
Butterfly Release on Easter Morning With the help of some wonderful volunteers we grow butterflies from caterpillars and release them on Easter Morning, as a sign of the new life that we have in Christ.
Vacation Bible School - This is our largest event by far, in 2012 we reached over 250 children through our week-long celebration of all things fun! We have great plans for 2013, and hope to have many more children and volunteers to help make it happen.
Family “Advent”-ure - Like Lenten Festival this is an opportunity for kids to learn about the season of Advent. This is the season that we prepare for Christ’s arrival at Christmas, and we celebrate the wonderful acts of God in the Incarnation. We do many crafts together to help the kids remember what Advent is about, the anticipation and waiting for Christ to be born.
Breakfast with Santa - This is an awesome outreach event that we hold every year to allow kids in our community a time to come learn about the true meaning of Christmas and enjoy time together with their families. We invite Santa Claus to come join us, and allow each child to have their picture taken with him as well. We have families from all over Athens that come and enjoy this event.
Parent’s Day/Night Out - This event is held twice a year (spring and Christmas time) and gives the parents in our church a much-needed day or night off while we take care of the kids. Usually we ask for a small donation to help cover the costs of crafts and snacks, but it is open to everyone. We have a wonderful time playing games and watching a movie, while parents enjoy a night out or time to shop at Christmas time.