On 18th June we held out Annual General Meeting which was a great opportunity to reflect on the past year.  Over the next few weeks we will be posting a selection of the ministry reports from the past year.

Bible Class continued to meet in the pastors’ offices this past year, together as a large group for 10 minutes or so before splitting into a younger and older group for the remainder of the lesson. Before Christmas, we looked at what the Bible teaches us about the Church and the part we can play in it (at whatever age). We also looked at prayer, fasting and worship. It was great to encourage the kids to think about how they can be active in church, givers as well as recievers. We finished the term off by leading the children’s Christmas service with the Sunday school, and enjoying acting in the play “The Missing Piece/Peace”. This centred around a young family trying to find out what the X meant in Xmas, and discovering that it is about messing up, being loved no matter what, putting things right, finding treasure and Jesus dying for us so we can live in peace. It was an excellent play and the kids thoroughly enjoyed participating in it.

After Christmas, we based our lessons on the song by Colin Buchanan, “Big words that end in shun!”. David Nixon helped us link it to the book of Romans, and we used the words as a scaffold for working through the first 12 chapters of Romans, focusing on Condemnation, Revelation, Substitution, Imputation, Salvation and Sanctification (to name a few!). As leaders we found it quite a challenge to make these big, meaningful Biblical words significant and relevant to the kids, and the lessons did require careful planning! We found it helpful to learn more deeply what God has done, and is doing in us through what Christ has done on the cross. The year ended of course with the Anniversary service, and fitting in with the Sunday School’s theme of Walking with Jesus, the kids dramatized some sections of Pilgrim’s Progress, linking it to the Big Words we had studied earlier in the term.

Points of praise...

We have much to thank God for this year.

• David Nixon has been a fantastic support, both in terms of providing training for new leaders, and aiding us in planning and delivering lessons focussed on God’s Word.
• As kid numbers have increased, God has also provided us with new leaders, and I am thankful that they are enjoying teaching and encouraging the children as much as some of the long time leaders do.
• We have also been blessed each week by the children themselves, their enthusiasm and eagerness to grow in their faith and pray to their Father.

Things to pray for...

• The class will become somewhat smaller next year, as some of the older kids leave, and a few of our families move on from Carrubbers.
• Pray that the children of these families would settle in their new church homes and continue to grow in their faith.
• Pray also that as we try to build better links with the other teens ministries, we would start to work toward a more joined up approach in what we do together for our young people.