Allerton URC goes Wild with Synod Mission Fund
A holiday club for 5 – 11 year-olds proved so successful for Allerton URC last year using a Small Mission Grant from Synod, that it is running again this summer (2024). Up to forty children attended daily. The title of the club reflected the ecological themes of the week, with a different theme each day. All the activities were designed and resourced to match the themes, even the lunches.
Monday began with ‘Caring for Animals’, focusing on the creation and the activities. Singing, drama, games, memory verses or craft all had an animal theme, such as making bug hotels, playing animal parachutes or running an animal relay.
‘Caring for Trees and Plants’ was the theme for Tuesday. The drama was ‘The Sower and the Seed’, with lots of little seeds participating. The children enjoyed making plant smoothies and edible dirt gardens and the day ended with flower prayers which the children had written on paper, folded, then floated on water. Such excitement was evident as they watched their flowers open, and their prayers became visible.
Wednesday was all about ‘Caring for God’s People’, with children having to put their trust in each other as they participated in blindfold relays and listened to the story of the Good Samaritan. They made their own lunch that day; happy, smiling pizza faces, which went down a treat. In addition, they made prayer candles, kindness rocks and kindness paper chains. Everything was aimed at being kind to one another, including the Kindness Bingo in the afternoon.
‘Weather and Climate’ featured on Thursday and the week ended with ‘Recycling’ on the Friday. All of the recycled items had been put to very good use throughout the week.
The feedback from the children and their families has all been positive, but it would not have been so without the team of people who worked so hard to make it happen.
Eira Kelly, Holiday Club Co-ordinator and Allerton URC Church Secretariat said:
“It was a mammoth venture but with the love of God and his band of helpers, wonderful memories and experiences were created.
“All of the above could not have taken place without the £1300 (Small Mission Grant), we received from Synod, because despite having had a mammoth recycling drive, the cost of resourcing the club and feeding the children used up the entire amount. It was our aim to reach the community spiritually and with love and care for our neighbours. I think this was achieved and we look forward to repeating the outreach work again in Summer 2024.”
For more information about this year’s holiday club see:
Contact Us - Allerton United Reformed Church (allertonurc.org.uk)
Synod Mission Funds
The Synod has set aside £75,000 a year and churches can apply for a large grant of up to £25,000 a project or, using the small grant scheme, for up to £2,500 as many times as required. There are even options for smaller amounts of around £100. Grants are for mission projects, not building projects.
Grants and Funding — URC Mersey (urcmerseysynod.org.uk)