The Church Year through the Eyes of Junior Church

With thanks to Hannah, Kaylee, Lauren, Maybelline, Rebecca and Pierce.

Pentecost

At Pentecost, we – the children - and some willing adults did a dance. We all had lots of fun and a good laugh doing the dance. Hannah and I did some Irish dancing as part of it. We waved banners and streamers. Hannah and I also played the flute and violin in the service. We had lunch afterwards in the David Sweet Hall which was delicious! Afterwards the children played outside!

narrators, a Joseph, angels, shepherds and a grumpy innkeeper!! Everyone enjoyed the play and had great fun. We took pictures of us in our great costumes.

After our Christmas play rehearsal, we went bowling. We then went to Macdonalds to eat. Then we went home!

We prayed for Zimbabwe and lit the peace candle and the younger people of junior church made a poster of nice homes like the white house and things that rich people have like smart cars on one half and on the other pictures of people that have lost their homes and have only their possessions left. We then went outside and tried to lie in a box. This was very uncomfortable and cold and in a way, lonely. It made me feel happy for what I have and when I'm older I want to make a change so that people who have no homes have a safe place to live and if they are children then give them education and help them not to be bullied out on the street and teach them how to get out of fights.

On Mothering Sunday we performed The Owl Babies. We all had lots of fun doing this. The weeks before, we prepared cards for all the ladies in the church, we also had fun doing this. During the service we gave the cards out.

Before we did this we went into the hall, where we were given green streamers and palm crosses to wave as we walked around the church in a procession. We also sang Sing Hosanna.

On Easter Sunday morning some of us met in the morning to have breakfast. It was very tasty! During the service, we coloured in pieces of the world which had been ripped up.

We then stuck them on a model of Jesus. Then Pierce and Patrick carried it round the church and we all followed singing. We all had lots of fun doing this.

To help us understand the story of the talents we did a sketch on the basis of the TV programme ‘Dragon’s Den’. The story started with Deborah Meaden of the Dragons wanting to take on three of the contestants. She gave them money and they all went off. One opened a biscuit factory, one opened a beauty salon and the other put it in a picture frame to keep it safe. After about a year they all came back. The biscuit factory owner has doubled what he had been given, the beauty salon owner hadn’t made quite as much as that but the Dragon was still happy. Then it came to the last person. She hadn’t done anything with the money so the Dragon wasn’t happy and sent her away and shared out the money with the other two.

Chris writes:

Our Annual Report starts with a review of the church year by our Junior Church. Of all the details included, one undeniable fact is the sense of fun the younger members of the church have derived from their wide range of activities. When Jesus walked this earth he talked about his followers becoming like children and our children give us an example of what he meant. Another translation of fun might be Joy and in their report the children have expressed a sense of joy and wonder in all that they have done as part of the church over the past year. Can we learn from them?

In the other reports we see what we have been able to do over the last twelve months. Can we honestly say that we have approached those activities and events with the childlike sense of wonder and joy? As we look toward the next year, and in particular developing the talents we have identified in the recent questionnaires, can we approach what lies ahead with the childlike excitement that Jesus requires of us? As individuals we can answer that only in part but together we can discover what it means to be a child of God within in his community. As we give thanks for all that we have, through God, been able to achieve let us all move forward with a real sense of joy, hope and excited childlike anticipation.

We have lots of gifts in our church. Some of them are obvious: we are fortunate to have talented musicians who can play musical instruments, sing or dance. We are grateful to Robert and to Jim and Alwyn his deputy organists, to Harold, Hilary and Ruth who, with Cast-a-net and the Ghanaian Choir, add so much to our worship week by week and on special occasions. Our junior musicians are growing in expertise and are keen to play, so please give them as much encouragement as you can. The dancers, inspired by their success at The Easter, produced another dance for Pentecost This expressed the colour and life that the Holy Spirit brings. At the Synod meeting in October the singing of the Ghanaian Choir and Cast-a-Net ended the day on a joyful note. We literally sent everyone home singing.

Care and Support Groups give a great deal to the church as they perform their duties and in the way in which they support each other. Many groups have formed really strong bonds of fellowship and friendship through their service.

As a church, we have an unusual gift. Our premises are ‘home’ to many groups and organisations. Some, like the Friday Cafe, the Floating Shelter, Lunch Club and Crusaders stem directly from the commitment of church members. Some, such as the pre-school are run by others but are very much part of the church’s mission to the locality. We have had a pre-school on church premises since the late 1960s when it was started by the church. The Hop Skip and Jump Pre-School has provided pre-school education on our premises for over 15 years. It caters for up to 25 children and many children in the church (past and present) have enjoyed what it offers. Other groups provide much needed opportunities for people to share their interests and enthusiasms.

The Friday Café has now been operating for two years. Chris Underwood writes: The numbers vary from about 20 to about 6. Our customers are mainly derived from the Croydon Retirement Association and we also have a number of regulars from within our fellowship. We have built up a reputation amongst the Synod staff and they regularly order from us. The atmosphere in the café is friendly and lively. People can relax and enjoy spending time together. We always commit the café in prayer and are always willing to offer prayer support to anyone who seeks it.On a Tuesday evening, a large number of young people can be seen around the premises. They are attending Crusaders. John Coatman writes: Our members enjoy the club and our other activities. Two members now lead our weekly Bible studies. Others enjoy the residential activities and will be going to the Isle of Wight in May and camping at Studland, Dorset in August. Plans for the Austria Expedition are going well. Thirty three members received Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards from the Mayor of Croydon, acknowledging both their success and the hard work of the leaders who enabled them to succeed

On Thursday during term time a delicious smell wafts through the premises. Lunch Club is open for business. Ann Baker writes: Lunch Club serves a growing number of disadvantaged people.. A small team of volunteers, led by Sue Bedford from Selsdon Baptist Church, prepare, cook and serve a free hot meal. Everyone works hard to make sure that each occasion runs smoothly and in a friendly atmosphere. For those of you interested in the statistics we have served around 1500 meals this year, with an average of 37 people attending each session.

The Floating Shelter catered for anything between 8 and 14 homeless people on Thursday evenings in November and December. This was our third year and the need does not diminish. It is, though, heartening to see that some people coming to help were previously making use of the shelter because they were homeless. We are very grateful to Vida for enabling us to respond to a request to run the shelter on New Year’s Eve. We were also delighted to welcome the sixth form girls from the Lodge School who cooked for our guests on several evenings. Their efforts were greatly appreciated and they all said how much they had both enjoyed and learnt from the experience.

During this year we have been discussing amongst ourselves and with Synod how we might develop and use our premises in the future. We are currently awaiting the outcome of the initial feasibility study.