Children's Work
FRIENDS OF GOD (PARISH CHURCH)
We meet during the 10am Parish Church service in term time at the Parish Centre when there is not an all-age service in church. We leave near the beginning of the service and return for communion.
We welcome all children, their parents and young people. We greatly appreciate the help and support of the parents who come with the younger children. We are especially grateful to the mothers who come as helpers to Julie and me. We are grateful to Mo and Janet who have come and led sessions and prepared with the children for some of the all age services, and to Heather when she has played the keyboard and led the singing. We welcome Catherine who has started to come and help with the leading and for her support.
We have fun sharing news and what we know, singing together, praying, hearing stories from the Bible and what we can learn about following God from them. We play games and do arts and crafts, related to the theme. On most Sundays our theme is based on one of the readings used by the rest of the church. We often enjoy making posters to put up in church.
Most importantly we aim to learn and explore together and grow with the help of God’s Holy Spirit to be friends and followers of God, trusting our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and our Loving Heavenly Father.
As part of learning to love our neighbour we help to support Mark and Giselle in
the Philippines through our collections through the Philippines Community Trust. We enjoy hearing about their progress, and sending and receiving letters and cards.
Highlights of the year included our summer and Christmas parties, where food and games were enjoyed by all, and the Nativity Crib Service where many of the children dressed up and took part in the story.
Some of our older children are no longer able to come and we pray for them as they continue as friends and followers of God. It has been a pleasure to welcome many new younger children and families and we pray for them and all those who come to the Fog Club.
Julie and I thank all who have helped in Fog Club in any way. Your help has been very much appreciated. We ask for prayer for God’s help for all involved in leading and helping, and for more leaders and helpers to continue and extend what we can offer the children. Most of all
please pray for God’s blessing on the children and all who join us.
Christine Greaves
Little Angels is a service for pre-school children and their carers. We gather on a Thursday afternoon at 2.00 in the Parish Church. We continue to meet during the school holidays although a short break is taken at Christmas and during August. The time includes singing, accompanied by various percussion instruments, prayers, story and craft, all aimed at young children but hopefully the parents, grandparents and carers who come get something out of it as well.
The service lasts about half an hour and is followed by refreshments which also provides a chance for the children to play and the adults to have opportunity to talk together and get to know new people.
We finish around 3.00 to enable people to collect older children from school.
MESSY CHURCH
Messy Church is an occasional event in the Parish which happens on different days in order to give people a greater chance of being able to attend. It is an opportunity for families to spend time together and explore some aspect of the Christian faith through craft and a short time of worship.
We take a theme from the Bible and make things which are associated with that theme. Some of this will be used during our worship time but there will always be something to take home. We also have refreshments and there is also opportunity to get to know new people.
TRINITY KIDS (Holy Trinity)
Trinity Kids (our Sunday School for pre-school children upwards) meets on Sundays at 10am in the church hall during term time, except for the first Sunday of each month which is a family friendly all age service. We start our sessions with news, lighting a candle for someone we care about, singing and a prayer. Then we usually have a bible story or a talk on the theme of the morning. This is followed by craft, games or simple drama. We aim to have fun, whilst learning about God and Jesus. We go back into church in time for communion, when we go up to the altar for a blessing and a sticker (!) and the children tell the congregation what they have been doing and show off their handiwork. Everyone is always very appreciative! The children can then have fun parading our colourful worship flags around the church during our last hymn- this is always very popular! For younger children and babies we have a children’s corner in church with toys and books and simple craft.
