Pursue the Adventure of ELEA Certification

By Rose Moore, Director
Christ Lutheran Child Care Center
Belfair, Washington

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. 

     I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

     Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. 

Philemon:  4 - 7

     Greetings to all of you who celebrate God’s love of children.  In addition to being director of Christ Lutheran Child Care Center in Belfair, WA, I also serve on the ELEA Network 1 board as their resource person.

     Two years ago our child care board voted to pursue the adventure of ELEA certification.  I was very excited to start this process because of my position on the Network 1 board.  It was hard for me to encourage other schools to take on the process of certification when we had not completed this process at our site.  We are a licensed center in the State of Washington and many of the requirements were already in place.  Our staff welcomed the idea of learning something new and having outside eyes come in and affirm this ministry.

     The church and its other ministries had to look closely at some issues and evaluate change.  It is good to look at your policies or lack of policies.  The process culminated with a two-day site visit from a team of four early childhood professionals, and the receipt of their report, which was very helpful in identifying our strengths and weaknesses.  In January, one of the team members did a formal presentation of the plaque we were awarded at one of our church services—very thrilling!

     I want to encourage every school to seek out this process and to raise your professional standards of working with God’s most precious people.

     I give you this verse from Philemon to put before you as you pray about certification or accreditation for your school or center. I am available to mentor anyone or answer any questions you might have.  It will give me great joy just to pray for your school. 

Rose Moore can be reached by email at daycare@christlutheranbelfair.org or by phone at 360-275-0499.