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June 2002, Page 4.
Index of articles.
Services:
index,
11.15am changes,
Regular 10.30am,
"3+1" Sunday Club,
Regular Joint.
In this issue:
(June 2002)
Vicar's Letter,
STV,
Sunday Club,
Services,
Question,
History,
Jelleys.
New-style "3+1" Sunday Club
From the beginning of May Sunday Club was relaunched in a new style. The club now meets for an hour in the basement, beginning 1/4 hour before the 11.15am or 10.30am service, and joining the service at the Peace. This means that the All-Age Service has had to change its format, with the bible reading and talk coming earlier, and the extended time of singing coming later.
Why this change? We needed new staff as all of our previous teachers had retired (after many years of faithful service). The one person who offered to take a lead in the children’s work has children with special needs, and it would be impractical to settle them into church for the first part of the service and then move them to the basement. But starting in the basement is manageable. We had to build the system around this basic fact.
Is this a good thing? Yes. It will help the teachers to give consistent input, and they know they have exactly an hour to fill. Finishing worship all together will also help us get to know each other better.
What will the young folk do? There will be an activity as the people arrive in the basement, so that everyone can join in with something which is going on. There will be some worship with songs and prayer. Then there will be some work on a “theme”, which will have a bible story, discussion, drama, and art and craft. The art and craft will be used later in church when we get to the all-age service which is the fourth week of the theme!
The “theme” ideas come from some “Three plus One” books which develop a topic for three Sundays in the club followed by an all-age service which sums up the theme. The theme for the first block is the start of the church: the Holy Spirit’s coming, Paul’s conversion, and Cornelius’s baptism - with a summary on June 9th (Parade). The idea is that the fourth service will allow everyone to share in what has been going on in the club: the adults will be involved and not just spectators.
So that’s OK then - the rest of us can relax? Pam Morgan asked us not to do that, when she spoke at the PCC (14 May). After the threat of closure Sunday Club is up and running again, but it is not in a strong healthy position. It has nine volunteers for helping on a rota, but three are children and another two have already got cold feet. What it really needs is some of the rest of you to come down to the basement and lend a hand with the activities: that will relieve the pressure on the few, as well as showing that you care.
John Hartley