Kids ClubKids Club started this year and operates every Sunday during school terms. The Kids Club is a safe and secure place for our young children to get together during the main church service to learn about God. These are generally children who are accompanying their families to church.
The format is that all families join the main service where the Minister of the day shares a story/theme with the children. After the children’s’ story, the children leave the main service and join all the other children and the Kids Club helpers in the Kid’s Club room which is in a separate part of the church. The themes for each week have been identified and are aligned to the main service each week. A mix of online and printed resources are provided. Each Kids’ Club leader prepares for lessons, which usually consist of a discussion on the weekly theme, one or two activities (split by junior and senior ages), crosswords, art work and closing in prayer. We currently have 6 main helpers, but we require at least 2 per week to support the number of children attending, which is currently between 8 and 14, and varies every week. On the first Sunday of every month there is a family service and no Kids Club. This allows the whole family to enjoy the Sunday service together once a month. We do provide activities at the back of the church for smaller children to engage with colouring activities during this time, so they are still part of the service. We are proposing a Kids Club picnic towards the end of the year to be held after one of the Sunday services, but we are still in planning, so watch this space. We also have a Nativity play every December which involves each child and is managed and presented by the Kids Club helpers. If anyone is interested in supporting the children of the church with a little bit of their time, please contact Helen May at helenmay007@hotmail.com. The children really enjoy their own space, and the activities they get to share in Kids Club. Thank you for the opportunity to lead the Kids Club with the great team we have on board for 2020. Helen May – Kids Club Coordinator Pastoral care(Contributed by Kay Corry - a personal point of view)
What is Pastoral Care? If you come from a farming background as I do, you will know that the vital part of a successful farm is your care for your land and your animals. Things sometimes happen that you have no control over (floods, droughts, disease.) Pastoral Care in a Church (the land) setting is the care of each other (the animals) through the connection we have as members of a Church family - it may be in times of need which should incorporate all times when there is a stress factor affecting a member of the Church family (drought/floods) but also in times of joy and celebration (fine for haymaking). Many times in the Bible there are references to the Shepherd and his sheep- and the Pastoral instructions from Paul to Timothy and Titus. Over this time of Lock down we have been able to really get our act together, and formed ringing lists across the Parish, and our thanks to those who were willing to assist. I am hopeful that this support will continue when life returns to normal. One of the difficulties we found as a Pastoral Care Team, was that our team was too small to incorporate everybody in the Church family - but this has now been fixed with getting more people on board, but not burdening anyone. One of the most important things is Communication. People in the Pastoral Care Team need to know if there is a need, however this needs to be mindful of Privacy - permission to pass things on has to be sought . The other most important thing is Prayer. Public Prayer in Church can also be restricted due to Privacy - but this is also overcome by asking people's permission. If we are truly to be part of a Church family, caring needs to be like our own families where we rally together to meet the needs of all family members. May we with God's guidance continue to be good Shepherds of our Sheep - wearing our "wet weather gear" in the storms of life, and our "Sun block and hats" in times of joy. |
Social and fundraising ministryI am Rebecca Galloway. I have been helping with our parish fundraising for the last 3-4 years. In the past we have had 2 Garage sales, which Betsy and I have called “Elegant Garage Sales” as they include only items in “good working order”. The name is taken from my favourite shop in Toronto called “The Elegant Garage Sale”. I frequented it often. As well, last year we helped organize the Multi-Cultural evening with its Silent Auction, and we assisted with the Helena Goldie Dinner. We also put in advertising to the local papers for our church events as outreach to the community. Betsy and I work as team. I do the outreach to church members, while Betsy acts as secretary. We have experience of doing this from our past work with our church in Toronto, where we helped organized very successful Community Auctions. Already we had a very well received Sunday Lunch at our house, in February. Kay and Peter had one last September, at their beach front property. Those attending really enjoyed themselves. This Year our plans include a Concert with the Korean Shalom Choir, initially booked for April 5th but now postponed to Saturday December 5th at 2:00 PM, for some beautiful Christmas Music. The Helena Goldie Dinner hopefully will be an evening in late October, yet to be confirmed. Last year it was held late November. This year the big Event will be the Garage Sale, now booked for Saturday November 14th. ( It was booked for May 2nd but of course that has now changed). This will be a great opportunity, since we are all at home in our bubbles, to declutter and to put things aside for the Garage sale. If you have items that need repairing, please do your best to do that. Last Auction, Betsy and I repaired, painted, cleaned and ironed many items. The more you can do yourselves, will be greatly appreciated. Mostly we prefer to receive solid goods. Clothing goes poorly, but we already have some blankets freshened and waiting. Our sunroom is already storing items picked up earlier. If we can proceed, the movie evenings in July, August, September already have movies chosen. As well as soup , we will include Pizza in the menu. For this next month to 6 weeks, please all keep safe, respect the guidelines to stay in our own bubbles and then sooner than you know, we will be able to meet together again. maygrove hospital serviceThe Past: Monthly service for the residents of Maygrove Hospital were begun in 2007 by Rev Val Nicholls who was the Superintendent Presbyter of the Parish at the time. Rev Val was supported by the members of the Wednesday Ladies Group lead by Heather Gibson. The programme included celebration of special seasons like Christmas and Easter and Anzac Day. Once a year there was a “Blessing of the Hands” for the staff and also once a year a special Remembrance of the patients who had died. In this service the patients were named and a candle lit by a staff member who had cared for them. Elizabeth Cornelius and Dorothy Ann Harris have both taken part as pianist—hymn singing has been an important part of the service.
In more recent times the service was lead by Rev Robyn Allen-Goudge who used parts of the previous Sunday service to share. She often took along her harp and sang for the residents. The Present: From the beginning of 2019 there have been a number of different people taking the service. Rev Hui Young has taken a few services with lovely stories and visual aids, Rev Frank Rigg has been involved and Mr Lleon Downes has been most recently the leader of the services. The last one was on the 18th March when we checked first whether or not we should go. We were warmly welcomed but had to distance ourselves from the residents which meant we had to forgo the usual hand shaking and other “touching” and blew kisses instead. Hymn singing is still an important part of the half-hour and I have committed to being there to play the piano. The members of the Wednesday Home Group are still in a supporting role, marvellous people who help the residents find the place in the hymn book and provide a good backing for the singing. Following the service just “visiting” happens and there is usually a time of prayer for those who want it. The Future: No-one knows what the future holds—we could never have imagined these last few weeks in Lockdown! – and we don’t know if and when we will be able to offer a service at Maygrove again. However, we trust that life will mostly return to normal some-day. In the mean-time the Wednesday Home Group numbers have been getting smaller and it would be wonderful to be joined by more people with a heart for ministry to the elderly who would join us at Maygrove Hospital for the services. Lynley White (with help from Rev Val) (Note that Maygrove Hospital has no connection at all to Maygrove Rest Home where Rev Andrew Gamman took services for a short time). |