Welcome to the Friend Ship Company!
What a joy it is to have your child in our Friend Ship Company, the Sunday Children's ministry program of Lakeshore Community Church. Led by Jill Freese, the Friend Ship Company provides top-quality child care, instruction, and spiritual development for children during the adult service.
The programming and lessons are designed to meet the kids where they're at and to help develop them into growing, mature children complementing your work. The light of God's love shines through each of our teachers and through the lessons the children learn each week to help them grow.
All that the Friend Ship Company provides for our children can be summed up with this purpose in mind - to guide our children towards God through worshipping, learning and growing together.
We value children!
Lakeshore values children because children matter to God. Matthew 19:13-15 records God's deep love for children. While the disciples criticized those who brought children to Jesus to be blessed, Jesus responded to them by saying: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Then He blessed the children by placing His hands on them.
This provides 3 principles for our ministry:
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Children need time.
Jesus makes sure He has time for the children -
Children need teaching.
Jesus explains children can learn from Him. -
Children need tenderness.
Jesus provides a special time of blessing for children.
FSC classes
The Friend Ship Company offers age-appropriate teaching, tailored to our kid's comprehension level. Teachers value children, helping them foster a friendship with Jesus and other children.
We have classes for children from newborns up through fifth grade. The age breakdown and group names are as follows:
- Nursery "Crow's Nest"
- 1 & 2 year olds "First & Second Mates"
- 3 - 5 year olds "Skippers"
- K - 1st graders "Ship Mates"
- 2nd - 3rd graders "Commanders"
- 4th - 5th graders "Captains"
When kids arrive at Lakeshore, they sign onto the Ship and find their color-coded nametag (each room has it's own colored tags). Activities on board consist of coloring pages, puzzles or crafts, as well as Bible stories, singing, games, prayer and snack. The morning's activities are planned around the Bible story so that the children can learn Bible truths that they can apply to their daily lives, grow in their understanding of God's love for them, and either develop or deepen their friendship with Jesus Christ. The time spent enjoying puzzles, coloring activities or crafts is an excellent way for the children to deepen their relationships with one another and their teachers as well.
Of course, God does not have a monopoly on Sunday mornings for teaching our kids; any day of the week is fair game for learning about His love. So, we offer an opportunity for the kids to meet together every first and third Thursday of the month during the Common Ground midweek service at the Common Ground Kids' CAFÉ.
Join our crew...we're sailing with God!
Safety & security
The safety and security of your children are of great importance! Parents are asked to sign their child in and out of their class every Sunday. When children attend on a regular basis, they will have a permanent picture name tag assigned. All teachers are members or regular attendees at Lakeshore.
