Child in the midst

In our world, where justice is supposed to be dispassionate and unbiased, where we are to be rewarded and punished according to our deserving, a Christian community of faith is called to an alternative way of seeing life and an alternative identity. We are called to be a community that displays a biased passion for the outsider, the stranger, and the estranged and gives people what they need, not what they deserve.

John H Westerhoff in `Living the Faith Community’ (p. 78)

• Someone like Sam
• The best book to read?
• Real Life, Real Children, Real Church
• Manifesto for Children
• Takeover Day 2009
• Off the Bookshelf

Someone like Sam

Based on a book called The Godmother, Someone like Sam develops the story to explore the themes of love, identity, relationship, strength, vocation and more. The pack contains a set of full-colour pictures with conversation starters on the back of each one. The accompanying CD has 12 downloadable sessions for use with children and adults in churches which explore baptism, belonging to the faith community, vocation and more! The pictures and full story text are on the CD, so they could be projected if you wanted to use the material with a large group or as part of an all-age service. There are also lesson plans for use with KS1, Year 3 & Year 6 linking in with RE, PSHE and SEAL. A very versatile, imaginative resource.

The best book to read?

According to this article from The Independent, Bible knowledge in Britain is decreasing, even though most people own a Bible! How Bible literate are the children in your group? Here are some resources which are designed to help children and families read and think about a small part of the Bible each day:

Snapshots from Scripture Union

TOPZ from CWR

XTB from The Good Book Company

Must Know Bible Stories from Scripture Union

Real Life, Real Children, Real Church

The European Conference of Christian Educators (ECCE) is held every three years, bringing together people from denominations across Europe to share experiences and good practice in nurturing children’s faith. If you’re interested in attending the 2010 Conference (which will be held in Paris) all the details are on the ECCE website.

Manifesto for Children

The Children’s Society continues to develop its work based on the findings of the Good Childhood Inquiry. The latest is to publish a Manifesto for Children which calls on all the political parties to make a clear commitment to improving children’s lives in any new administration they form. Click on the link to read more and view a copy of the document.

Takeover Day 2009

Takeover Day is an initiative of the Children’s Commissioner for England. The idea is to invite children into workplaces and organisations to `takeover’ for a day – and those who been involved in the past two years have found it an eye-opening and beneficial experience. The official date for this year is Friday 6th November, so why not invite children to `takeover’ one of your church services or activities that weekend?

Off the Bookshelf

The All Age Service Annual

Scripture Union has just published the third volume of their All Age Service Annual. Divided into two sections, it has a series of 52 `service starters’, designed to use when children are with the whole church community before going to groups and 15 fully worked out all-age services. The service-starter themes fit with SU’s LIGHT curriculum.

The All Age Service Annual

Pub. SU ISBN: 978 1 84427 381 2 £11.99

Teaching Godly Play

Teaching Godly Play – The Sunday Morning Handbook was my first introduction to the theory and practicalities behind Godly Play. Jerome Berryman has now completely revised and expanded it to provide an essential handbook for people who have perhaps only experienced taster or introductory sessions of Godly Play. Starting with an introduction `Why Play?’ It goes on to look at each section of a Godly Play session, giving practical, adaptable advice. It finishes with two chapters exploring the how both children and leaders can grow spiritually through Godly Play. I’m enjoying the chance to revisit these basics (though I’m not over-keen on some of the line drawings!).

Teaching Godly Play

By Jerome W. Berryman

Pub. Morehouse Education Resources ISBN: 978-1-60674-048-4 £16.81

The Book of Books

Trevor Dennis retells the story of the Bible for adults and children to read together. Each of the 12 chapters contains stories woven together and told to fire the imagination. Introductions link the chapters showing the sweep of Scripture and the thread of God through it all.

The Book of Books

By Trevor Dennis

Pub. Lion ISBN: 9-780745-969121 £9.99

At a loss conference

My DAVE counterpart in Southwark Diocese is hosting a conference on death and bereavement for those who work with young peoplpe and children. It will be  on Saturday 17th October in Southwark Cathedral. You can download a flyer from here and a booking form from here.

It really does look like it will be an incredible day raising big questions on this fundamental issue.

Support for Parents

How churches can support parents in raising children who love Jesus from Children’s Ministry

“It is imperative that we understand God’s expectations of how children should be nurtured. The local church is crucial in the process but a child’s family is central. Gaining a proper perspective on the partnership between parent and church in the mutual effort to raise God-loving and God-fearing children is paramount.” George Barna (Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions)

Raising children who grow up loving Jesus and wanting to serve God is a goal of most churches and many parents. Several denominations and organisations that produce resources to support ministries are working together to try and improve the materials that are available for churches to encourage and equip parents and for family use at home. Help us understand what is needed by taking part in our survey.

I’m also delighted that George Barna will be one of the key speakers, addressing this issue, at the Children’s Ministry and Family Ministry conference next January. Bookings will open in August – more on that in the next email in two weeks.

September is a popular time for churches to offer parenting courses. The Family Time courses: Parenting Children and Parenting Teenagers are ideal for outreach to families that you are in contact with through toddler groups, Messy Church, similar fresh expressions or just to advertise in your locality. Revolutionary Parenting is a course for families that want to explore how to build a solid foundation of faith in their children. “

Good Childhood Manifesto

The Children’s Society has issued a Manifesto for a Good Childhood in which they are identifying three key areas that political parties ought to put at the centre of children’s well-being.

You can download the six page document here.

Child in the midst

A theology of childhood and salvation is not constructed, line by line, from propositions. It rests on the works of God on the soil of Palestine. It is not a metaphor in the midst of them, but a flesh and blood child that stuns the disciples inro silence. Jesus does not identify himself with the image of the child but with the real child.

John Pridmore in Through the Eyes of a Child (p.193)

This week

• Play Altars
• Take This!
• St Nicholas’ Day
• Harvest Ideas
• Hands up!
• Children and Parents
• Off the Bookshelf

Play Altars
Maria Montessori knew that children needed to be able to play in order to learn. As part of her original Montessori Classroom she had a children’s chapel – with child-sized altar, lectern and pews. Here’s an American blogger who has a Play Altar in her Children’s Church. An idea worth considering?

Take This!
Take This! is a monthly puzzle sheet written and produced by the children of Hexham Abbey for distribution to children across the country. They have created a special Year of the Child 2009 edition. If you’d like to get hold of copies for your church or school, all the details are here.

St Nicholas’ Day
Sunday 6th December is St Nicholas’ Day – the patron saint of children! On that day the 2009 Godly Play Lecture will be given by John Pridmore in Newcastle Cathedral. But if you can’t get to that, why not keep that Sunday as a Year of the Child 2009 celebration in your church. There will be ideas and resources for services on the Year of the Child 2009 website.

Harvest Ideas
To help you with your planning for the autumn, here are some websites which are offering Harvest resources to use with children:

Must-Have Gifts
Download the catalogue and ask your group to choose what they would like to be able to give as a gift this Harvest. They’ll have to think practically about how the money can be raised – but that might produce some very innovative ideas!!!

World Vision
World Vision’s theme for 2009 is Food not Famine.

Christian Aid
Christian Aid are focussing on the drought in India.

Tear Fund
Tear Fund’s Make life flow resources are focussing on drought-stricken countries.

USPG
USPG’s focus is the Amazon Rainforest.

Water Aid
Water Aid has a range of materials for nursery, primary and secondary schools.

MRDF
The resources from the Methodist Relief and Development Fund focus on India.

CMS
CMS is focussing on Nepal

Together for a Season – Volume 3
And if you just want worship ideas without a hint of fund-raising, Together for a Season volume 3 has a whole section on Celebrating God’s Providence, including a Harvest Eucharist, a Rogatiotide walk and a Pagaent of the Seasons!

Hands Up!
For a good news read, take a look at the Evangelical Alliance’s report Young People Matter. 14 – 17 year olds spend an average of 4 hours a month volunteering, and if they are actively involved in a faith community they are likely to do much more. Teenagers are usually portrayed negatively in the press, so it’s good to read a corrective view!

Children and Parents
Last week I was at the excellent Changing Childhood Conference, hosted by the Diocese of Chichester, Chichester University and the Children’s Society. One of the key note speakers was Marcia Bunge, editor of The Child in Christian Thought and The Child in the Bible. One of her talks was about the relationship between parent and child, and the best family practices which help a child grow in the Christian faith. I’ve tracked down an on-line version of her handout if you’d like to see what she said. There’s a fuller version in the first chapter of The Vocation of the Child.

Off the Bookshelf

Lion Publishing
The latest Lion Hudson Publishing catalogue is now available online, featuring the books for children to be published this autumn. There are lots of new titles, and several reprints of old favourites, including The Three Trees and The Very Worried Sparrow.

The Lion Hudson Catalogue

A Youth Toolkit

The Children’s Society has produced ‘The Good Childhood® Youth Toolkit’ to help churches develop and implement their youth work ministry and help make childhood better for children and young people in their community.

Information included on the CD:

• Starting out – how to set up and manage a youth activity
• Sample guidance documents – safe practice and procedures
• for use in church
• Youth worker recruitment and employment –
• how to budget, advertise, recruit, and employ youth workers
• Volunteers – recruiting and supporting them
• Youth club resources – templates to assist in the day-to-day
• running of a youth group
• Session planning ideas – top tips for working with young people

The Good Childhood Youth Toolkit is a FREE resource, although a voluntary contribution of £4.99 would be appreciated. There are even free upgrades and additional resources once you register with them.

To order a copy of your interactive CD, call The Children’s Society on 0845 300 1128. To find out more information and leave your contact details visit http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/church

The Children’s Society is a leading children’s charity, driven by Christian values and committed to making childhood better for all children in the UK. By listening to and working with young people, you can help make a good childhood a reality in your community.

More information in the form of a pdf flyer can be downloaded here.

Open Day II

On Saturday 11th July DAVE is hosting a second Open Day from 10am for all youth and children’s work volunteers. It will be a second opportunity to come and peruse our vast library of children’s and youth ministry books, look at and even try out some of the equipment we have for clubs and events like the Giant Connect 4, the Nintendo Wii and if you are brave enough, the Circus Skills toys too!

There will be free tea and cake provided at certain times and of course our usual giveaway. The whole day will end at 4pm. So, if you are beginning to think about what to do in September with your children’s and youth work or you just need some ideas for your holiday clubs, or you need advice on something, then please do come along. We look forward to seeing you there.

Oh, it’s being held at Diocesan Office in Rochester (the big church next to the Cathedral).

A Good Childhood

The Board of Education for Canterbury and Rochester Diocese came together today to deliver a conference on the Good Childhood Inquiry, which was published earlier this year. The book is available from Penguin Publishers and lots of resources to help schools, churches and practitioners use the material from The Children’s Society. It was an informative day for all with a wide representations from churches, schools and local government.

For those who attended today I have uploaded the three PowerPoint presentations for you. You can download them by right clicking and choosing ‘Save Target as’. You will need PowerPoint to access them.

CantRoch1

CantRoch2

CantRoch3

Child in the midst

• Listening to the Child
• Children’s Ministry in England
• Global children
• Childhood and Nature
• DCSF
• Off the Bookshelf

Listening to the Child

The Center for Children and Theology is an American site which focuses on the work of Sofia Cavaletti and the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Its BlogSpot records children’s responses to the stories they have heard. Take a look to be reminded again of the depth of a child’s spiritual life.

Children’s Ministry in England

A few weeks ago the Church Times devoted two pages to exploring the range of activities that are happening for children in Anglican churches. You can read the article here.

Global Children

Love it or loathe it, Facebook can lead you down some interesting roads of inquiry. I’m grateful to David Pritchard for pointing me in the direction of this article which focuses on children and theology in a global context.

Childhood and Nature

Genesis 1, Psalm 8, Psalm 104 – just three places in which the wonders of God’s world are extolled in scripture. But according to this report, children are having fewer chances to play outside and enjoy nature. Take advantage of the summer (and sun??) to let your children’s groups enjoy the natural world, and not just be cooped up inside! National Play Day might be a suitable time to get out and about!

DCSF

The latest Government reshuffle has produced a few changes in the Ministerial Team at the Department for Children, School and Families. Ed Balls MP remains Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, now with Dawn Primarolo as Minister for State for Children, Young People and Families and Baroness Delyth Morgan remaining Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families. You can see the whole line up (including their role descriptions!) on the DCSF website

Off the Bookshelf

THE LION BOOK OF PRAYERS TO READ AND KNOW

This is a lovely book which doesn’t stray into the `twee’ territory that children’s prayer books often do! Each section opens with a simple `why we pray this way’ spread, using biblical insights, and then leads into a selection of prayers, from praise through saying sorry, to blessings. Just right for using with under 7s.

The Lion Book of Prayers to Read and Know

By Sophie Piper

Pub. LionHudson ISBN: 978-0-7459-6147-7 £7.99

Coming up this month…and next!

AngelSpace

We have our tenth event on June 21st at Rochester Cathedral. We are celebrating ‘Ten’ and using the Parable of the Lost Coin as our theme. If you remember the Crystal Maze, then you will really enjoy this next event as there will be Crystal Maze challenges all over the cathedral with our usual mix of worship, teaching, café and the rest! It starts at 6pm and is a free event.

Good Childhood Conference

The Director of the Board of Education is organising a day conference with the author of the Good Childhood Inquiry on Wednesday 24th June at the Ramada Hotel in Maidstone. If you have come across this report that The Children’s Society have undertaken you will know that it is the most comprehensive research study into childhood that has ever been done and this conference will seek to impart some its findings and wisdoms with implications for practice in our communities.

There is a special price of £10 for youth workers which includes coffee, lunch, the conference and a free copy of the book published by Penguin. I have attached the flyer with this email. Please do come. You can book by emailing sarah.cabella@rochester.anglican.org with intention to come and pay. Cheques for £10 to be paid to Rochester Diocesan Board of Education or RDBE will be do and can’t be sent to the address at the bottom of this email.

Training days

There are a couple more Springboard training days coming up in June and July. All the training days we have had this year have been very successful and all those who have attended have managed to get a lot out of them. My thanks to you youth workers who have been involved in the delivery of these, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

The final two are Transitions on Saturday 27th June at 10am to 12.30pm. Owen Smith will be leading this day. Cost £5 which includes refreshments, resources and handouts.

The final training day is on July 11th which is our Open Day. This is where we pull out all our books and equipment and let people see what we can offer in lending and hiring out resources. There will also be two workshops, one on an aspect of children’s work and the other on youth work. This is free, so please do tell people about it and encourage them to come along to Rochester for a day for a browse and some cake! No need to book, just turn up!