Junior Church

During April we had two fun events, we had our Family Quiz night and also our trip to Leisureplex for bowling.  Both were great fun and it was great to see so many people coming along.

This month sees Junior Church preparing for our end of year service, which will be held on Sunday 25th May.  Every year the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has a Youth & Children’s project that it supports.  This year the title of the project is Rhythm & Rhyme and it is supporting two projects in the Presbyterian Church in Pakistan.

The first part of the project is based in Gujranwala where the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan asked ABES to launch a non-formal Primary Education Project for girls aged between 7 to 12 years of age who are not able to join formal Primary Schools. 

The Academy of Church Music is the second part of the project, which was founded by Rev Eric Sarwar in Karachi. The Academy will train ministers and worship leaders both musically and spiritually in a purpose built school. 

Junior Church will be telling you a bit more about the projects in the May service and during the month we will be doing some fundraiser to support them  At the end of April I announced that Junior Church will be holding a Sponsored Silence on Sunday 18th May, the children have been given a sponsorship form. 

Don’t forget we will be having our congregational outing to Clara Lara on Saturday 24th May, please come along from 12 p.m. and bring a picnic or a BBQ along.

I hope you all had a good break and didn’t eat too many chocolate eggs!!!

All the entries for the Photographic Exhibition are displayed on the notice board at the back of the Church.  Please have a look and enjoy some fantastic images of ‘My Church’.  The photographers are William Doyle, Harriet Doyle, Isobel Doyle, Emily Jane Doyle, Robyn Esmonde, Emily Esmonde, Alex Esmonde, John O’Donnell, Alan O’Donnell, Lana Cotter, Lawrence Prosechin, Mark Conway, Robyn Conway and Lily Conway.  Thank you for such great photos and congratulations. 

The Family Quiz night is being held on Friday 18th at 7:15 p.m. (to start at 7.30pm sharp).  It for all the family from children (6yrs plus), teenagers, parents and grandparents.  There will be a charge of €3 per person.  There will be refreshments and some prizes.  It will be a good evening to meet and have some fun.  The more people there are the better the fun, so please try to come along.

There are a number of events coming up so please put them in your diary.

Junior Church is an important part of our Church life and it is only possible with the support of the parents and in particularly those parents who help out with the groups or as Leaders.  In Junior Church there are three groups and two leaders share each group.  In total six leaders are needed and additional parents for helping out. 

Planning has started for next September and I will require some new leaders and parents who are willing to help.  When I was preparing for this year, it was very difficult to find Leaders but thankfully we have some wonderful and committed people as Leaders.  There is a commitment in time required and plenty of patience needed, but it is fun and so rewarding!

It would be great to see some new faces and I would urge all parents to consider getting involved.  If there is anyone who would like to know more about Junior Church, I would be delighted to talk to you.

Doreen - Team Leader

This term the FOG is continuing looking at the history of our church.  Did you know that the first marriage in CCR took place on the 27th August I860?  The group will be putting together a poster of what they have discovered, so keep an eye on the notice board!

The GIFT and LIGHT groups have been learning about the Easter Story, as Sunday 16^th March is the last Junior Church before Easter, we are having a egg hunt!!  After Easter, they will be looking at the story of Joseph.

Sunday 9^th March is the last day for entries for the Junior Church Photographic Exhibition.  If you need a bit more time just let me know. I hope to display the photos on the Junior Church notice board this week.  There will be a prize for all entrants.  The theme of the exhibition is "My Church", so feel free to capture in a photo your unique view of Christ Church Rathgar.

There are a number of activities organised for the remainder of this year and they are listed below.  I would ask you all to consider coming along, the more there are the better fun it is and the more people you get to know.  There will be more details nearer the times but you can mark your diary up now!!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:
Saturday March 8th:	FOG trip to Baldonnel, thanks to Paul, Declan and Meriel for your help
Sunday March 9th:	LIGHT and GIFT trip to the Ark Theatre for “Beware of the Storybook Wolves”
Friday April 18th,  at 7:15 p.m.:	A Family Quiz in the Lecture Hall
Sunday April 27th, after church:	To Leisureplex in Stillorgan for Zoo and bowling
Saturday May 24th:	Congregational outing to Clara Lara
Sunday 25th May:	Junior Church Service

We are hoping to organize a fun tournament between CCR and hopefully two other Presbyterian congregations.  We will keep you updated.
 

Happy Easter!

Doreen - Team Leader

On the notice board (at the back of the church), you will get a better look at the logo and names.  Thanks to all group for all their work and inspirations.  A big thank you to Tony Cronin for putting a professional look to our thoughts and drawings.

In general term Sunday School is now referred to as Junior Church, the teachers are the Leaders and the Sunday School Superintendent is now the Team Leader.

Doreen - Team Leader

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a good Christmas.

I would like to say a huge thanks and well done to all the children and young people of Junior Church for the Gift Service in December - we may have forgotten to have a baby Jesus in the Nativity play but Jesus was certainly not forgotten.  Also a big thanks to all the Leaders and parents for your work and time.

Thanks to those who entered the Bookmark Competition.  There were 22 entries from 15 people.  I hope the congregation enjoy the bookmarks and pray for all of us in Junior Church when they use them.

Our gifts this year from the service went to Focus Ireland and they were collected the following week.  The Social Workers who collected them were absolutely delighted.

This term, the first two groups will be continuing to learn bible stories, The Creation and the Easter Story.  The third group will be looking at our church in Rathgar and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

Our prayer for January is:
 

We hope to get some activities organised in the next few weeks, so keep an eye on the announcements in the Order of Service and on the web Noticeboard.

Doreen Steenson

The 9th December marked the Junior Church Gift Service and the children practiced hard over the previous few weeks learning the songs and parts for the nativity play. The theme of our Service was Happy Birthday Jesus.

I would like to say a huge thanks and well done to all the children and young people of Junior Church for the Gift Service - you are all brilliant.  Also a big thanks to all the Leaders and parents for your work and time. A special thanks to John White who helped us on the piano to practise our songs.  And thanks to Anne Walsh for helping with the props.

Our gifts this year are going to Focus Ireland, Focus Ireland was founded by Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy as a result of the findings of research into the needs of homeless women in Dublin. In 1985, two years after the initial research Focus Point (now Focus Ireland) opened its doors in Eustace St, Dublin. The agency provided street work services to young people, advice, information, help with finding a home and a warm and welcoming place to meet and have a low-cost meal.

Our Gift Service gifts will go directly to the Social Workers who are assisting families in their struggle to set up and settle into their home and we hope that the presents we give will them joy at this difficult but happy time.

On 1st December, Louise Woods and I went to the Building Blocks Conference in Drumcondra.  It is a multi- denominational conference for people involved in children's ministry.  It was a great day with some very interesting seminars on such topics as 'Neither teens nor children' and 'Creative prayer, Play and Worship for the under 5s'. The keynote speaker was Bob Hartman, who has been involved in Lion publications of bible stories, he gave an amazing talk with plenty of stories and audience involvement, we were elephants and rabbits to name but a few!  It was wonderful to be able to see a bible story come to life in words. There was a range of resources from songs to activities available.  Louise and I came away with a sense of all that we could do in Junior Church and we hope to use some of these over the rest of the year.

Ronda Gerrish from CCR is involved in Building Blocks on the organising committee and I would like to express our thanks to the committee for such a great event.

Thank you to all of you who entered the Bookmark Competition, they are really wonderful and creative!  I hope that the members of the congregation will remember Junior Church in their thoughts and prayers when they use the bookmarks.

From all the Leaders and myself, we hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and remember to say Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas!

Doreen Steenson
 

I hope you all had a relaxing half term and enjoyed the trick and treating!

Over the next few weeks all the Groups are going to concentrate on preparing for the Christmas period. There will be Christmas Bible stories, decorations for the Christmas tree, bookmark competition and the Junior Church Gift Service.

The Memory Verses for November and December will be:

'For unto you is born this day in the city

of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace,

good will toward men.

Luke 2:14
 

The Prayers for November and December will be:

Dear God.

Thank you for all the presents that people give us at Christmas.

And thank you for giving Jesus to us as the best gift of all.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

O Lord Jesus, who for the love of us

Lay as a baby in the manger we thank you that by your coming

You brought joy to all the world

Help us at this glad time

To try to make others happy for your sake.

Amen.
 

The 10 Plus Group having been working very hard on designing a logo for Junior Church and coming up with names for each of the Groups. At this point we are looking for a professional view on our ideas. If there is a member of the congregation who has connections or experience in graphic designing and who would be willing to help us, I would be delighted to hear from you. 

The Junior Church Gift Service will be held on Sunday 9th December and all members of  Junior Church will be involved in this.  Over the next few weeks we will be practicing for this.

Usually we have a Christmas card competition and then they are distributed to each member of the congregation during the Gift Service (9th Dec). This year. instead of cards we are having a Bookmark competition and these are the rules!!:

• Envelope, containing some cards (which are the size of bookmarks) will be
  distributed in Junior Church over the next few Sundays.
   

• The theme is 'Joy to the World'. Using your creative skills, design a bookmark using pictures or words.
   

• On the bookmark, the following should be included:

- the phrase 'Joy to the World' (not essential)

- Name and age (if under 15yrs)

- CCR

• You can enter as many times as you like.
   

• There is no restriction on age
   

• The entry can be black & white or colour.
   

• Entries should be given to me or one of the Junior Church Leaders by Sunday 2nd December.

The Junior Church contribute to the Christmas Sale by making and selling gift tags, calendars and a Suduko competition. If you can't make the 1st December for the sale, all of these items will be available to buy from next week during coffee.

On the 20th October we held our Halloween Party and it was truly terrifying!  We had over 45 ghosts, witches, princesses, fairies and many more creatures and characters!!  A great night of fun and entertainment was had by all. we even had a very wet minister and floor!  I cannot thank enough all the people who helped on the night, thank you, thank you.

Doreen Steenson
 

JUNIOR CHURCH REPORT   -   SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER, 2007

This year there are three groups in Junior Church: 2 - 5 years, 6 - 9 years and the 10 plus group,

This year the 2-5 and the 6-9 groups will be learning about some of the Bible stories.  Also Memory verses and prayers will be included in the programme.  The Bible stories for this month are Noah and the Ark and Feeding the 5000.  The Memory Verse for September and October is:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. with all your
strength and with all your mind.”  (Luke 10 v 27)

The prayer for September and October is:

"Dear Lord. please help me to love you with all my heart and with all my soul
and with all my strength.  In Jesus' name.  AMEN

The 10 plus group will be doing some project work, and their first project is to design a logo for Junior Church and names for each of the groups.

During the year there will be some Junior Church outings.  The first was for 9 years and under to a concert in the National Concert Hall.  This happened on Saturday 23rd September - 32 parents and children went and a thoroughly animated and magical time was had by all!!!  Have a look at the photographs in the back porch.

The 10 plus group went on a Sea Safari on October 6th.  The group headed off at 12 p.m. on Saturday for Malahide by the bus and dart. and had a great time on the speed boats in Dublin Bay.  A few seals and porpoises were spotted along the way.  The group returned to the Church for a pizza and a chat.  There will be some photographs up soon. so keep and eye out for them. A big thank you goes to Declan Connolly for organising the trip and also to Maurie Cotter for helping out on the day.

The activity for October will be a Halloween party in the Lecture Hall on Saturday 20th October from 6.30 p.m -8.00 p.m.  It will be a fancy dress party and there will be plenty of tricking and - treating!"

A big thank you to all who tenderly looked after your grassheads for the Harvest Service.  They all look fantastic.  Well done!

Doreen Steenson

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