Values
Here’s some things we value in Children and Family Ministries:
  • Safety: Check-in, training, child protection policy
  • Compassion: Loving all children, supporting adoptive and foster parents
  • Authenticity: Being real about making mistakes and needing God’s grace
  • Inclusivity: Inviting everyone—singles, couples, and all ages—to minister to our children
  • Relationships: Relating to our Children as our first disciples; relating to our parents as disciple-makers of their children
  • Esteem: Esteeming parents as the spiritual leaders of their children.
  • Equipping: Mentoring and equipping our teachers, leaders, and parents
  • Teaching: the biblical narrative through the cannon of scripture, introducing foundational concepts
  • Discipleship:discipling children and being discipled ourselves
Children and Family Ministries Contacts:
Brittany & Michael Johnson, Children and Family Ministries Co-Directors: 773-561-4175 x104 |

CHILDREN & FAMILY MINISTRIES
Mission & Vision
The mission of First Evangelical Free Church is to make urban disciples by experiencing life in Jesus (Acts 2:42-47) The vision of Children and Family Ministries (CFM) is no less and no more than the vision of First Free as a whole: to be and to make urban disciples of Jesus Christ who make disciples through experiencing life in Jesus.
The vision of CFM is to know and share God’s story through compassion and conversation. Our focus in this vision will change over time. Right now we are focusing on building a strong team that creates and sustains a safe and engaging environment for children to be discipled within.
Why Does CFM Exist?
Children and Family Ministries is not daycare. We are here to provide and cordon culturally relevant time, place, structure, people, and space for First Free’s Children and Adults to worship God. We see the children’s worship service no differently than we do the adult service. It is the time when we gather to worship God both as adults and children. Each service (Sunday School, Adult Worship) supports the other.

What do we mean by disciple?How do we measure success?
First Free has identified these five ways we can be disciples of Jesus. Children and Family Ministries seeks to help our children do these things as well.
Receives God’s grace daily through faith in Jesus
(Romans 5:1-11)
  • Nursery: Hearing Jesus loves me and being exposed to the modeling of Christ’s love
  • Preschool: Understands the basic concepts such as Jesus loves me through adult modeling of love and acceptance; can learn God made them, Jesus wants to be their friend forever
  • K-5th: identify and accept God’s grace
Listens to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit and promptly follows (Acts 4:23-31, Colossians 4:2-6, Galatians 5)
  • Nursery: Hears the story of the Bible
  • Preschool: listens to the story of the Bible
  • K-5th: Knows the story of the Bible, building familiarity with the Bible. Learns to navigate the Bible; learns to personalize Scripture (memorize and apply); feels more confident dialoguing with God (in public and in private)
Serves God, His church and others through generosity and sacrifice(2 Corinthians 8 and 9)
  • Nursery: observes service being modeled around them
  • Preschool: participates in weekly offering, can participate in some family service projects, is learning to help others in simple ways such as picking up things and putting them away, doing chores
  • K-5th: willingly participates in service projects, learning more about the concepts of money – weekly offering, doing chores that help the family
Builds relationshsips with others for disciple making and mission(Galatians 6:1-10)
  • Nursery: observes relationships being modeled
  • Preschool: begins learning social skills that lead to friendships
  • K-5th: begins sharing their part in God’s story with others through small group structure
Loves by proclaiming God’s truth and living compassionately(Ephesians 4:15, Matthew 5:13-16)
  • Nursery: hears God’s truth and observes compassion being lived out
  • Preschool: begins to articulate basic Biblical concepts, begins to feel sympathy for others
  • K-5th: knows how to articulate faith. Feels empathy towards others
Worships through the use of gifts and talents
  • Nursery: invited into worship in the nursery
  • Preschool: participates in worship through creative arts, begins to understand God’s creation
  • K-5th: actively participates in congregational worship, begins to think of talents/gifts as a means to glorify God