Childcare

We believe parents are the primary disciple-makers in their homes. As such, we long for parents to experience concentrated and vulnerable discussions during HC gatherings, leading to frutiful discipleship in each home.

Additionally, we view HC as family and want to corporately celebrate the children that are entrusted to each respective group. While keeping the primary aim of Word & Prayer nights as investing in the adults of our community, we want to raise the bar on tending to and praying for each child of every House Church.

See below for specific policies, procedures & best practices for caring for the little ones of your crew!

The role of House Church

Each HC is responsible for establishing the precise form of childcare according to their group’s unique needs. We invite you to prayerfully consider how to corporately love the children in your HC.

There is no longer a distinction between House Churches with childcare and those without. We want to welcome all families into each of our House Churches no matter what. This requires every House Church be prepared to support families in securing and coordinating reimbursement for childcare.

Depending on group dynamics, each House Church may elect either of the following. We highly recommend that someone other than the Shepherds take on coordinating childcare:

  • Centralized childcare with all children in one location

  • Regional groupings of childcare with 2-3 families coming together to share sitters.

In the case of lack of sitter availability, prioritize 2 members fo your HC serving as childcare for the evening. Ultimately, we’d like to develop health in establishing a principle that any HC member can serve in this way when their is a need (not just parents).


Practical Suggestions

Prayerfully consider what ways the Lord is leading you to love the children in your care. Below are some ideas to consider that House Churches are currently implementing. This is not meant to be prescriptive, but rather an invitation to be more thoughtful in this effort:

  • Pray for the children in your HC. Develop a rhythm of praying during the “Family Business” portion of every Word & Prayer for the children represented in your HC.

  • For those with older children, consider inviting the kids to join you at the beginning of W&P to share their prayer requests for the week.

  • Fold children in at the end of every House Church to sing the doxology together, pray the Lord’s prayer, etc.

Safety Guidelines

As family, we want to provide the children in our homes with a safe place while thier parents are being equipped for the work of ministry. This means being aware of potential blind spots that can exist in the ways we steward care of our children. Below are some general guidelines that we ask you always seek to maintain in the setting of your HC where coordinated childcare is provided.

rule of 3

No adult/sitter should ever be alone with a child. And no two children should ever be alone together, out of sight. The rule of 3 helps to maintain safety in the presence of others.

If there is only one child, one sitter may be appropriate if trust is established.

Bathroom policy

All diapering is to be done in shared open space. Each HC is to develop their own bathroom policy according to the age and stage of children, using guidance from Ministry Safe and policies above.

maintain open play areas

All children should be within eyesight of an open play area together. No play behind closed doors, no games of Hide-and-Seek. There is safety in visibility.

Ministry safe Training

We are now requiring that every Shepherd complete our Ministry Safe Training. This is to provide a healthy lens for how each House Church can cultivate a safe space for our children. We recognize that every home is unique, so we are asking our Shepherds to work alongside Hosts to develop these policies and communicate them to parents, children, and sitters. With these healthy boundaries in place, our hope is that House Churches will be a safe and sweet place for our kids to love.

Financial Support & reimbursement process

7MR is committed to supporting the cost of sitters. We will reimburse up to a total amount of $30 per sitter for every Prayer Meeting and Word & Prayer ($15/hour). Any amount paid over $30 per sitter for either a highly hourly rate or for travel time is to be assumed by families.

We recommend a Child-to-Sitter ratio of 3:1 for ages 18+ months and 2:1 for infants.

Each family who pays can submit their own reimbursement by emailing Marie Winker.

  • Each reimbursement must include a reciept of payment (screen shot of Venmo or Zelle Payment) AND a physical address to mail the reimbursement check to.

  • A reimbursement check is typically distributed roughly 1 week after submission.