More than child's play
An increasing number of churches are employing combined youth and children’s
workers, but many of them have only been trained in one discipline. Help is at hand
though, as Diocese of London Children’s Ministry Advisor Sam Donoghue presents a
rundown of what to look for in good resources for under-11s.
All of us involved in children’s work have been there or thereabouts. It’s Saturday evening, Match of the Day is on and I’ve just got round to planning for Sunday school tomorrow. Out with the magazine that I was handed at the end of church last week and time to plan my session; I know it’s too late to be doing this but as usual I’ve run out of time. So I spend the next ten minutes reading through and deciding that each activity isn’t going to work: one requires a large space and we meet in a tiny room, one requires more resources than I can buy at the supermarket on the way in the morning and the central teaching point is so twee and dumbed-down that I’m not happy to go with that either. On the TV Gary and the team are now analysing a shocking nil-nil, so I know it’s nearly midnight and I’m about to start writing a session from scratch and wondering why we use this rubbish!
I’m guessing this situation plays itself out so
often because, of all the questions I get asked as
a Children’s Ministry Advisor the most popular
by a distance is ‘what resources do you recommend
we use?’, seemingly asked in the expectation
that there is one all-encompassing resource
that I would recommend above all other ones
that will perfectly meet the needs of any given
parish. This explains, of course, why my answer
is usually ‘I don’t know’! The reality is, there isn’t
a ‘one size fits all’ solution; what works in one
place will not necessarily work for you and there
certainly isn’t one that you can hope to plan during
the end of Match of the Day, no matter how
often you might try!
The question is, what should you look for in a
resource that might work for you, and how can
you turn that starting point into a coherent session
that will help to nurture the faith and spirituality
of the children in your group?
Your can read the rest of this article in the June issue of Youthwork magazine. Out now!
Check out our great subscription offers!