www.methodistchildren.org.uk
 

Welcome to the October 2005 Children's Workers' newsletter.

This is the very first of our monthly e-newsletters from MethodistChildren. We are delighted to welcome you to the e-news list and hope that you will find it useful in your work with children.

If you require any further information please contact us on children@methodistchurch.org.uk

 

Our prayers and thoughts today are with the many people in Pakistan and India who have been so terribly affected by the earthquake.

We have been in touch with our partners, The Church of Pakistan. They report that the devastation around the epicentre is severe - some of their own buildings are damaged - and heavy rains have caused landslides that are blocking roads.

There have been over 140 aftershocks, and the Church is particularly asking us to pray for the children; they are absolutely terrified. Please remember them in your prayers and services.

The effects of this earthquake will be felt for years to come; JMA and the Methodist Fund for World Mission will:

  • send an immediate emergency grant to the Church of Pakistan

  • give special grants as that Church works out the best ways of helping

  • support the long-term recovery of the area and its people.

Learn – by following the news and talking to neighbours from the region.

Pray – especially for the children.

Serve - If you want to raise extra funds send them to JMA through your treasurer or direct to JMA Office, Methodist Church House, 25 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JR.

 

Training News

We have been part of an ecumenical group working on brand new Training Material for those working with children in churches across the UK and Ireland. The new course, offered through six stand alone modules, will be published by BRF through its Barnabas imprint in September of 2006. The material is being piloted in local churches all across the country at the moment. This new material is a huge step forward in the way that we train children's workers and we anticipate a big build up to its launch next year.

Further information on Training available for workers is available on the website now!

 

Children and Spirituality 

Our work with the Commission on Urban Life and Faith www.culf.org.uk  and The Children's Society  www.the-childrens-society.org.uk  on the Spirituality of Urban young People is coming to a close next week with the last of our co-hosted seminars in Newcastle on the 12th October. These seminars have gathered people from many different areas to look at the significant research from the University of Wales, Bangor. The headlines from the report show us clearly that young people who have some kind of spiritual dimension to their life have a much stronger sense of purpose and therefore a higher level of well-being. Those who pray are more tolerant to those around them, and almost half of the 34,000 young people questioned said they believed in God. The seminars have also looked at work from the New Economics Foundation which shows the astonishingly sharp decline that children experience in motivation and enjoyment when they make the transition from Year 6 to Year 7. All this material gives those of us working in the Church a very clear indication of the value of our work and what we need to focus on if we are to enable children and young people to develop their own spirituality.


Resources

With only 80 days to Christmas we are sure you are already thinking about the preparations for the Advent and Christmas season! Well if not we can point you in the direction of some fantastic new resources out now for the upcoming season.

Scripture Union have released a range of books to tell the Christmas story and they are shaped like Christmas Tree decorations! With fun illustrations and telling the story from different angles they are a great gift for children or just for you! Available from www.scriptureunion.org.uk at 99p each. They also have a wide range of Christmas cards for sale on-line.

BRF has released 'Walking with Jesus through Advent and Christmas' by Murray McBride. This resource will help children of all ages (and adults!) journey through Advent together following Bible characters who lead us to Jesus. With each day offering a visual image for refelection which can be used to build a frieze of the unfolding story this is a great resource for families to use at home through Advent. Priced £9.99 from www.brf.org.uk along with 'The Story of Christmas' by Stephanie Jeffs and John Haysom, and a new book of plays from Vicki Howie 'Story Plays for Christmas'.

All these resources, and many more will be appearing on the website in the weeks to come. If you haven't followed our link to The Children's Society for the Christingle then do so now! 


Extended Schools

Every Child Matters Children's place in our society continues to change around us, the Government is continuing to push ahead with its Every Child Matters programme. Have you stopped to ask how your Church could be involved in these changing ways of working with children? The Extended Schools programme is one area that we are currently examining and asking what the Church would need to do to be one of the providers in the local community that could offer services to children. At the Labour Party Conference last week the Junior Children's Minister, Maria Eagle, told the voluntary sector that if Local Authorities did not involve them in Children's Trusts then they were to 'kick up a stink' and report them to the Department for Education and Skills. Where the Church fits into this work as a Voluntary Sector agency is very important for our continuing contribution to the lives of all children in the community. Our being able to offer services will depend on many factors and these will be explored in the months to come. If you hear of any opportunities in your local area for shaping the future of Children's Services then don't be backwards in going forward!

   

And finally....

The on-line Audit is going very well, with nearly 100 churches having completed it within the first four weeks. The information we have gathered so far is beginning to give us a clearer picture for the future. Encourage those working with you to visit the website and make use of the information being added weekly to the site.

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The Methodist Church