Junior Church is for the young people of the Church aged between 5 and 13.
A crèche is available for our younger children in a room at the back of the Church. There are windows into the service area and the service is relayed on a speaker system so parents and carers can still feel part of the congregation without fear of their children causing distraction.
The young people usually start the service with the main congregation, sing the first hymn and listen to any notices. The preacher may then direct the first part of the address to the young people, sometimes encouraging them to participate at the front or the church.
Then either during or just after the second hymn we retire to the cafe for our lesson.
Our lessons start with us all saying good morning to each other, sharing news of the past week and showing anything the children may have brought with them.
This is followed by a prayer, thanking Jesus for the past week and asking Him to help the children with any worries and concerns.
We usually follow the Scripture Union ‘Xstream’ pages for 8 -13 and the younger ones have the ‘Splash’ sheets that follow the same story but in a simpler way.
There is no Junior Church during Parade and Family Services. For special occasions, such as Easter and Harvest, we often make things to display.
Our lesson times are friendly and easy going and we let the children explore their faith and ask questions freely.
We have 3 leaders and 3 helpers who teach on a rota system.
Sophie, one of our 6 year olds said, “I love Junior Church as we can get together and do lots of things about Jesus and the bible!”
Here are some useful Interactive colouring website pages for young people:
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/cp_bible.htm
Printable colouring pages:
http://www.coloring.ws/christian.htm
Interactive quizzes