CHILDREN’S CHURCH
St Thomas' Children's Church has been a thriving, vibrant, part of the community for many years. During those years many of our parishioners have played vital roles.
At present we have three groups consisting of the pre-grades to Gr 2, Grades 3/5 and Grades 6&7. We meet every Sunday at 9.30am. On the first Sunday of every month we join the Family Service for praise and worship. The Juniors leave after the first session of praise and go into the Koinonia room to do activities while the 2 older groups remain for the full service.
There are 7 teachers who take turns teaching. The material we use is called Salt and is distributed by Scripture Union. All groups cover the same subject at levels to suit their ages, making it convenient to pray and worship on the weekly topic when we gather before dispersing into our separate groups. The material gives the teacher a lot of scope in lesson planning.
The youngest group is growing very quickly and is too large for one person to manage. We like to have 2 people on duty at a time, one who plans the lesson and another who assists, but this is not always possible which means that things can be quite hectic for the teacher in charge. Several moms have offered to assist which lightens the load for us. We are very grateful and we could do with a few more so if there are any moms who would like to assist 1x or 2x a term please speak to me.
I have considered splitting the group - as it was years ago- but I see a lot of sharing and co-operation between the older and the younger children which is really good and so have decided not to at present. We would in any case need more teachers for this.
The 2 older groups are smaller, due mostly to the pressure of schoolwork and sport. New members are always welcome and may bring a friend if they wish. The teachers are really dedicated and go to a lot of trouble to make the lesson interesting and fun.
We also have Freaky Friday every fortnight from 6-8pm for the Grades 3/7. We start with a short worship session followed by games with a break for supper at about 7. Supper is usually something like hot dogs, hamburgers, pizzas or macoroni cheese followed by ice cream, jelly and custard or hot chocolate in cold weather. The activites continue until home time. This is becoming very popular and many children who do not come to children's church still come along. If you would like to join us you are very welcome. Bring a friend along for support if you wish. Contact the parish office for dates.
It is found by those who minister minister to adults who have not been to church in a long time the lessons they learned at Sunday School stand them in good stead so come along parents bring your youngsters to the 9.30 service/Children’s Church to find out what it is all about.
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