The St. James Nursery is designed to provide a safe and loving environment for babies and young children while their parents are participating in worship and Bible study. At St. James, we see the nursery as more than just childcare. The children are forming relationships with the nursery workers and with one another as they are learning the foundations of our faith in Jesus and that God made them and loves them.
We provide nursery care (newborn through 3 years) during the Sunday School hours of (9:40- 10:40) and during the 11:00 am service on Sunday mornings. We also provide nursery for Wednesday Night Activities, beginning at 6:00 pm.
We have four classrooms available: Newborn, 1-year olds, 2-year olds (2 before Sept 1, 2009) and 3-year olds (3 before Sept 1, 2009). During Sunday School at 9:40, we have two full-time teachers in each room, along with a paid worker. Because we believe that consistency is important for your child, our talented and loving Sunday School Teachers have devoted themselves to teach for an entire year. This consistency creates an atmosphere of security for the children and a level of comfort that enables them to better learn the foundations of our faith.
During all other services, your child will be cared for by our faithful congregational volunteers and our fabulous paid staff. It is our policy to have at least two adults in each room at all times. All of our teachers, volunteers and staff have received background checks and continued training. Our wonderful paid staff is made up mostly of UGA graduate and undergraduate students, all of whom are CPR trained.
For the safety of our children, each child is assigned an identification number that is to be used as the parent picks up the child. This number can also be displayed in both the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall in the event that we need to contact the parent.
Our nursery playground is designed and reserved specifically for our 1 through 3-year olds.
Nursery Ministry Team
The Nursery Ministry Team reaches out to children and their parents by planning events that encourage connecting. We help provide social activities throughout the year, including Ladies’ Night Out, Parents’ Night Out, the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, Nursery Family Picnics and a Summer Pool Party.
We believe in celebrating each new baby here at St. James. We welcome new babies by delivering Baby Buckets filled with goodies for the new parents. We also love to provide meals for the family when a new baby arrives. We are blessed that so many people at St. James are willing to pitch in and provide meals for our young families.
If you are interested in becoming a part of our ministry team, please contact Ellison or Andrea at nursery@sjumc.org.
Children who have turned four prior to September 1, 2009 participate in our Children's Program.
The St. James nursery is a great place to be. We look forward to seeing you soon!