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Kids Friendly: Dreaming new dreams

The successes of the Kids Friendly initiative, which was piloted in Auckland during 2004 and 2005, will soon be shared with Presbyterian churches across New Zealand .

Kids Friendly coach Jill Kayser says the positive response from churches participating in the Council for World Mission-funded trial prompted a search for further funding that would allow the project to be extended nationwide.

While Kids Friendly is fully endorsed by and exclusive to the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand , the project does not receive funding from the Assembly budget. Funding for the nationwide expansion has been secured from the Presbyterian Savings and Development Society, the Presbyterian Foundation and the Presbytery of Dunedin .

Kids Friendly’s aims were formulated in response to AC Nielsen research commissioned by the Presbyterian Church in 2002. The two-year pilot project saw Mrs Kayser and Emily Wotton work with eight Auckland and South Auckland churches to help them intentionally minister to children and families and to bring them up to the Kids Friendly standard. Says Mrs Kayser: “Our brief was to develop a children’s ministry best-practise manual, but we soon discovered that churches needed to explore why they should be Kids Friendly before we could advise them on how to be Kids Friendly.”

Mrs Kayser said that participating churches really valued the one-on-one coaching sessions. Written resources, which include the Kids Friendly Ideals Review, Safety in Children’s Ministry and Employing a Children’s Ministry Worker documents are also available to churches joining the Kids Friendly network.

Mrs Kayser says there are two ways that churches can access Kids Friendly: “All Presbyterian and Uniting churches are invited to join the Kids Friendly network and receive the Kids Friendly newsletter Hands On as well as email news, ideas and resources, invitations to children’s ministry events and advice on Kids Friendly issues and requirements. For a donation of $75, Presbyterian and Uniting churches can purchase the Kids Friendly resource file.

“In addition to this, churches may opt to sign a contract with the Kids Friendly co-ordinator to work to become a Kids Friendly church. This entails a commitment by the minister, children’s ministry worker and session clerk to work through the Kids Friendly ideals and self-review document and set goals. It involves regular coaching meetings with the Kids Friendly co-ordinator on topics/issues identifi ed through the self-review process and a willingness to brand your church as Kids Friendly (a fee applies).

“Our vision is to create a Presbyterian Church renowned for the way it serves and embraces children and families. We dream of our churches being places where children are welcomed, celebrated and nurtured, where children belong and participate in the life and worship of the faith community, where they can explore and experience the love of Christ and where they are valued for the immense love, life and witness they bring to the whole church family,” says Mrs Kayser.

For more information, contact Jill Kayser, Kids Friendly coach
Telephone: 09-5850959 / 5759836, Mobile: 027-2103784, Fax: 09-5754827 kidsfriendlyjill(at)sthelierschurch.org.nz, 100 St Heliers Bay Road , Auckland 5

Or check out the Kids Friendly webpage