07.09.2015
Sunday Club Leaders Buzzing With Ideas From Children’s Ministry Workshop
Sunday Club leaders came from far and wide to St Saviour’s Parish Hall in Arklow on Saturday (September 5) to be inspired at a Children’s Ministry training morning. The workshop was facilitated by Lynn Storey and Lydia Monds of the Sunday School Society and the Church of Ireland Children’s Ministry Network who brought along a myriad of ideas and examples and had leaders doing actions and singing rap songs on the Fruits of the Spirit.
During the morning the focus was on Harvest and Advent themes and the workshop explored different ways of getting the message to children from Bible story telling and creative prayer ideas to songs, crafts, activities and games.
Lynn and Lydia highlighted a number of books and resources which are available online and which they had tried and tested. They also suggested using YouTube as a valuable resource but recommended also buying some DVDs from the relevant company to support their work.
Their top tip was to plan Sunday Club sessions in advance and suggested putting the session together early in the week as they might come across items in the news or in the world of movies and music which they could link into in their theme for Sunday. They also suggested making a sketch for sessions for the year ahead.
They advised that each session be made up of short snappy items and activities. While they said that leaders should vary the way they deliver the story and the type of activities they do, they should keep the overall structure the same from week to week as this helps the children feel comfortable.
Ideas for Sunday Clubs are regularly shared on the Children’s Ministry Facebook page at www.facebook.com/churchofirelandchildrensministry
Photo captions:
Top – Sunday Club leaders at the Children’s Ministry Training Morning in St Saviour’s Parish Hall in Arklow.
Bottom – Lydia Monds leads participants in a rap about the Fruits of the Spirit.