St Jude's Kids!: February 2010

What's happening & what we're thinking about!

A bit of background: We are an evangelical church - that means we believe the Bible is the accurate record of God's dealings with people, and it's also his message to us, and not musty irrelevant stuff - it's just as fresh today as when it was written. We believe the Bible tells us how we can have a real relationship with the God who really exists, really made us, really loves us, and really visited earth 2000ish years ago, as the man Jesus. We believe Jesus died for us, so that nothing we've done can stop God from loving us. We believe he came back to life, and he's going to come back, and give us life like that too. And we reckon that if all that is really true, then we've no right to keep it to ourselves! Jesus said that kids can be friends with him too - he didn't send them away - actually, he said adults have got a lot to learn from kids, about being friends with God.So, if you like what you see, why not come and visit us in person? We're on the corner of Lygon and Palmerston Streets, Carlton - that's in Melbourne, Australia.For more information, please email kpeken@stjudes.org.au or telephone 03 9347 5152 during business hours.

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Family & childrens calendar 2010

12th September, Sun: Grade 6 ceremony - kids welcomed to Youth program
17th September, Fri: School Term 3 ends
19th & 26th September: Relaxed Sunday 'Thrive' program
3rd October, Sun: Term time kids 'Thrive' program starts again!
4th October, Mon: School goes back - Term 4
10th October, Sun: 'Toolbox' Parenting Seminar
November, Sundays at 9am and 11am: Social justice focus in Thrive groups
20th November, Saturday: Film & Pizza social night for Grades 3 to 6 - visitors welcome!
3rd December, Friday: Christmas Presentation for Christian Religious Education Princes Hill Primary School
8th December, Wednesday 10am: Playgroup Christmas celebration
11th December, Saturday 7.30pm: Carols in Curtain Square, bring a picnic!
19th December, Sunday 9 and 11am: Celebration Service - we celebrate Thrive kids groups and leaders of 2010
24th December, Friday 6-7pm: Kids Carols - all welcome!
25th December, Saturday 9.30am: Family Christmas service - all welcome!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Participation and Contribution...

Those two words have been on my mind lately. In the Anglican church, we believe that children are fully part of the church family. When they are baptised, the whole congregation joins in and says, 'We receive and welcome you as a fellow member..." I've been thinking about what that could look like. It's a bit of a foreign concept to some church-goers, who grew up on the 'Children should be seen and not heard' principle - which I think sometimes really means, "Not seen and not heard"!
But the Lord Jesus is in the business of breaking down barriers and bringing together people who have nothing in common except him.
In 2010 I am committed to working harder at including our kids as PARTICIPATORS and CONTRIBUTORS. By the time they reach High School age, I'd like them to be totally at home, understanding everything we do, enjoying taking part, confident that they belong, and knowing that they have something to offer that's truly important to everyone.
We're starting small, building on what's already happening. Already, some of the high school kids, and one of the Year 5s is helping run the pa system. Some of the kids help serve communion. Two of the kids groups are rostered on to prepare and serve morning tea. A couple of the Youth boys play the drums regularly during morning services.
There's lots more that could happen. Kids could take turns reading the Bible, or leading parts of the service. They could encourage us by telling us about service projects that they are involved in in the local community. Often during services we have 'open prayer', when anyone can come up to the microphone and lead the congregation in a prayer. I'm looking forward to being led by one of the little ones.