St George's has a large number of groups and activities catering for the needs of our children and young people from birth through to adulthood. Here, Ann Weir describes our work with those aged 0-11 years.

Click here for more information on groups for those aged 11+.

We work in partnership with parents in the spiritual nurture of their children – our passion is that the children will be happy in their groups and grow strong in every way:

• In their understanding of God – his boundless love for them and his desire to be active in their lives by his spirit
• In coming to faith and having an experience of church which is fun, challenging, relevant and lasting
• In their ability to enjoy and develop Christian friendships
• In their awareness of how special they are – to God, and the family of St George's
• In appreciating their gifts and abilities – learning how to enjoy and use them for God
• In their sensitivity, compassion and responsiveness to a world that is crying out for God’s love and justice
• In confidence to live out their love for Jesus and welcome friends to groups, services and activities
• In being prepared and equipped to be children of faith in today’s society

Children aged 0-11 years are in groups based on school years:
First Steps for 0-3 years
Next Steps for 3-5 years (pre-school and Reception)
Climbers for 5-7 years (years 1 & 2)
Adventurers for 7-9 years (years 3 & 4)
Pathfinders for 9-11 years (years 5 & 6)

It is significant and deliberate that the focus is on aspects of a journey, constantly reminding us of the excitement, anticipation, realities and challenges of following Jesus.

We normally meet in the church centre from 10.20 to 11.50am on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays of a month. The first Sunday of each month is normally the family worship service held in church.

The leaders of the groups work as a team, supporting and encouraging each other to explore exciting ways of ‘doing’ groups, whilst guarding the special identity of each group and recognising the need for appropriate levels of familiarity, security and sense of belonging in young children.

‘Don’t tell cute stories – change lives’ is the title of a book, but also the motivation for the Sunday morning programme. The teaching emphasis in First and Next Steps is based on New Wine's ‘See and Know’ format, which is designed to affirm each child and teach them how special they are and how much God loves them. The teaching emphasis in the other groups is based in the Scripture Union ‘Light’ material, but adapted to fit in with the life of the Church and the children’s developing worship time.

Once or twice a term we organise ‘in-house’ activities, which are open to friends and families, usually with a particular focus, often seasonal.

We encourage parents to take advantage of other opportunities for their children to meet with their peers and hear about the love of Jesus in different environments and presentational styles e.g.
• City-wide events such as ‘X-site’ and ‘CREATE’
• Camps held in the summer organised by Scripture Union and CPAS
• Christian Conferences such as New Wine and Spring Harvest

We would love you and your children to join us on any Sunday morning. If you would like to find out more about what we do please contact Ann Weir on 0113 2959916 or the Church office on 0113 2438498.