Welcome to Imago Dei Kids, the community's integral ministry to children and their parents. Below you will find information about what we believe, what are committed to, and what are passionate about. Thank you for serving and loving our families with us.
OUR VISION
Imago Dei Community values children as uniquely gifted individuals who are integral members in Christ’s body. Accordingly, Imago Dei’s guiding vision for children is to see them integrated into the life and work of the church. This begins in stepping alongside parents to nurture each child’s relationship with Christ. In the classroom, it means exploring God’s daily presence in our lives through creative arts, adventures in nature, lively discussion, and guest speakers.
As a whole, every activity and lesson is designed to foster in children a deep understanding of a few simple points: that church is about a community formed and led by the God we see in Jesus Christ, that every child brings something unique and beautiful to God’s community, and that at Imago Dei there is always freedom for anyone—young or old—to dream big about how God would love the world through His people.
PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS
At Imago Dei we recognize that God has given the family as the primary context of discipleship for our children and youth (Deut. 11:18-21, Psalm 78:1-8). Within family we engage in the spiritual formation of our children and at the same time are shaped by God through them. With this understanding, as a church, we are deeply committed to helping parents engage this role by encouraging, equipping, and walking alongside them in this process of growing our families in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Our ministry to families strives to establish a structure and curricula that supports parents in their God-given role. We encourage parental involvement in the classroom so that parents have ample opportunity to learn how to teach their child. We offer take-home materials for every lesson during the school year to encourage and enable parents to interact with their children over Scripture.
MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY
Classroom Environment: Our environment is structured so children's passions and interests are reflected. This happens through creative arts, exploring nature, worship, dramatic expression, discussion, small group activities and bringing people in from our church community to share how God shows up in the ordinariness of their lives.
Just as Jesus taught about His Kingdom through various mediums in life (gardening, the poor, the broken hearted, children, money, spiritual freedom, etc.), we aim to teach our kids to see all aspects of life under the reign of God. From the simplicity of the life process of a plant, to the complexity of God being just, we walk with kids as they learn the story of God. We provide ways to help children experience Him as they creatively look at life and how God reigns over it. So rather than teacher led craft activities we believe children can express their learning better through child initiated art that allows for creative thought.
God-Centeredness: We believe that the Bible is first and foremost about God. The other characters in the Bible merely point to God. In our curriculum, we have attempted to exalt God and show Him as a great and almighty God. In every lesson, Scripture is studied in the context of the question, "What does this say about God?"
We believe that children can handle deep truth at a young age (Matt. 19:13-14, 18:1-9, Luke 10:21, Prov. 22:6). Therefore, we provide curriculum that aims to provide children with a foundation of who Christ is, how He works in their lives, and how they should respond to Him. Teachers and leaders plan activities for children to express what they are learning creatively, and all classes have take-home materials to encourage and equip parents to interact with their children over Scripture and the lesson content during the week.
Child Development: We believe that children learn 'precept upon precept'. Truth presented on a simple level in the preschool years is reinforced and expanded in the elementary years, and so forth. For this reason, truths are reintroduced to children as they grow older, each time digging deeper and widening the scope of their understanding.
We also understand that each child learns differently and has unique needs specific to their personality, anxiety, special need or disability. Our heart is to integrate all children into the life of the church and into our ministry to children. Teachers are trained to interact with all kinds of children and we have leaders specifically gifted to work with children with challenges. We commit to working with parents on how to integrate their child successfully into our community.
Integration into church community: We aim to recognize the gifts and passions of each child that can be used for the good of the body and for the enhancement of their faith. Participating in Sunday services, being part of a home community, serving in a ministry, church events, being baptized, and partaking of communion are some of the various ways children are involved in the life of the church.
Pastor of Families - Jeff Marsh
Pastor of Elementary -
