You know the story - you have a really good workshop making Christingles (or preparing a play, or ...) with the children but come the big day turnout is poor because the parents don't/won't bring the children on Sunday.
So - one local church shifted its Christingle to the end of the school day. The children were ferried, with the school's kind co-operation, down to church for a super service, and the parents had to come and ransom them back from church... No, I made that last bit up, but obviously it made it much easier for the parents to come and join in, - and they did.
Just another aspect of changing the mindset from in-drag to out-reach. Put things on at times and places that work for those you hope will be there. It makes sense.
Saturday 21 April 2007
Read all about it: Church House Publishing goes into overdrive
The pile of useful new books giving hands-on help for C&YP work is growing.
Mission-shaped Children by Margaret Withers (CHP 2006) challenges us to place younger people centre stage and arrange some of our ways of being church round their needs rather than vice-versa. DT's take: let's BAN all talk of getting children into church. Instead - what we can do to meet children where they are and help them move to where God is calling them to be, along their journey of life into Him.
Mission-shaped and Rural by Sally Gaze (CHP 2006) is in the same series, and takes the rural dimension of mission seriously, like it says on the tin. There's not a great deal on C&YP, but like Presence and Seeds in Holy Ground it helps to get the juices going about how mission and rural can fit together and not be mutually exclusive ideas.
Rural Children, Rural Church: Mission Opportunities in the Countryside by Rona Orme (CHP 2007) goes the extra mile and does give real-life and workable ideas for working with children in a rural setting. They should be good, because Rona is an old friend of ours and asked us to help some Cumbrian churches supply them! There's quite a bit on working with the church and agricultural year that links well with the grown-up liturgical stiff in Times and Seasons. Don't expect the ethos to be always the same as that of Margaret Withers - read both and decide which works for you.
Not Just Sunday: Setting up and Running Mid-Week Clubs for Children is by Margaret Withers again (CHP 2002). A theme of hers, which quite a few churches I know in Cumbria have found to be true for them, is that it's easier to get a gathering of children together after school mid-week than on Sunday, when numbers can be tiny and very variable, and volunteers less willing too to miss 'their' service. In an ideal world of course we want it all: the full age-range in church on Sunday (especially in our larger churches), at least some provision ('Play Church Bags') on Sunday for visiting/occasional children (have 'child-ready' members of the congregation who spot the need and respond), and a larger, more open gathering probably midweek when we hope for a good crowd including children of non-attending families. Start where you can.
Now watch out for
Children and Bereavement Wendy Duffy
Special Children, Special Needs Simon Bass
Where Two or Three Margaret Withers
all also published by CHP.
Mission-shaped Children by Margaret Withers (CHP 2006) challenges us to place younger people centre stage and arrange some of our ways of being church round their needs rather than vice-versa. DT's take: let's BAN all talk of getting children into church. Instead - what we can do to meet children where they are and help them move to where God is calling them to be, along their journey of life into Him.
Mission-shaped and Rural by Sally Gaze (CHP 2006) is in the same series, and takes the rural dimension of mission seriously, like it says on the tin. There's not a great deal on C&YP, but like Presence and Seeds in Holy Ground it helps to get the juices going about how mission and rural can fit together and not be mutually exclusive ideas.
Rural Children, Rural Church: Mission Opportunities in the Countryside by Rona Orme (CHP 2007) goes the extra mile and does give real-life and workable ideas for working with children in a rural setting. They should be good, because Rona is an old friend of ours and asked us to help some Cumbrian churches supply them! There's quite a bit on working with the church and agricultural year that links well with the grown-up liturgical stiff in Times and Seasons. Don't expect the ethos to be always the same as that of Margaret Withers - read both and decide which works for you.
Not Just Sunday: Setting up and Running Mid-Week Clubs for Children is by Margaret Withers again (CHP 2002). A theme of hers, which quite a few churches I know in Cumbria have found to be true for them, is that it's easier to get a gathering of children together after school mid-week than on Sunday, when numbers can be tiny and very variable, and volunteers less willing too to miss 'their' service. In an ideal world of course we want it all: the full age-range in church on Sunday (especially in our larger churches), at least some provision ('Play Church Bags') on Sunday for visiting/occasional children (have 'child-ready' members of the congregation who spot the need and respond), and a larger, more open gathering probably midweek when we hope for a good crowd including children of non-attending families. Start where you can.
Now watch out for
Children and Bereavement Wendy Duffy
Special Children, Special Needs Simon Bass
Where Two or Three Margaret Withers
all also published by CHP.
Tuesday 17 April 2007
Good ideas at Masham
Now here was a very nice way to help those with young children feel welcome in the church. "We welcome people of all ages to St Mary's Church. Please do not worry if babies or small children are not quiet or move around." The hooverer inside told us that that's how children were, all part of the package.
And we liked the name of their children's group. There is a small church school next door and the kids go over there to meet. On the outside wall of the school is an illuminatable sign like the candle on the poster!
Friday 6 April 2007
Welcome to CYOOB
That's the Carlisle YOuth Online Blog for the faint-hearted among you.
We're trying it out as a way for everyone connected with youthwork and work with children in Carlisle Diocese to read up on the latest thoughts, ideas and news.
Have your say too! Tell the story of great stuff that's happened down your way! Let everyone know about the great stuff coming up! Or where to find great stuff on the web, or wherever. Just email your info to David Thomson and he'll put it up. Or talk to him nicely and he'll set you up to do it directly.
Use it!
We're trying it out as a way for everyone connected with youthwork and work with children in Carlisle Diocese to read up on the latest thoughts, ideas and news.
Have your say too! Tell the story of great stuff that's happened down your way! Let everyone know about the great stuff coming up! Or where to find great stuff on the web, or wherever. Just email your info to David Thomson and he'll put it up. Or talk to him nicely and he'll set you up to do it directly.
Use it!
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