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Nursery Team Charter

MAYFLOWER CHURCH

Nursery Team Charter

Streamline System 06 — Team Charters

DRAFT for consideration by the Servants Council at its meeting on July 11, 2026. Not yet ratified. Upon ratification this becomes a standing charter, reviewed at each August Leadership Summit and re-ratified on material change.

Governing Principle

The youngest disciples are cared for so the whole family can worship.

The care of an infant is not a service the church tolerates; it is how the church loves its families and guards its little ones. This team keeps the youngest safe and loved, so that parents can sit under the Word with quiet hearts.

1. Oversight (the home)

Overseeing board: Deacons (Bylaws Art. II §B 1.c.2, service ministries under the deacons). Child safety across the church's children's ministry sits under the deacons. Day-to-day point person: Deacon Chair. Every team has a home; this team works first with the deacons.

2. Purpose

This team exists to provide safe, loving care for infants and toddlers during Sunday worship and special meetings, so that the youngest are nurtured and their parents are freed to worship. The care is practical, but it is not merely practical: it is the church loving its families and guarding the children the Lord has given.

3. Priority-ministry link

This team serves The Lord's Day Gathering (System 01) as one of the Sunday Support Teams, and serves the church's care of families.

4. The Commission

The deacons commission this team to provide safe and loving care for infants and toddlers, roughly ages one month to four years, during Sunday worship and special meetings, on a steady weekly rhythm. The work has three parts. First, care: receive, comfort, and tend the youngest children in a clean and safe room, with coverage about twenty minutes before worship and fifteen minutes after. Second, readiness: prepare the nursery with age-appropriate, God-honoring supplies, toys, and books, and respond to Planning Center scheduling requests in good time. Third, safety: keep every worker screened and trained to the church's child-safety standard before they serve. The team recruits and schedules a roster of trained workers rather than resting the work on a few.

5. In scope / Out of scope

In scope:

  • Safe, loving care for infants and toddlers, roughly one month to four years, during Sunday worship and special meetings.
  • Coverage about twenty minutes before and fifteen minutes after worship or a special event.
  • Preparing the nursery with age-appropriate, God-honoring supplies, toys, and books.
  • Responding to Planning Center scheduling requests promptly and arranging coverage when a worker cannot serve.
  • Resolving routine room and supply needs the team can handle.

Out of scope:

  • Teaching and discipleship of children old enough for the children's program. That belongs to DiscipleTown; this team hands children up as they age (see Coordination).
  • Setting the church's child-safety policy itself. The standard is held by the deacons; the team works inside it (see note below).
  • Building and facility matters beyond the room's cleanliness and supplies, which are escalated.

6. Scale

Shape: a permanent team built on a roster of trained, screened workers scheduled across the year, drawing commitment categories from the Volunteer Chapter (System 06). The team carries a steady weekly need; it recruits and trains a wide enough roster that the rotation does not fall on the same few hands.

7. Key responsibilities

  • Provide safe, loving care for infants and toddlers during Sunday worship and special meetings.
  • Prepare the nursery with age-appropriate, God-honoring supplies, toys, and books.
  • Keep the room clean and safe and resolve routine needs.
  • Respond to Planning Center scheduling requests promptly and cover gaps.
  • Keep every worker screened and trained to the church's child-safety standard before serving.
  • Communicate with parents about their child's care, and with the deacons on systems, supplies, and needs.

8. Coordination

  • DiscipleTown (Elders): the handoff as children age up out of the nursery into the children's program.
  • Parents: communication about a child's care, comfort, and any needs during the service.
  • Deacons: child-safety standard, supplies, and systems.

9. Resources

Budget line: the Nursery Fund, administered by the Deacon Chair (Purchasing Policy). Facilities needs are coordinated with the Trustees. Scheduling and volunteer requests run through Planning Center.

Wise requirements (per the Volunteer Chapter, named not duplicated): every nursery worker completes a CORI background check and the church's child-safety training before serving. The full requirement is held in the Volunteer Chapter; this charter names it as a non-negotiable condition of service.

10. Health indicators

Faithfulness-shaped signs the team is alive and serving well. The year's specific targets live in the System 11 annual goals, set with the deacons each August.

  • Children are received and cared for safely, and parents trust the room.
  • Every serving worker is screened and trained before they serve, without exception.
  • The nursery is clean, stocked, and ready each week.
  • The schedule is covered without the same few carrying every Sunday.
  • Children are handed up to DiscipleTown smoothly as they age.

11. Review and approval

Standing charter, reviewed annually at the August Leadership Summit. Re-ratified by the Servants Council on material change. Escalation beyond the team's or deacons' authority follows the Decision-Making Framework (System 09). Leadership succession follows the Leadership Handoff Guidelines (System 12). Review note: the prior draft named the "Diaconate" as the overseeing board and carried a stale one-year term; oversight is restated as the Deacons and the charter is standing and evergreen.

Commissioned by: Deacon Chair ____________________________ Date __________

Ratified into the operations documentation by: Servants Council ____________________________ Date __________

Sources

  • Mayflower Church Constitution and Bylaws, Art. II §B 1.c.2 (service ministries under the deacons; child safety across children's ministry under the deacons); Art. II §B 4.c.7 (Servants Council receives and approves Ministry Team charters).
  • Streamline System 01 — The Five Priority Ministries We Guard; The Lord's Day Gathering and the Sunday Support Teams.
  • Streamline System 06 — Team-to-Board Oversight Map; Volunteer Chapter (CORI check and child-safety training requirements).
  • Streamline System 07 — Role Clarity, "25 — Nursery Team Leader."
  • Streamline System 09 — Decision-Making Framework; System 11 — Annual Goals; System 12 — Leadership Handoff Guidelines.
  • Purchasing Policy (Nursery Fund, Deacon Chair).
  • Prior Nursery Team Charter draft (Draft 3, 2026-04-22), substance inherited and upgraded; Team Charter Standard, this folder.
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