39 children and family ministry leaders from eight churches around Waikato and the Bay of Plenty came together on Saturday 28 February for training at Hukanui Bible Chapel.
Children and Family Ministries Enabler Julie McKinnon led the group through two sessions. Together groups from different churches explored how beliefs and understanding of who children are shapes what we do practically in children’s ministry—wrestling with what it looks like to help children meet God through the Bible.
Jeremy Baldwin is the Sunday School Team Leader at Church@109 in Taupō:
“Our heart as a team is the gospel, our intent and our desire is to share the good news of Jesus with all our children—to make Jesus known to them, that they would one day have a relationship with Him as their Saviour.”
Jeremy and his wife Saskia were part of Saturday’s training and say getting together with others serving in similar ways is invaluable:
“It’s really helpful to be in the room with others from different churches from around the region, for us, we’re a little isolated in Taupō, so it’s really helpful to get together with other like-minded people and bounce ideas off each other.
“A training day like we had is really useful for churches like ours who don’t have people in paid ministry roles, we're greatful to have an amazing team that serve and volunteer with their own time. Many of our teachers are parents of school-aged children, so the opportunity to attend a workshop where you can learn something that helps you in your ministry is invaluable. Sometimes training from an external support can just be a breath of fresh air.”
Church@109 regularly runs Sunday school for about 40 kids from local families, with plenty of holiday visitors who stop by. Training days are a refreshing reminder of why they invest in the lives of children each week,
“About four years ago I started out as ministry leader of our Sunday School. It was something I had never imagined doing but decided to take up the opportunity, said ‘yes’ and have enjoyed every moment. It’s definitely a team effort, and I’m looking forward to sharing what we’ve been learning with our wider team.”
A big thank you to Lydia Weilert and the team at Hukanui Bible Church for inviting Julie and helping bring the day together—if you are interested in running a team training for your children and families team, would you consider inviting along teams from nearby CCCNZ churches in your region? We’d love to chat more about what that might look like!
