Children and Families - Scripture Union NZ

How are we doing when it comes to getting to know the children in our local communities? Our research found 60,000 across New Zealand who are involved in activities run in their community by the local church. 40,000 of these children were involved in one-off activities like Light Parties or maybe holiday programmes. The other 20,000 were involved in regular community ministries such as clubs and classes in their local schools or regular after school programmes.  Sixty thousand. That’s the size of Napier! That’s a significant number of children and we can celebrate what we are doing in our communities. The problem is, that while many of these children are attending our programmes, they are not connecting with the churches who are running them. When we asked about those children who have found their way into the life of the church through the church’s community programmes we discovered something sad. 34% of the churches we surveyed had no children join the church as a

PRAYDAY 2015 16 October 2015 This year we have put a big circle around 16th October. We are calling on people all around Aotearoa, New Zealand to choose this day to stop and pray for our schools.  We have lots of great resources on our website to help you:  www.sunz.org.nz/pray-day-2015   And here are a few simple tips to get you started.    Put a note in your diary, set an alarm on your phone, put a post-it note on the fridge. Talk to others. Do you have a prayer partner, a friend, your Bible in Schools or Cool Bananas or SUPAkidz Team?  Decide on a time to meet and pray.  A couple of extra ideas for your church What about asking your church if you can pray for schools during the service on the 18th Oct, or put a notice in the church newsletter.   At church the Sunday before Pray Day, draw up a 24 hour timetable. People sign up for a half hour slot throughout the day and night on Pray Day.   Available on our website: Check out the prayer event Lif