Children and Families Ministry

Report to Church Council - October 2013

We have had a busy start to term 3 and are starting to get excited about Christmas being just around the corner.

Planning is underway for Christmas Alight for 2013. It is going to run on Friday 20 December from 4pm to 5.30pm and Sunday 22 December from 5pm to 6.30pm followed by a BBQ tea and Carols on Kingsway at 7.30pm. This year, Christmas Alight will take on a different format, it will be a Messy Church that will encourage families to engage with the joy and the mess of the Christmas story and what it means for us today. All children who attend must be accompanied by an adult! We are going to advertise, as usual, at local primary schools, preschools, child care centres, churches, and in the GWUC bulletins and notice boards. We are going to ask the congregation to volunteer to help us out for this important outreach project and we will also be asking for donations of some of the items we need for craft. As Messy Church is understood to be a worship service, we felt that asking people who come for a donation, rather than a set cost was more appropriate. Are Church Council happy for us to do this, although it may meant that Christmas Alight does not break even this year?

At 4.30 Adult Time it has been working well alternating weeks between the mums and dads. We have been following the study "Gospel in Life" by Timothy Keller. These sessions have been encouraging some great discussion amongst the parents. In the last week of term 3, when I was on sick leave, Jay Robinson came and did a session with the parents at 4.30 on the 40 Developmental Assets. One of the things that came out of this discussion, was a strong desire to participate in social justice activities that are relevant for children. On Sunday 20 October, Andrew Hosking and Ian McMillan organised for the children at both 9.15am and 4.30pm to learn how to pot cuttings from herb plants. A great time was had by everyone. Our longer term plan with this project in 2014 is to look into setting up 2 small garden beds where the children will plant vegetables and learn about growing a vegetable garden. These vegetables we will give away to members of the congregation. We are also hoping to get more of the older members of the congregation involved in this project too. 9.15am KAT & DOG have both started back well in term 4. At both 9.15 and 4.30 kids activities we have been following the lectionary for the bible readings related to our activities. Following the news of the Uniting our Future divestments, I was very impressed that the children from DOG wanted to write letters to affected congregations, to let them know that we were praying for them. The care that the children show to others is amazing. The last session of 9.15 KAT & DOG and 4.30pm for 2013 will be Sunday 15 December and will resume again the first weekend in February 2014. During the school holidays we will have the craft trolley and some quiet activities in the church for children who come along.

Over the next few months I am looking forward to planning and exploring some of my dreams for Children and Families ministry for 2014:

Belinda Clear Children and Families ministry coordinator

ChildrenReport201310 (last edited 2014-01-18 21:59:53 by JohnHurst)