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Steps to Organizing a Tree Climbers 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. Read through, the FAQ’s on this web site and "Tree Climbers: Dads & Sons Together"
The FAQ’s given here will help explain some of the Tree Climbers program along with a number of things to consider. “Tree Climbers: Dads & Sons Together” is found in our resource for CSB leaders, Building Men, or may be available on its own from your Regional Director or our warehouse. This material will help explain the purposes of Tree Climbers and outline the weekly meeting. Those who are responsible for the decision about starting Tree Climbers should read this material carefully.
2. Find a man to lead the Tree Climbers program.
This person is the Tree Climbers Coordinator. His job is to recruit fathers and other leaders, 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 Tree Climbers Coordinator and assist him in starting Tree Climbers.
The Tree Climbers 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.
See “Tree Climbers: Dads & Sons Together” in Building Men for a more complete description of this role.
3. Recruit other dads to participate.
Send a letter or call all the dads who have children between the ages of 6 and 7 in your church. If there are too many to contact personally, make an announcement in the bulletin or on Sunday morning.
4. Meet with interested dads to plan the program.
Arrange to meet with all the dads who expressed an interest in Tree Climbers. Review the objectives of Tree Climbers and the parts of the meeting. Show the dads the Tree Climbers Discovery and Odyssey manuals (available from our warehouse). Then discuss the following matters:
- where the group will meet
- when the group will meet (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)
- how long the meetings will last and what’s involved (see pages 4-5 of either Tree Climbers manual)
- how you will handle children whose fathers cannot attend
5. Complete the Working Agreement Application and register your dads & leaders
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 Tree Climbers dads/leaders. If you are only running Tree Climbers, 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. Order materials and check equipment needs.
Each father or other leader should have his own copy of the Tree Climbers 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 Tree Climbers T-shirts, be sure to order them in advance from our warehouse.
7. 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.
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.