Training Extra 1 Mission through carer and toddler groups The mission opportunities most churches miss Nick Lear, BUGB If you count up all the people in contact with your church who do not attend a Sunday service, what percentage of those would be parents and carers who attend your toddler group? It is likely that they would form the single largest group of people with whom your church has contact who do not currently attend a Sunday service. It is estimated that between a third and a half of all children in this country aged under-3 attend a toddler group on church premises regularly: that’s around 700,000-800,000 of them! In the 2100 churches in the Baptist Union of Great Britain alone, there are more than 27,500 parents and carers and over 36,000 toddlers, on average, who attend a session each week.
Until recently, Nick was a Mission Adviser for the Baptist Union of Great Britain where he was responsible for BUGB’s National Children’s Strategy. +H LV QRZ 6HQLRU 0LQLVWHU DW Colchester Baptist Church.
7KHVH ÀJXUHV DUH WDNHQ IURP the Open University research paper Pre-school Provision in Baptist Churches by Gill Goodliff, 2006
These statistics raise several important questions if your church has a toddler group. ‡ +RZ PXFK FRQWDFW GRHV \RXU FKXUFK KDYH ZLWK WKHVH SHRSOH" ‡ :KDW GR WKHVH SHRSOH WKLQN DERXW \RXU FKXUFK" ‡ +RZ ZLOO WKHVH SHRSOH FRPH LQWR FRQWDFW ZLWK WKH JRRG QHZV RI -HVXV" ‡ 'R WKH\ IHHO ZHOFRPHG ORYHG VXSSRUWHG DQG DUH WKH\ GHYHORSLQJ D VHQVH RI EHORQJLQJ to the host church? Many churches have toddler groups that meet on their premises. For many parents and FDUHUV WKHVH JURXSV DUH VLJQLĂ€FDQW PRPHQWV LQ WKHLU ZHHN ZKHQ WKH\ FDQ PDNH IULHQGV meet friends, relax and talk about their week. For the children, the groups provide opportunities to play with different toys and other children. Enabling those activities is D JUHDW DLP LQ LWVHOI EXW WKHUH DUH VLJQLĂ€FDQW PLVVLRQ RSSRUWXQLWLHV SURYLGHG E\ WRGGOHU groups with which many churches can engage. The aim of this document is to help explain the opportunities and offer ways in which a toddler group at your church can be D VLJQLĂ€FDQW SDUW RI \RXU FKXUFK¡V PLVVLRQ VWUDWHJ\ Toddler groups as mission activities +DYH D ORRN DW WKH GLDJUDP RSSRVLWH ,Q VLPSOH WHUPV LW GHPRQVWUDWHV WKH LQWHUDFWLRQ EHWZHHQ the church, the children and the carers (often parents, but sometimes grandparents, friends or employed carers) who attend toddler groups run on church premises. Consider the different reasons that these people attend or run ‘traditional’ toddler groups. Children come (usually without choice) and will hopefully enjoy playing with toys they may not have access to at home and interacting with other children. Carers will come to meet others, share stories and experiences and commiserate, get out of the house and perhaps enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. It is also a safe place in which their children can start to learn interpersonal skills. Churches will run groups for a variety of reasons: because they want to provide a service for the local community; because they have always done so; because it seems like there is a need for such a group that the church can meet; or a combination of these.
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Look again at the diagram. Consider what might happen in the areas of overlap in a ‘normal’ toddler group. Churches provide the toys for children to play with, and premises and a structure within which the parents can meet. Parents and children interact with each other and the needs for socialisation are met. The shared aim in the middle of the diagram may be as simple (and profound) as ‘everyone will have a good time’. Now consider the same diagram from the perspective of a church that is seeking to share WKH JRRG QHZV RI -HVXV ZLWK FDUHUV DQG FKLOGUHQ DV SDUW RI D PLVVLRQ VWUDWHJ\ 7KH DFWLYLWLHV Building Blocks Š CATS 2009
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