The Loop, Park's Children's Ministry, is revving up for a new and exciting year! With three services on Sunday morning and an Awana midweek ministry we are seeing more and more children come through our doors, ready and eager to hear about the good God that we serve!

The Loop team exists in order to serve and glorify God, ministering to the children of Chicago that He brings to Park. We believe that just as God calls adults to one faith, so He calls even young children to know and worship Him as the Creator and Father of all things. Join The Loop ministries and allow God to use you to impact one child's life in the next year.

Apply to Volunteer
Check out the list of Volunteer Roles and their descriptions below.

If you are interested in volunteering with The Loop, please download and fill out the Volunteer Application and Background Check Consent Form, and return to The Loop staff.

Already filled out the form last year? Fill out this new form for this year. Returning Volunteer Application.

Volunteer Roles

Nursery & Toddler Caregivers - You are a person who enjoys to love on little ones by caring for them and meeting their needs while their parents attend service. You love to hold babies and get on the floor to interact with toddlers. You desire to see the nursery rooms instill a foundation for spiritual growth for these children, praying as a team of caregivers, praying for each child in the room on Sunday mornings, knowing the needs and schedules of each child that attends regularly, and so on. This is a weekly role with a commitment through the school year at the 9:00 or 11:00 hours.*

Preschool Teachers - You are a leader who loves teaching the foundational messages of the Bible to these young disciples. You love getting down on the floor at the child's level and teaching through creative methods during story lessons, project time, and so on. As the teacher of the room, you would lead your helpers in knowing what to do each week, as well as take the time to get to know the children and their families that are involved in your small group. You also desire to see these children not only begin to know God's Word and who He is, but also help them see how to apply these new messages to their lives. This is a weekly role with a commitment through the school year at the 9:00 or 11:00 hours.*

Elementary Teachers - You are a leader who loves seeing children grow deeper in their faiths as they get older, see kids bring their friends to church because of their excitement for God, and to be a part of seeing these kids make decisions for Christ at young ages! You enjoy teaching through creative methods during story lessons, projects, and so on. You also see yourself as a mentor for these kids as they start to encounter difficult situations at school and outside the home. You are someone who desires to develop a relationship and true friendship with kids and help them to learn the Biblical truths that apply to their lives. This is a weekly role with a commitment through the school year at the 9:00 or 11:00 hours.*

Room Helpers - You are a person who loves to play supportive roles to a leader while also feeling capable of working directly with children. You can do something quickly and well that a teacher directs you to do- from greeting children at the door, to gathering supplies needed, to being a part of getting the Biblical message across that morning. Most importantly, you are intimately and directly involved in the spiritual formation and discipleship of the children in each small group- making them feel loved, welcome, and communicating Biblical truths. This is a weekly role with a commitment through the school year at the 9:00 or 11:00 hours.*

Team Leaders- You like to know how things run and make sure things are being run well. As a team leader, you will be a lead volunteer who helps to make sure Sunday mornings are running smoothly. You also have a heart for the teachers and helpers who serve weekly in each room and will be helping to make sure they have what they need to make each Sunday run well. You know the volunteers, pray for them, and provide for their logistical needs. You also act as a liaison between volunteers and staff to help in communication and to continually improve the quality of our Sunday morning education. This is a weekly role with a commitment through the school year.*

Lincoln Park Campus Leaders- You particularly have a heart for Park's mission to see 5 church plants in 5 years! You are excited about the idea of being a part of the Lincoln Park Campus and being a part of that ministry's growth. With a vast number of families in Lincoln Park, the children's ministry will be growing and you can be part of the foundational pieces for that growth. You long to see the children at this campus come to know and acknowledge who God is, and you desire to create a safe, welcoming and educational environment for teach child that comes through the doors. As part of this team, you also commit to attending the 5:30 service at Crosby campus so that you can serve each week at Lincoln Park. This is a weekly role with a commitment through the school year at the 10:00 Lincoln Park Campus hour.*

Awana Midweek Ministry - A new and exciting program has been started in children's ministries- AWANA! With a multitude of serving opportunities, you are someone who desires to find out where you fit in on the Awana team. You may love working directly with children and helping them know and understand the Scriptures, or you may love engaging children through worship and drama on stage. There is a great range of possibilities for your involvement in Awana every Wednesday night. This is a weekly role with a commitment through the school year.*

Prep Crew- You are a person who likes to organize, clean and make sure things are in their place so that events and activities can be implemented well. In order for the classrooms to run well, and for parents to know that their children are being brought to a safe and clean environment, we need people like you who are available during the week to get classrooms and the general The Loop area ready for Sunday morning. You will be part of a team that makes sure teachers' cabinets have the ongoing supplies they need; you will rotate to do the cleaning and sanitizing of the infant and toddler rooms as well.

Welcome & Security - You are a face and voice for children's ministries as you greet and welcome both returning and new families each week! You are the first interaction many parents and children will have with Park and The Loop. Your job will be to warmly greet the parents and children as they arrive as well as direct them where they need to go. As our entrance and exit people, you also protect the area, making sure only those who are allowed enter the secure area, as well as making sure all children leaving the area are accompanied by an adult.

Visitors & Registration Team - You are an able helper who can be trained in the NEW electronic registration systems we will be implementing, and can then assist parents as they check-in their children through our computer database system! This is an exciting new role as we become even more focused on a safe and secure area for children and families. In addition, you will have the special privilege of being the first to interact with visiting families as you help them get all of their information checked in, welcoming their kids to The Loop for the first time, and showing them to the classes their children will be a part of that morning.

Kids Worship Team- You are passionate about leading and seeing kids worship God! Your role might be coordinating a music team or drama team, or maybe you love doing musical and dramatic worship yourself and want to use it to reach kids. This team will even expand to include other artistic and expressive forms of worship... anyway we can help kids worship God! If you are passionate about ways kids can worship and desire to see this type of ministry develop in The Loop then you are the perfect fit for the Kids Worship Team.

Curriculum Coordinators - You are someone who is passionate about making sure curriculum is Biblically strong and provides a solid foundation for child disciples of Christ. You may have a background in working with curriculum whether that be as a school teacher, a curriculum developer, or even someone who has worked with different Sunday morning curriculum formats. You want to make sure the weekly teachers are provided with solid, well-thought-out curriculum and that they have everything they need to implement the curriculum to the best of their abilities. Ultimately, you want to see the children at Park grow in their knowledge and understanding of who God is and see them become deep and committed followers of Christ as they grow!

Office Administration - You like to be well-organized and love working with systems and procedures so that ministries and programs can run smoothly, efficiently and well. Each week, the children's ministries team has office work to do that helps us to run the ministry well. You may be working with our database system so that we can welcome new families and check on families that have been gone for a few weeks, as well as doing other ongoing tasks to keep the ministry running well. You will work closely with the children's ministry staff in building an organized and solid foundation to further the ministry.

Prayer & Care Team - You are someone who sees the need and priority of prayer to the Christian faith! You lead a strong prayer life yourself and desire to focus specifically on praying for the children's ministry, individual children, parents and families, and so on. You will receive weekly updates about the ministry and what specific prayers and thanksgivings we have. In addition, you will follow up with specific needs of children and families as they arise. A sick child who needs a visitor in the hospital, a parent who is struggling and needs someone to pray with them- this will be part of your caring role as you reach out to love the children and families of Park.

Creative Arts Team - You have a creative, out-of-the-box mind that loves thinking through how to make things continually bigger and better! You may be gifted visually, gifted with creative programming ideas or even gifted in dance or music. You love to express yourself and want to use children's ministries as a creative outlet. Whether it be making The Loop look exciting, kid-friendly and appealing to parents and children or helping to create the ideas and looks of a special program or event, you love being creative and would find your gifts used greatly in children's ministries.

Special Events Team - You love being a part of planning teams and implementing ideas. Maybe you bring a creative side, an organizational side, or a communicative side to a team. You are someone who would like to be a part of a team of people who help to implement special events throughout the year. With a wide variety of event styles and themes- from special Sunday morning programming to holiday events, etc., there are a number of ways for your skills to be used for concentrated amounts of time.

FirstAid Response Team - You have, or are willing to acquire, the training and certification needed to handle first aid response with children. As we continually make The Loop a safe and secure area, we want to assure parents that we have an available emergency response team that can address something immediately. Skills include CPR training, using a defibrillator, and general first aid. This is a position that does not require attendance in the The Loop area. We will form a team and create an "on call" schedule. The Sundays that you're on call you need to be available in the Crosby building by walkie talkie or the auditorium paging system.

*For serving roles that are weekly, we want to make sure we are providing you with the rest and rejuvenation you need! On the seventh day, God rested... so rest is part of our Godly image!  The Loop team will be providing two different avenues to allow our regular volunteers the breaks they need.

1. The first way is through the yearly substitute lists. Just as you are committing to a year of service with the kids, so the substitutes will be committed to a year of serving you and your role! When you need to be gone for a weekend or if you get sick, you call one of the substitutes on your list to fill your place. Because these are substitutes committed to your group, they will also know the procedures of the room and know the kids who attend!

2. The second way is through our summer base group. Near the end of the spring, you will be asked whether you are going to commit to another year of serving in children's ministries or if you are going to take a year off from serving weekly in children's ministries and serve either on a part time team or in another ministry. If you choose to commit to another year of weekly children's ministry service then we want to honor your service and commitment and allow you to have the summer off! That team would then start back up in the fall for the next year. For those who choose to take a year off from a weekly service role, then we ask that you continue serving through the summer, with  the substitute list still provided, allowing others to take time off before their commitment for the next year begins in the fall!

Any questions about these procedures can be directed to Megan Towell, Director of Children's Ministries.