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Steps to Organizing a Tadpoles Group in Your Church
Tadpoles is a Christian Service Brigade program for fathers and their preschool children (ages 4-5). Like all CSB programs, Tadpoles is "owned and operated" by a local church. The men of the church provide the leadership. However, these men should be responsible to a Christian Education committee, the pastor or one of the church staff. Be sure to check out our FAQ’s for commonly-asked questions about getting a Tadpoles group started, and how to handle some of the logistics involved.
1. Find a man to lead the Tadpoles group.
This person is the Tadpoles Coordinator who will usually be one of the fathers as well. His job is to recruit fathers, meet with them to plan the program and guide the meetings. He should not run the program by himself, however. Rather he should assign tasks to various dads prior to every meeting. The Coordinator is also the individual who reports to the church board or staff who oversees children’s programs.
In churches with an existing Brigade program, a Brigade chairman often handles administrative duties, such as recruitment, promotion and registration. The Brigade chairman will recruit the Tadpoles Coordinator and assist him in starting Tadpoles.
The Tadpoles Coordinator should investigate possible meeting locations. If the group will meet at the church, be sure to check with the Christian Education staff about equipment and supplies.
2. Recruit other dads to participate.
Send a letter or call all the dads who have children between the ages of 4 and 5 in your church. If there are too many to contact personally, make an announcement in the bulletin or on Sunday morning. Give interested men a copy of the Tadpoles brochure, which explains the program (available from your Regional Director or directly from our warehouse).
3. Meet with interested dads to plan the program.
Arrange to meet with all the dads who expressed an interest in Tadpoles. Review the objectives of Tadpoles and the parts of the meeting. Show the dads the Tadpoles manual (available from our warehouse). Then discuss and decide on the following matters:
- where the group will meet
- when the group will meet (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)
- how long the meetings will last (60 or 90 minutes)
- how you will handle children whose fathers cannot attend
4. Order materials and check equipment needs.
Each father should have his own copy of the Tadpoles manual. Order a quantity from our warehouse. Obtain a copy of My Bible Story Book. You may wish to use another Bible storybook that you already own. Be sure the stories are short, easy to understand and accompanied by colourful illustrations.
If you’d like the children and dads to wear Tadpoles T-shirts, be sure to order them in advance from our warehouse.
Finally, check your meeting location to be sure you have adequate supplies of paper, crayons, scissors, glue, tape, balls, toys, blocks, etc.
5. Get your dads and leaders registered.
If your church has an existing Brigade program, register your dads with the other leaders being registered with our head office. Send your registration form at the same time. Indicate which dad is the coordinator and include the names and contact information of all others as Tadpole dads. If you are only running Tadpoles, send your Working Agreement Application to our office at CSB Ministries Canada, 1000 Stormont St, Ottawa, ON K2C 0M9 with a cheque for the ministry fee. You can register the leader’s names via email, or by sending a list of your leaders to the address above.
6. Announce the first meeting.
Make sure you begin with a well-planned, exciting meeting. The Coordinator is responsible for assigning dads to lead various learning activity centres, games and the Bible story. Try and let men know a week ahead of time what their responsibility will be so they can prepare.
Announce the beginning of Tadpoles meetings in your church! You may also want to send an announcement to the local newspaper or radio station letting your community know about the program.
7. Have Fun!
Enjoy the energy, excitement, and faith of the Tadpoles in your group! Jesus reminds us we need to come to Him with the same wonder and faith about Him and His love for us. Be sure to help the dads in your group remember that our kids are a precious gift from God, and we have a responsibility as fathers to help them learn about Him and His love.
8. Get Connected!
Sign up for our Leaders’ Newsletter here or use our online subscription tool found on our contact page. You’ll find encouragement, helpful tips, letters to the editor, and some news items in each issue.