Youth
Nursery & Child Care | Sunday School | Wednesday Night Alive! | Games Night | Music | Confirmation | Our Whole Lives | Camping | YouthTime | Kids In Action (Summer)
Nursery and Child Care
Child Care is provided for children during:
- regular Sunday worship services
- the Sunday education hour
- Wednesday Night Alive
- All Team Night
Sunday Mornings:
Trained staff and volunteers supervise our children at play in the Nursery and Everyone-Is-Welcome (EIW) room. Read our Safety Policy.
- Nursery care is available for children ages birth through three years.
- Children 2nd grade and under are invited to the Everyone Is Welcome (EIW) Room during part of the worship hour on Sunday mornings, where they will reflect on the message of the morning. They return later in the service, but parents may bring their children back to the sanctuary at any time.
The Everyone Is Welcome ministry uses the rotation model to provide a meaningful worship experience for our children. A unit lasts about 6-8 weeks and a theme is explored such as Christian Diversity, Creation, and Civil Rights to name a few. We are looking for EIW coordinators to help plan units with Rev. Amy Murray. Amy will help you develop your ideas and create stations that address your theme. These stations include: Art, Creation, Responding, Games/Puzzles, Music & Library. Just two, one-hour meetings are all that are needed to transform EIW into a new unit that is exciting for our kids and volunteers. Please contact Amy with your interest.
For Other Events:
Child Care can often be made available for other functions and meetings upon request, with at least two weeks' notice. If you are planning an event and would like to request childcare, please contact Ministry Program Coordinator, Rev. Amy Murray, amy.murray@urbucc.org. Please do not call childcare providers directly; to follow our safety guidelines, child care requests must be handled by Amy.
Volunteers.
We always need Child Care volunteers, and Rev. Amy Murray will be happy to train anyone interested in volunteering in our children's ministries! Please contact Amy.
Sunday School
During the school year, 9:00-9:45 a.m.
See the Education page for more information.
Wednesday Night Alive!
5:30-6:00 - SOS Choir (1st-8th grade)
6:00-6:30 - Youth Handbells (4th-Sr. High)
5:30-7:00 - Games Night (children age 4 & older)
6:30-7:00 - Adult Handbells (Sr. High & up)
6:45-8:00 - Our Whole Lives (grades 8 & 9)
7:00-8:30 - Adult Choir (sr. high & up)
6:15-7:30 - "Families Like Ours" (LGBT Parents) (held on alternate weeks, with childcare extending to 7:30 on those Wednesdays)
A meal will be served once someone volunteers to be the meal coordinator.
From 5:00-7:00 pm, childcare is available. Ages birth through 3 years may play in the nursery with Deb Beery. Ages 4 and up may attend activities in Fellowship Hall with Jon Greising. Trained volunteers will help supervise both areas. If your child is not in one of the scheduled activities, please supervise him/her so that children are not unattended in the building.
Games Night
After music programs on Wednesday evenings, children are invited to join us for games and crafts. We'll gather in a blocked-off corner of the parking lot when the weather is nice, and meet in Fellowship Hall when it's inclement. Activities are supervised by Jon Greising, Wesley Keeler and other trained volunteers.
Music
SOS Choir and Youth Hand Bells
See the Music page for more information.
Confirmation 2010-11: Claiming Our Faith, Finding Our Voices
Are you entering the 8th or 9th grade? Are you ready to learn more about our church and to grow in your life as a Christian? Confirmation class is designed for you! This is your chance to explore our history and who we are today—through music, art, and other expressions of faith. At the end of the school year, you will have an opportunity to join Urbandale UCC as an adult member! Pastor Dave will lead this class on Wednesday nights from 6:45–8:00pm, starting September 8, 2010.
Our Whole Lives class (OWL)
OWL is a sexuality educational program for our post-confirmation youth that helps them gain the knowledge, values, and skills to lead sexually healthy, responsible lives.
OWL is designed to help adolescents:
- affirm and respect themselves as sexual persons
- increase comfort and skill in discussing and negotiating sexuality issues
- explore, develop and articulate feelings and attitudes about their own sexuality and the sexuality of others
- gain a foundation to identify their own values
- assess the impact of messages from family, culture, religion, media, and society on sexual thoughts, feelings, values, and behaviors.
Recently confirmed youth spend a year with OWL leaders as part of Wednesday Night Alive, from 6:45-8 pm. Please contact Amy for more information.
Camping
The Iowa Conference of the United Church of Christ offers many camping opportunities for all ages throughout the year at Pilgrim Heights. Urbandale UCC strives to pay for half of the camping cost for all children who want to attend camp in the summer. Fundraisers are held each year to raise money for these camping scholarships.
For more information about Pilgrim Heights camping opportunities, contact the Iowa Conference-United Church of Christ, 515-277-6369. For more information on camping scholarships, call our office at 276-0625.
YouthTime
YouthTime gatherings are for youth in 9th-12th grade, to work on exciting projects or just to have fun together. Past YouthTime activities include the planning and performance of a Las Posadas service during Advent, and bowling nights at Merle Hay Lanes. Activities are planned by the Youth Team, so this is truly a small group created for youth, by youth. Contact adult facilitator, Jessica Lown, jessica.lown@urbucc.org, for more information.
Kids in Action (Summer Program)
"Kids" (with adult leaders) visit Care Facilities or Senior Living Centers, collect food for the Urbandale Food Pantry, collect clothing for an Urbandale free clothing program, prepare meal packets at Meals for the Heartland in September, and more. The children and youth learn about these programs on Sunday mornings from 9:00-9:45, and use that time to prepare for their activities. To learn more about this program, or to help with any of the activities, contact Jennifer Gardner, jennifer.gardner@urbucc.org.
