Weekday education brings unchurched to the church_111003

Posted: 11/07/03

Weekday education brings unchurched to the church

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Non-Christians are walking in and out the doors of the church every week through church weekday education ministry, according to Ann Parnell, executive director of the Texas Baptist Church Weekday Education Association.

About 75 percent of the families served through church child-care and education programs do not attend any church, according to the association's research. Typically, such efforts include preschools, before- and after-school care, full-day care and Parents' Day Out programs.

While non-believers may be reluctant to darken church doors for worship services or discipleship groups, they are bringing their children to church-based care programs in droves, Parnell reported.

Proper church weekday education programs provide child care that working parents need during the day, she continued. Each program should be licensed, Parnell said, and she encourages churches to go beyond governmental safety requirements.

“With more mothers moving into the workforce in the last 30 years, more families needed care,” she said. “The churches stepped up to care for those children. I see it as responding to a trend. Where would children be if churches didn't provide loving, nurturing environments for them?”

And more congregations seem to be responding to this need, she said. The association's mailing list has grown from 700 to more than 1,800 churches, and more are joining regularly.

The association provides training seminars that count as educational hours licensed child-care workers must have. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offers a certificate program for weekday educators. Employees of church weekday education programs are now eligible for benefits through the Southern Baptist Convention Annuity Board.

Spanish-speaking congregations also are getting involved, Parnell said. The association has developed some Spanish resources and plans on creating more.

Church size should not be a barrier to providing a weekday education program, she noted. Depending on enrollment, a congregation can start a program with as little as one room and two people.

“It's not just a thing big churches do,” Parnell affirmed.

Karen Fowler, the association's regional assistant in West Texas, said the ministry can be tough some days, but “just one little child running down the hall giving you a hug makes it all worth it.”

Church weekday education is not simply a care program, Parnell stressed, saying workers are “laying the foundation” for future Christians. By encouraging children to trust Christian caregivers, workers are stacking the building blocks of one day trusting Jesus, she added.

The association encourages churches to give each child a Bible as they enter kindergarten.

Through church weekday education, children and adults are becoming Christians and families are becoming involved in churches, Parnell said. This spiritual aspect sets apart Baptist programs from secular childcare efforts, Fowler added.

For more information, contact the Texas Baptist Church Weekday Education Association at (800) 475-5851.