Retelling Our Story

Martyn Payne

Having led children's work on a Sunday for more years than I can remember, I have observed some very clear trends over the years. Once upon a time I can recall keeping records of attendance that meant something, as I handed out weekly stickers that led to special gifts or certificates for the children who came. There was also a time when I could guarantee who would be there week on week, and I could therefore relate the story that Sunday to the previous week’s lesson and indeed anticipate the next episode in a series. There was even a time, I remember, when I could plan ahead and rehearse for a special festival contribution to the main service, in the sure confidence that the group who rehearsed would be the group who performed. Alas, those days are no more.

Sunday group attendance is now a very unpredictable affair. I do still have a core number of faithfuls, but even they don’t put in an appearance every week. Some children appear only once or twice a month, while others just come when they can. And this isn’t their fault, nor, I believe (and hope!), is it because they don’t enjoy being there when they do come. Even many Christian families find the weekly habit of church attendance increasingly impossible. The community of the circle of children I have has to be reformed and re-established each week. Not everyone who comes knows the pattern of what we do, and in many ways it has become so much more challenging than it used to be. It’s a bit like Primary School classes in some areas of the country that have regular influxes of new students who, because of the nature of the movement of peoples today, don’t stay long before moving on. This fluidity in attendance is now part of the Sunday school experience, too and in fact part of a new norm in many churches.

So then, how does our Christian story get told? How can the big story of God’s rescuing love as related in the Bible be passed on to children who are only there once in a while? And how can we celebrate the key events of that story with such shifting attendance?

One approach that I have seen work and which is on the increase is the development of the ‘one-off special’ event throughout the year. This approach has also grown because of the rethinking of the ‘grand summer holiday club’ that used to happen in many places but does so increasingly less often, simply because the demands on leaders and resources have become too much for all but the very largest of congregations to sustain. Instead the occasional ‘special event’ is becoming more popular option.

Now put this together with the cycle of festivals and special feast days that we as a Christian Church celebrate anyway throughout the year and we have a framework for a retelling of our story in a focused and attractive way. Given a reasonable run-in time and good publicity, children and their parents/carers can find the time to be part of such a special, which occurs, say, once every six weeks, in a way that irregular Sunday attendance precludes. Our story can be passed on and retold in this way within a larger time context and in a more prepared and memorable way than is usually possible during an often disjointed 40-minutes session on a Sunday. In addition, this approach provides an opportunity for irregularly attending or even new-to-church children to be able to come and that of course is a further exciting dimension to this approach.

It is this sort of prayerful rethinking that is behind the book Footsteps to the Feast, published by Barnabas. In it there are twelve outlines for special events with children lasting up to two hours (or indeed there is material for longer, should you want it) and each event celebrates a key stage of God's unfolding plan of salvation as revealed in the stories of the Bible. Each Feast is part of the big story and, through games, drama, music, craft and different storytelling approaches, these events can both nurture children in the faith and introduce others to the faith which as yet they can not name.

The sessions in Footsteps to the Feast are based on tried-and-tested material, including activities for the children as they arrive; warm-up games to introduce the theme; a festival chant; drama, craft and music workshop ideas; a section dedicated to worshipping together; and a concluding activity with a feast to celebrate the story.

Perhaps your children's work at church is in need of a new approach in the light of some of the things that I outlined at the beginning of this article. Maybe you are looking for a new, more strategic pattern for regular outreach to new children? Or perhaps you just wish that you had more time than ‘the sermon slot’ to nurture your children into our precious faith? If so, then Footsteps to the Feast might be an approach worth exploring in response to this, so that you can not only foot-step your children to a Feast but foot-step them into Faith itself.

As a taster of what is in the book, you can find a special Footsteps to the Feast for Christmas, which contains new material not included in the book and which you might like to make use of in some form.

I hope that you will find that the book itself will provide you with creative material for some special events for children in the year ahead at your church, giving you another way to retell the Christian story afresh to this present generation.

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Click on the cover for further information or to purchase.

Additiona chapter of Footsteps to the Feast as a taster