Eastbourne 2007 - Reflections

Children's Ministry Connections

Reflecting on the Annual Children's Ministry Conference, Eastbourne January, 2007

Gaynor & Claire reflect on their weekend away in Eastbourne …

'For those of you who haven't yet experienced a Children's Ministry Conference, we would urge you to have a look at the website and consider going along next year (with your team if you have one) for a weekend of worship, encouragement, inspiration and equipping.

This must be our 7th year of attending these annual conferences and this year we had been invited as speakers!

Recognising the need to develop their stream on Under Fives ministry, the Conference offered a number of seminars for those working with babies to pre-schoolers and we presented sessions on

• Easy Activities with the Under fives (crafts and creativity) W5
• Connecting with Community through Under Fives' Groups E2
• Nurturing Spirituality with the Under Fives E6

You can download notes and order the recorded presentations on CD (quoting the reference code) from the Children's Ministry website.

It was great to see our friend, Jo Gordon of 'Daniel's Den', Wembley, presenting a session on pre-school groups in a multi cultural setting and to meet Susie Poole, the illustrator and now, recording artist who was promoting CD's and her range of beautiful books through 'Pupfish'.

We were also delighted to meet up with Naomi Buckler, the Playtime Project Manager with Care For The Family. There is a Playtime conference coming up in Feltham (near Heathrow) on May 12th.

Julia Plaut -musician and producer of 'God's Wonderful World' and 'Thank you God For Snails' (must have CD's) was there too and she has just released another CD of music for the under fives called 'Jumping for God' You will remember Julia's presentations if you attended our March 2006 conference.

We displayed craft examples and resources in the foyer of the venue and it was good to be there for delegates to hear about our prayer network and ideas.

There was time to join in the collective worship and to attend seminars for our own encouragement too and to meet friends who we see at these events on an annual basis (and to have a walk along the prom on a mild January afternoon!) Of course, plenty of time to share and chat as we spent time together with friends away from our usual surroundings.

It was great to be part of a bigger picture and we felt blessed that there was a voice for the tiny tots work at this national conference. Lets pray that we can return next year to encourage those working with the Under Fives.'