Hi!
Thanks so much for wanting to find out more about how to help with investing our the lives of our children on Sundays. We really need your help at this time
We need helpers!
At the moment, we desperately need helpers for our Sunday groups as currently we only have enough helpers to run one week’s worth of children’s work a month.
If we don’t have enough team members, we will be unable to run groups every week and not only with this impact the quality of our impact on our children, it will mean that parents will miss out on having the space to develop their own faith away from them.
What’s involved?
Each Sunday group is overseen by a leader who has been given the material in advance. Helpers arrive on Sunday morning and help the leader run the group smoothly by interacting with the children and helping get resources sorted. ‘Helpers‘ do what it says on the tin – they help – by supporting the leader, encouraging and helping the children, enabling everyone to be involved and to learn and play together.
The 6-11s sessions run like this:
- Registration
During this time, helpers interact with the children and catch-up with them seeing how their week has been. There’s normally an activity or game to start engaging them.
- Game
An active game that helps burn off energy, helpers make sure that the children know what they are doing and facilitate the running of the games.
- Challenge
A less active game or activity that starts to help the children focus. Again, helpers make sure the children know what they are doing.
- Bible Reading
Helpers sit with a small group of children and help them to listen to the week’s bible reading.
- Small Group Questions
Helpers lead the children through five or six questions, exploring the week’s passage. There’s no wrong answers (some occasional silly ones) but the main thing is that the children have the opportunity to voice their opinions and ideas which in turn helps develop their faith. Helpers don’t need to know the answers, sometimes there are helpful prompts but really it’s all about facilitating conversation.
- Craft
Helpers make sure children know what they are doing for the craft, helping where possible.
- End of Session
Helpers clear up after the group and make sure the children go back with their respected adult.
What’s the commitment?
Helpers sign up on a once-a-month rota, this means they are only expected to serve 10 Sundays across the year.
Why is it important?
The future of the church is already present in the church. It’s all of our responsibility to raise up the next generation of young people and children – not just the parents!
Children need role models to look up to and people to be there for them to listen and nurture them in their faith and life.
Please consider signing up – it’s well worth your time, you may find yourself learning from the children themselves!