Trans-European Division of Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Children s Ministries. Autumn 2011

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1 Trans-European Division of Seventh-Day Adventist Church Children s Ministries Autumn 2011 Just a word After a year of doing this job I have found out a few very important lessons. Firstly, as Solveig reminds me often, I need to be more pro-active. Not wait for things to happen but make things happen myself. Secondly, take control of my agenda. I remember last year at the Winter Meetings (which was a first for me) presidents from the different Unions came and before I knew it my calendar for the next year was full. That won t be happening again this year I can tell you. If there is something I have learnt it is to plan moments of reflection and nothingness. Sometimes you just run from appointment to appointment and have the idea that you are on automatic pilot. But that is not the way you want to be in life. Especially times of reflection are important. These are the moments which help you the most. Help you not just get a perspective on what is happening but also helps you to look at yourself and how God is leading in your life. Because through it all and whatever you do you do it for God s glory. My prayer for each one of you is that whatever you do, wherever you may be, take time to reflect on your life and what God is doing for you. Life becomes so much better and happier if you do that. God bless you all, Clair

2 What one little church can do: We got the following report from Viv Barrat-Peacock via Heather Haworth, British Union CM Director Smiling Faces and Dead Flowers A year ago, Loughborough church was homeless. The buildings we rented were not available every week and often we didn t know where we would be worshipping from one week to the next. Our search for a more permanent base led us to the village of Mountsorrel, a few miles out of Loughborough. The warm welcome we have received from both the village community and the Methodists from whom we rent has reassured us that God is most definitely with us! Our new location has enabled us to reach out far more easily than we could before. The first week of August saw our first Holiday Bible Club. We didn t know what to expect. Would enough members be available to help? Would anyone want to come? We went ahead in faith, certain that this was something God wanted us to do. And God certainly rewarded our efforts. Every morning about 35 children, most of whom were from non-christian families in the village community, eagerly rushed to get to Summer Stars Holiday Bible Club, many arriving half an hour early! Our theme was Bible Stars and each day we focussed on a different Bible character, emphasising that they were only a star because they trusted in God. Activities were related to the day s Bible story and included bread baking, stone painting, parachute games, making windmills, team games, craft work, singing and drama. On the last day of the club, we invited the families to come to see their children reading, acting and singing the lively action songs learnt during the week. Not only did this remind the children of what they had learnt, but also gave them the opportunity to share this with others If I could choose one word to describe the week, it would be happy. The children all arrived (and left) with big smiles! The feedback from parents was very positive, with many saying they wished the club was continuing for the whole summer holiday! As a follow up to this programme, we have set up a monthly Bible Stars Club and plan to run a Children s Christmas party in addition to sending birthday cards to the children and inviting the families to our regular events. Tired at the end of the week, I came home to find 2 pots of dead flowers by my front door, neglected while I had been so busy. However, every time I look at my once beautiful flowers, I am reminded of the smiling faces of those children as they learnt about God s love for them and I think, Dead flowers are a small price to pay!

3 Loughborough Harvest Festival Lively singing, a beautiful display and a spirit of thankfulness to God for His care characterised the Harvest Festival Service at Loughborough Church. The children shared many new songs with us, and we also enjoyed the hymn Now Thank We All Our God, which holds a special significance for one of our families as it was written by the vicar of the village where they live. Gifts of non-perishable food were taken to The Carpenter s Arms, a Christian hostel for men struggling with addiction, in Loughborough. The organisation also operate Joseph s Storehouse and our gifts will be used both in the hostel and as food parcels for local families in need. Staff at the Carpenter s Arms know we are a small church and were only expecting a few items and so were amazed to see a car completely filled with donations for them! We thank God for the opportunity to give to those in need. Penny Pictures for a Church Building! On Sabbath 24 September, Loughborough Church held a special service dedicated to committing our plans for the future to God and asking for His blessing as we seek to buy a church building of our own. We thanked God for preserving our church through a sometimes difficult history and prayed for His continued guidance. It is our dream to one day have a church building of our own. 9 year old Olivia particularly, prays that it will be soon. Will I be a teenager before we have a church? she asked. We hope to be able to answer No! to that question! After listening to the story of Joash repairing the Temple, the children collected the penny jars that we had been filling at home and used the coins to make pictures of a church, a heart and a cross. This reminded us that we always need to keep Jesus and His love at the centre of our church. The total collected in the penny jars was much more than we expected! We still have a long way to go, but at least this is another step closer to achieving our goal. Monthly pledges from the adults will further boost the fund. More information on our progress can be found on our website:

4 KID Advisory We have some wonderful news to tell you about KID. In 2012, September 30 November 5, we will be hosting a KID Advisory and our guest speaker will be Don MacLafferty, the founder of the KID vision. There are some new and wonderful ideas coming from his centre and to keep everyone on track and filled with excitement we are hosting this event. The Advisory will be for Union and Field Children s Ministry Directors and 2-3 additional persons from each union/field, who are actively involved in the KID Ministry. At the upcoming Children s Ministries Advisory, which will take place from of November we will be discussing this with the leaders from each Union. The date will be 1-5 October We are currently looking for a venue but at this stage it would be good to keep this date in mind when planning your events at the Unions. We will keep you informed. See following issues of the newsletter for details. Clair Sanches

5 Meet the CM Directors Ruta Zilgalve Children s Ministry Director Baltic Union Conference Ruta Zilgalve works for the Baltic Union which incorporates three countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Ruta is responsible for two departments. Women and Children s Ministries. She is married to Valdis who is the president of the Baltic Union. They have two children Martin and Liva. Ruta has as hobby s gardening, cooking and cycling. When Clair met Ruta in Latvia for a Children s Ministries training in September last she was very much impressed with the good work she is doing for the Union. Leaders from Latvia but also leaders from Estonia and Lithuania came to the training. There is a very large motivated group of dedicated people working for the children of the Union. Many days and events are planned yearly for children. It is good to see that children are seen as an important part of ministry. Calender: November 21-25, 2011 Children s Ministry Advisory ( for union/field directors ) September 30-October 3, 2012 KID Advisory

6 Children s Ministries This newsletter is addressed to the Children s Ministry Directors of the Unions in The Trans-European Division. Others who would like to be on the mailing list can send their address to skrusholm@ted-adventist.org in order to be added to it. Children s Ministries Department Trans-European Division of Seventh-day Adventists 119 St Peter s Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3EY England csanches-schutte@ted-adventist.org skrusholm@ted-adventist.org Please send stories and ideas you want to share to skrusholm@ted-adventist.org To subscribe or unsubscribe please reply to this . Save the Date! KID Advisory September 30 to October 5, 2012 for Union and Field Children s Ministry Directors and 2-3 additional persons from each union/field, who are actively involved in the KID Ministry. (Venue to be confirmed.) For Training of Coaches and Presenters contact: csanches-schutte@tedadventist.org The Funny Side of Parenting A teacher gave her class of second graders a lesson on the magnet and what it does. The next day in a written test, she included this question: "My full name has six letters. The first one is M. I pick up things. What am I?" When the test papers were turned in, the teacher was astonished to find that almost 50 percent of the students answered the question with the word Mother.