St. John Lutheran Church began its care of children in 1981, when it opened St. John Lutheran Preschool.  This was a ministry for the families of the church and the community.  In the last 30 years, St. John's ministry to children and their families has grown into a program that includes not only the preschool which has two classes, but the St. John Christian Childcare Center which has 65 children from the ages of 1-12 as well as 10 full time employees.  All together there are over 100 participants in the children's ministry program at St. John.  We are state-licensed and staffed with a professionally prepared director, assistant director, STARS trained teachers and staff trained aides.  We are located on Hwy 99 in the northern Hazel Dell area of Vancouver, Washington.

We exist to be an evangelistic outreach to the local community and to provide a service to families desiring childcare with a Christian emphasis.  We provide a loving, Christian atmosphere where children are guided by warm and caring teachers.  We see children as precious and understand that we have an important task in helping each child develop their self-confidence and self-control.  We seek to enrich the children's awareness of themselves and the world around them. 

Our primary objectives are to teach young children about Jesus, provide appropriate play experiences that contribute to the developmental needs of the child, show St. John to be a caring part of the community, prepare children for kindergarten and to develop intentional evangelistic outreach to children and their families. We have several activities to support our community.  We have food drives, toy drives at Christmas, a giving tree for Share House, and we are planning a clothing swap in the spring.

Each day the children are involved in activities that are enriching and stimulating and age-appropriate.  Activities are designed to help children develop physically, socially, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.  The children participate in prayer daily, and chapel weekly where bible teachings and music are shared.

The most memorable thing about the childcare at St. John is the children.  They teach us as much as we teach them.  As we think about all of the faces that have enriched the program in the past 30 years, we think about the smiles, the hugs, the tears, the life lessons that we have all learned- no matter what our ages are.  We thank God that He has seen fit to bless the participants in our Center and we pray that He will continue to guide us in the future.

2010-2011 Early Childhood Calendar