Youth & Children
Children and young people are highly valued in our church family and we all benefit from the commitment of gifted teams of volunteers.
The teams work closely with the PCC and constantly review the youth and children's ministries to keep them relevant and exciting so they can develop their own relationship with the Lord. We believe that children and young people have just as deep and Spirit-filled a faith as adults and our role is to work with them as they face the challenges of the twenty first century.
Roots & Shoots
Roots & Shoots is an informal toddler group, meeting at St Mary's, offering a warm welcome to local community parents and carers and their toddlers. This is an important outreach to families with young children. Baptism families are invited and word of mouth at other toddler/children's venues is bringing people in. The group is run by one of the mums but with close link to the vicar. As well as the parents or carers talking and supporting each other there is a time of singing, praying and telling a Bible story so the children get a sense of being special and loved by God.
The Shed
- for Year 6 & above
A group for our young people that meets on Sunday mornings to focus on scripture and the impact it has on life and faith in the 21st Century. The vision for the Shed is to equip the young people to meet the challenges of the world around them and encourage them in their personal life of faith, so they can make good decisions as they move into young adulthood, develop their relationship with Jesus, and become an active part of our faith community.
BFG Club (3-9 yrs)
(Big Friendly God Club)
The vision and dream for The BFG Club is for the children to enjoy their time with God and each other so much that they will be excited to come and will invite their friends along to experience it. BFG have three celebrations; a summer party, alternative Halloween party and the Christmas production, which encourage our children to invite their friends.
At the moment they are using SU material but in the new year will start using "Urban Saints" material. The dream of the BFG co-ordinator is "to see the children grow in their faith, their prayers and to see them living it and sharing it". The parents are very important in trying to achieve this and there is a termly newsletter as well as a weekly news letter for the parents so they can follow up the teaching at home and talk to the children about what they have learnt on Sunday. The children worship in their group and they have a cd they can play at home with the songs they know from Sunday worship.
IMPACT - Year 7 & above
This activity works with young people to explore alternative ways to worship, through a large variety of Spiritual and fun events for both the youth of the church and the local community.
Spectrum (Older Teens)
A small group for young adults that meets once a month in term time. We explore ideas about scripture, challenge each other and pray. Oh... and we occasionally watch an episode of The Simpsons.
