Impressive!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say thank you for being so flexible with the change of plans this morning - I was very impressed with your willingness to go with the flow. It really turned out to be a great opportunity to have the kids in the service. An answer to our prayers this morning!

So thanks for showing once again what a wonderful group of leaders you are!

God Bless,
Lou

A good week?

Hi everyone,

Thanks to those who were able to make it to our first training session on Tuesday night. I welcome your feedback on this session!

To help you keep thinking through you might like to read this artice which adds another perspective on communicating so that kids understand and are changed.

Perhaps this is good opportunity for me to offer another prize to anyone who can find a helpful link and action point for us all, between this article and our session on Tuesday night.

Also, don't forget to pay particular attention this week to the language your kids use and ask those clarifying questions to see what assumed knowledge/language is present in your classes & lessons. This is an exciting opportunity for growing effectiveness & I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it when we reflect together next Tues night!

Hope you all have a wonderful week this week & I'll see you Sunday. We'll pray together at 8.50am in the Lower Lounge.

God Bless,
Lou

This Week

Hi everyone,

I just want you all to know that I think you are excellent! I reckon we've got an 'A-team' of leaders here at St Mark's -you're doing a great job!!!

With great thanksgiving for your ministry,
Lou

Upcoming Training Session

Hi all,

I hope you had a good time last night. I was encouraged to hear that you stuck around after the study finished - that's great!

Our first training session is coming up in a few weeks and I would like to know from you what sort of topics/issues you would like us to cover during these sessions. I don't promise to cover them all straight away but do promise to address them over time and in appropriate ways.

Please let me know what issues would be most helpful for you and I will take it from there :) (If you need suggestions to get you thinking, topics might include - discipline, teaching the Bible creatively, how to help kids pray, how to get group discussions going etc...)

Looking forward to being flooded with suggestions!!
L.

Next Sunday

Hi everyone & well done today!

It was a quiet morning but great to see the kids having fun & learning good things about God!!

Tomorrow I head off to Sydney to attend the Hillsong Women's Colour Conference along with about 20 women from or associated with St Mark's!! The conference runs from Thurs - Sun next weekend and I will be having a couple of days seeing family and friends before it begins.

Small Group will still be happening on Tuesday night - Mark will be hosting and showing the Tony Campolo sermon 'It's Friday but Sunday's a Coming'. Very fitting given that Easter will soon be here. It's an awesome sermon, I hope you enjoy it. Perhaps it will be the source of the next 'quiz'?!?!

Any questions during the week you can still contact me via email or mobile and Amanda will be in the office on Wednesday & will be overseeing Sunday Club next week so you can also always ring her if you need anything.

God Bless,
Lou

Latest Children's Ministry Magazine

Here is the online version of the latest Children's Ministry Magazine. I highly recommend you have a look through this. I always find many useful ideas in here. Some things particularly to look at are:

- the age & idea finder. This page will show you what's in the magazine that relates to different age groups.

- the age specific sections:
* ages 3 to 5
* ages 6 to 9
* ages 10 to 12

- the teacher telegram - ideas for you!


Because I really think this magazine is a helpful tool for you I am going to add a fun element here. I am going to give a prize (a cool prize) to the person who can tell me 3 things that they learn by looking in this magazine.

Get cracking & post you replies so I can give you a cool prize!!

New Family Information

Hi everyone,

This Sunday you will find in the sign in/out folders a green form that looks like the image to the right.

This is a new form which all new families need to complete when they bring their child/ren to Sunday Club for the first time. It serves two purposes:

1. It fulfils our Duty of Care requirement: that we have permission to have the child in our care, administer medical attention if necessary and are aware of any medical or relevant behavioural concerns. For this reason it is imperative that this form be completed.

2. The form also allows us the opportunity to follow up the new family to answer any questions they may have about Sunday Club, St Mark's or faith as well encourage them to join us again. This is a fantastic pastoral opportunity we have been missing as we have had visitors and now way of contacting them.

It should be easy to manage. My suggestion is that each week you allocate one leader for your group to oversee signing in. This person can make sure that all kids are signed in and any new kids welcomed to the group and their parents given the form to complete. Completed forms can stay in the folder and I will collect them at the end of the morning. Please make sure you read the form to check if there are any medical/behavioural concerns you need to know about.

When you have a new child to your group it's always a good idea to introduce them to the whole group so that everyone meets them and learns their name. It's then helpful to link them up with another child from the group who they can sit with and join in the activities with until they get to know some of the other kids. This can help them feel welcome & able to contribute.

I know some of this admin can seem tedious but it's a vital aspect of Sunday Club - it plays a big part in keeping our ministry safe & sustainable. It may take some time to get used to the sign in/out & registration process but it's worthwhile - so please keep it in your mind as part and parcel of running your Sunday Club group.

If you have any questions about any of this please let me know.
Thanks for all your efforts!!
See you tonight,

Louisa

Email Subscriptions

Hi everyone,

Thanks for visiting this blog! I have added an email subscription option to the right of this page and would encourage you to subscribe. It will mean that new posts will be automatically emailed to you without you needing to check the site to see if I have added anything new. That way you get the info directly but it remains interactive as you can visit the site to add comments etc...

News that will be coming this week includes:
- What to do when you have a new child in your group.

If you have any thoughts/questions/suggestions to discuss please let me know.

God Bless,
Louisa

Your Very own Blog!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to your very own blog!! This is a way for me to keep in touch with you & make sure you have the latest information about Sunday Club.

It's also a forum for you guys to leave messages for each other & talk about how things are going and any challenges you are facing. However, it will only be a forum if you make it one so let me encourage you to do that!!

Below this post you will find posts of the 'hints & tips' I emailed out late last year in the Leader Emails. Each post has a label and on the right of the page you'll see the heading 'Categories'. By clicking on any of these options you can have a look at any posts releated to that particular issue.

I'll try and add a new 'hint & tip' each week so please let me know if there are any topics that would be particularly helpful and I will do my best to respond promptly with some helpful information!!

God Bless guys - I'm excited! It's a priviledge to have such a great team of leaders to kick off the year!!

Louisa