Lemon Choi 蔡林文詩姊妹
<<To mould and be moulded>>
With the introduction of a new norm of life in pandemic and the gradual lifting of the restrictions by the Government toward the end of Year 2021, the teaching team organised a Christmas party for different grades on different Sundays at church so that the children could enjoy the fellowship and celebrate the joy of Christmas together.
Although Children Sunday School remained with online teaching after the summer term break, Core Team had set a road map for returning to church with face-to-face teaching. As the operation of Children Sunday School was heavily impacted by the pandemic since its beginning in Year 2020, rebuilding the bonding within the community is of utmost importance. Core team would like to strengthen the partnership of nurturing our children in the Word of God with our community. In the journey of assisting our children to build a lifelong relationship with our Heavenly Father, not only the children will be moulded by His Word, but also the teaching team, parents and all brothers and sisters within the community.
“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Isaiah 64:8
Based on the teaching in Isaiah 64:8, Core team has set the theme of Children Sunday School as To Mould and Be Moulded.
Year 2022 officially kicked off with an online teaching fleet orientation and opening ceremony in January. Though they were online events, children had an enjoyable time from the worship, mini games and the bible message.
Online teaching remained the most challenging task during the pandemic, especially for the younger age group. Therefore, a training for teachers in early stage 1 was organised to share the experience in lesson planning, ways to engage preschool age children and usage of zoom for delivering the class.
While usual classes were delivered via zoom in the first few months of Year 2022, children were invited to join a fun filled, yet inspirational Easter Sunday Program at church in April. Children experienced the life of Jesus through 4 different activity stations and many of them were excited with the new experience. The patience of the community and the effort to participate during the online teaching period is very much appreciated. After the long-awaited time, face-to-face class at church was resumed in May and Nursery class was restarted in June. To protect the church community, Core Team has introduced the Covid Management Plan. We are truly thankful for the love and care displayed by brothers and sisters through adhering closely to the guidelines.
Both children and the teaching team settled well after returning to church. To support the development of biblical teaching, Core Team would like to resume regular training to the teaching fleet. In late May, Pastor Alan Au of Captivate Presbyterian Church and his team were invited to deliver a training on the topic – Gospel DNA. About 30 brothers and sisters have attended the training and the training gave us new insight into the purpose of Children Sunday School and how we can teach a Christ-centred lesson in helping to make disciples.
Apart from the development of biblical teaching, we endeavour to establish a stronger partnership to flourish our children in His Word with our community. Since Year 2021, Core Team has published the housekeeping notes to the community to provide updates on Children Sunday School related matters. A Children Sunday School Service was organised in July to let the community have a better understanding about Children Sunday School and its history as well. Some historical teaching materials, photos and artefacts were displayed in the foyer of church. In addition, children had the opportunity to join their parents to worship at Hall 1 and Pastor Hiram presented a kid’s talk on the topic To mould and be moulded in the service.
The children then returned to classrooms for follow-up activities. Both parents and children were in delight and treasured the worship time together. We were also touched by the message from the kid’s talk and sermon. To walk together with our parents in building the faith of the children, a kid’s library was set up in the cry room and will open soon. Thanks to the donation of second-hand books from brothers and sisters, we have a wide range of collections in the library, from the devotion book for young children to books on parenting in the Christianity world. Pray that we will all be moulded by His Word in the journey.
The relationship among our teaching members was enhanced by the team building retreat in July. It was probably one of the most interesting retreats we ever had. From the games and a challenging Lego building task designed by Pastor Hiram and Zeason, the 25 brothers and sisters who participated got to know more about other team members. We shared the difficulties we faced, and we were encouraged and refreshed with the reflections from other brothers and sisters. Together, we can build a better big picture in the Children Ministry with the guidance from God.
Praise be to the Lord! By the grace from Above, we have hurdled through many challenges last year. With the notable influx of new migrants and returning families with young children from Hong Kong, we project there will be over 100 children in our care in Year 2023 and 10 classes with a minimum of 56 teachers and teaching assistants are needed to meet the demands. The harvest field is plentiful, yet, more brothers and sisters are needed in the Children Ministry in helping the children to root in His Words. Please keep the Children Ministry in your prayers and we trust that our faithful God will continue to provide our needs.