Our Junior Church leaders take a well-deserved break during the school holidays and a team of volunteers step in to run Junior Church as one big group. Today was our final ‘summer’ session and so it seemed appropriate to encourage the children to look back over the Summer and reflect on what had happened, before looking forward to the new school year and what they hoped it might hold for them.

We set out three tables each containing a banner and some pens. Each banner featured one of three words: best, worst & hopes. The children were split into three groups, and each group visited each table in turn and drew or wrote the best thing about their Summer; the worst thing about their Summer; and then their hopes for the year ahead.

Here’s what they produced: (click for a full sized image to see the detail)

It was great to see such a good response to the reflection, and we ended by giving thanks to God for the blessings we’d received, that He was with us during the best & worst moments, and we offered our hopes to him and prayed that He would do ‘even more than we could ask or imagine‘ [Ephesians 3:20].

Here’s a brief list of what the children wrote, drew & discussed together:

Best:

• swimming
• camping
• birthday party
• trip to Willen Lake
• a ‘massive’ water slide
• train rides

Worst:

• being poorly
• death of a loved one
• when ‘rain stopped play’
• car trouble at the airport

Hopes:

• not getting lost at new school
• making new friends at new school
• having lots of fun
• not getting too much homework
• achieving 1 million words in the first term (reading)
• a better school year
• a better heart
• to go on lots of school trips

Next week Junior Church returns in its usual form, but with some children/young people moving up to new groups. Would you please join us in praying for them, particularly as they return to school this week?