Children and parents are thriving at a Sunderland church following the introduction of dedicated family services.
Family Gathering is a new initiative at Bishopwearmouth St Gabriel’s, which takes place monthly on Saturday afternoons. The informal services offer worship, crafts and refreshments, and are designed for parents to attend with their children.
The Revd Canon Dr Emma Parker said the new service, which was launched last October, is proving an effective way of making families feel part of the church community.
“Before this started, we were seeing more families coming along to our traditional Sunday services,” said Emma. “We were delighted and enjoyed getting to know them and their faith journey.
“But it’s not always the easy for families to interact with each other at Sunday services, so we wanted to offer something a bit different, where parents could get to know each other, children could worship together and become friends, and where faith could grow and be nurtured.”
Family Gathering is linked-in to the church season and begins with crafts before everyone hears and explores a Bible story together and learn a memory verse in a fun way.
“There’s a short sermon and we act out some of the Bible stories,” said Emma. “It’s very interactive and I think the children like to see the adults taking part.
“We also sing a couple of worship songs. The children love dancing and they lead us in prayer. We always pause to hear something from God and we give space for the children to share any thoughts or feelings.”
During Holy Week, Family Gathering took place a day earlier than usual, on Good Friday, with central themes including the washing of feet.
It meant that when the families also attended the Easter Sunday service at St Gabriel’s, the children already knew each other well.
“They ran over to each other excitedly,” said Emma. “They know each other and trust each other. The younger ones saw the older children taking part in the service and immediately went to join them. It’s wonderful to see.”
Family Gathering usually takes place on the first Saturday of each month, at 3pm. It lasts for about an hour and concludes with simple snacks and drinks.
Emma added: “We are limited in what we can do in terms of resources, but we have a dedicated team of volunteers and wanted to do all we could to create something around children and the needs of their families. We’re also finding that the parents are offering to serve in different ways, and last month one parent taught us a Nigerian worship song. Family Gathering is a place where we serve each other and our gifts are valued.”
Emma added that she feels blessed to share in faith and life with the families, and that she learns so much about God from the children. The church is richer in faith and hope because of the families.
St Gabriel’s welcomes families with babies, infants, younger and older children. It also offers a weekly Sunday School and Emma said the church is working to evolve its provision for different age groups.
For more information email st.gabriels.revparker@gmail.com