Here is an update from one of the new SUPA Clubs. It runs at Edney Road Primary School, with volunteers from Maida Vale Baptist Church. The church also runs a mentoring program through SU at the same school… Exciting news!

“SUPA Club is going well. We had two girls on the first day and last Tuesday (three weeks later) we had 31 kids, a mixture from church kids and mostly non-church kids. they really enjoy what we are doing which is really simple – usually a Bible story with a craft. They have lunch with us so we have them for 40 minutes. Each week we are handing out more permission slips and the kids are coming to the music room to collect them and are keen to invite their friends. I have talked to the Principal because we originally talked about only having 15 kids, but she is happy with the way it is growing and she is supporting it. From SUPA club kids are also connecting with Maida Vale and are coming to Coolkids on Thursday afternoon which is great. Isla is coming out to see us next term.” Robyn Douglas, Maida Vale BC

Spent the last fortnight on leave, which was a great time for renewal and refreshment but while on my break I watched a documentary called “Risking our Kids” on ABC1. You can check it out here. The documentary focused on the work of Fiona Stanley and her belief that our children and young people are in the midst on a crisis.

Amongst our affluence our children will more than likely live shorter lives than we will. Childhood rates of diabetes, respiratory disease, obesity and behavioural disorders are on the increase, one in four children suffer from mental health issues. Fiona states that “Behind the statistics that I talk about are the tragedies of kids who aren’t going to make it”. One of the key concerns expressed is that this tragedy is being quietly ignored by people and the government, flying under the radar both in terms of funding and strategic intent in planning for the future.

There is some sobering information in the documentary. There is also good news that pro-active involvement with children and young people can make a massive difference in young peoples lives. It was this good news that has me keen to see Christians and the church engage this issue with vigor and passion.

SU England and Wales have put their Sunday School resources online at Lightlive.

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No matter whether we have missional faith communities or we are part of the local church when we get activities up and running we need to put together content and that can be a challenge. Buying resources only goes so far as I always feel that I need to manipulate the content to deliver an appropriate activity. So if this resource can help meet our needs and lets us tailor the content it could be really great!

So far I know that It is free and it helps you design programming for running Children’s and young people’s activities. You can select your team leaders as well and send them emails so it has real potential. My questions include;

How usable will it be?

Will churches pick it up for their programming?

Can it help home based and other groups implement some good programming for their children’s activities?

If you end up using this resource I’d love to hear feedback if you found it useful.