Working parents face tough decisions when it comes to child care in the hours between the end of school and the end of the workday. To meet this growing need for afterschool care, many Alabama Baptist churches are opening their doors to students and providing a much-needed ministry to their communities.
Providing a safe place for children to spend the afternoon is probably the most important aspect of an afterschool program, according to Judy Stoppelbein, guidance counselor at Vestavia Hills Elementary School East.
“In our time when so many parents work, it is so important to have afterschool programs where parents can feel assured that their children are taken care of with kind and loving people,” Stoppelbein said.
The teachers of the afterschool program at Riverside Baptist Church, Helena, in Shelby Baptist Association seek to offer both love and kindness to their students. Judging from the longevity of the program, they are meeting that goal. According to director Marla Gallavan, the program has ministered to hundreds of children and their families in its 13-year history and has helped establish Riverside’s reputation in the community as a child-friendly church.
“If you mention Riverside, people think we’re all about kids,” Gallavan said. “There are always children coming in and out of this church.”
That’s certainly true each weekday afternoon, when 105 students in grades K–8 arrive for the afterschool program. Church buses pick the children up at four local schools. Once they arrive, the afternoon schedule includes time for Bible study, snacks, homework, reading and recreation. Each Monday, students participate in a chapel service, where students sing, perform plays and recite Bible verses. The chapel service is especially needed, Gallavan said, since many students in the program are unchurched.
“Most of our students do go to church, but some are from other faiths,” Gallavan said. “We started chapel because we felt they needed a sense of what church really is.”
Joelle Akridge saw a similar need for child care in her community, which led her to spearhead the effort to start an afterschool program at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, in Birmingham Baptist Association. Akridge, who serves as director of recreation ministries at Shades Mountain, began After the Bell (ATB) two years ago, after the success of the church’s summer Kids Kamp ministry. Akridge said she saw such a need for afterschool care, especially among single moms, and wanted to make use of the church’s large family life facility, which was sitting empty on weekday afternoons.
More than that, however, she saw that many of the Kids Kamp students were unchurched. She felt that an afterschool program would offer even more opportunities to share the love of Christ with families in the community. Many of the 47 students who participate in ATB do not attend church. Many come from a non-Christian religious background. Still the program’s reputation in the community attracts families to the program and offers teachers an opportunity to share Jesus with the children who come, especially during the daily Bible lesson that is part of each afternoon’s schedule.
“We don’t apologize that our mission is to share the gospel,” Akridge said. “We want to see children come to know Christ.”
The Christian foundation of a church-based afterschool program is attractive to many parents, said Nancy Philyaw, director of the afterschool program at Southside Baptist Church, Andalusia, in Covington Baptist Association. Such a program can be a good way to introduce families in the community to other ministries of the church as well.
“We have a lot of new families who have come into the church as a result of our afterschool programs,” Philyaw said. “Their children loved it, and they wanted to come and be involved in Sunday School.”
Philyaw said the church sees its child-care ministry, which includes preschool care, as a way to be involved in community missions. Adult Sunday School classes provide supplies for the ministry, and members often volunteer to help the afterschool students with homework.
Like Akridge, Philyaw recognized the need for afterschool care after several years of a very successful summer program. Working parents need options for child care throughout the year, she said, and churches are often well-equipped to help.
She cautions, however, that a child-care ministry requires careful planning and the support of the church. Philyaw advises those interested in beginning such a ministry to be prepared to follow state guidelines and to explain those expectations to the church as a whole.
Philyaw said the church must be inspected by the fire department and the health department and meet other requirements to keep kids safe. Doing things wisely, she said, means following the rules set forth by the Alabama Department of Human Resources, as well as planning for things like insurance, curriculum and activity space. Background checks for staff and volunteers are a necessary precaution as well, she said.
“We strive to have quality people of strong Christian character working with us,” Philyaw said. “We’re not here to make money, and it takes a lot of work. But our mission is our motive — to be a shining light for Jesus and make a difference in the lives of children and their families.”
For more information about state licensing requirements for church child-care programs, go to dhr.alabama.gov and search exact words “Licensing Overview.”
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