Children taught to trust and share

What’s a congregation to do when it’s keen to reach out to the many children in the surrounding community, but kids and their parents are too busy with weekend activities to attend Sunday school?

Run Sunday school on a Monday, that’s what.

Since 2004, the Forestville–Beacon Hill congregation in Sydney’s north has been modifying the traditional approach to Sunday school to bring the gospel message to local kids.

“It has been the most wonderful experience for us all,” said Robyn Cohen, who founded the project. “The children have been an inspiration and a joy.”

A pre-school with around 120 students operates from the church property and Robyn says it made sense to initiate a combined activity between the two groups.

Originally, it was designed for three- to five-year-olds and started straight after preschool finished. Now there are now over 40 children on the books and the program has been so popular that children who have gone on to primary school are still coming back.

“We are always reassessing our program as we’re now covering a wider age group,” said Robyn. “Kids up to the age of eight are coming along. We need to be simple enough for the littlies but interesting enough for the older ones.”

At the moment, the Monday afternoon line-up includes singing, a Bible story, craft and a snack of fairy bread and fruit.

And if meeting supply and demand wasn’t enough to hone the helpers’ fairy bread-making skills, there’s direct appeals from the punters, says Lindy Batchelor, who has been helping at Monday Sunday School since it began.

“We used to make up half a loaf of fairy bread each week, as well as the cut up fruit for the children. We are now up to making two loaves — and we encourage them to eat their crusts!

“One little boy once said, ‘I don’t think I will be back next week — you ran out of fairy bread today!’”

Lindy says the program fulfils an important role beyond just being a kids’ group.

“It’s been lovely for the helpers from the church and the Monday Sunday School parents to become a real family, and we all take great interest in the birth of new babies, the joy of watching the children grow, the arrival of relatives from overseas and the excitement of watching some of our preschool children go to ‘big’ school.

“Some of the families who attend have no relatives nearby, or even in Australia, so they see many of our ladies from the church as surrogate grandmother figures for their children. A couple of the young teenagers from our church are also popular babysitters on the weekend.”

She says the impact on the children who attend has been palpable.

“It’s interesting to know that the children now realise when they are having some sadness or trouble in their life that they can always talk to God and tell God their worries. Even for little problems like having a cold, the children choose to ask God for help to make them, or someone in their family, better.”

The Rev. Aeryun Lee, minister at Forestville–Beacon Hill, says one anecdote in particular sums up for her the difference Monday Sunday School is making in the children’s lives.

“One afternoon I met a mother whose children come regularly to our Monday Sunday School. She said to me, ‘The other day I went to the Blue Mountains with my children. We took the cable car and suddenly the car stopped in the middle of nowhere. Everybody in the car panicked and became restless.

“My children then said to me quietly, ‘Mum, let’s pray to God.’ I appreciate Monday Sunday School very much and bring my children here each Monday, no matter what. They just love this school!’”

The group recently worked alongside the congregation to support the iKhayalethemba (Home of Hope) project in South Africa. iKhayalethemba, an initiative of Vineyard Church Cape Town South, is developing and delivering a model of psycho-social care for children affected by HIV and AIDS.

The project was desperately in need of pens, pencils, glue, paper, books and other resources — all of which are used at Monday Sunday School.

“We had a sign and a money box and we asked the children to put in some coins each time they came to Monday Sunday School for one month,” explained Lindy Batchelor. Between the two groups, $800 was raised and hand delivered by a Monday Sunday School helper who was visiting South Africa over Christmas.

“It’s amazing that a small group of Sydney preschool children were able to help such a worthwhile, relevant international project,” said Lindy.

The children are drawn into church life in other ways too — like the annual Palm Sunday Procession and Nativity Play and Carols Service, which last Christmas attracted over 200 parents.

There are also plans to integrate parents into the program a little more — for example, by organising some morning teas to allow everyone can get to know each a little more, and inviting them to tell a Bible story at Monday Sunday School from time to time.

“It is ever-changing and evolving, and who knows where God will lead us,” said Robyn. “But our aim is to let these wonderful children hear these stories of Jesus, especially as there are a couple of generations who have missed out over the years and do not know these stories at all.”

Emma Halgren