Our young people are hugely valued for the significant contribution they make to the life of St Marks. Whether part of the weekly 'Sunday Children' programme, or contributing to the highly popular family services on the 2nd Sunday of each month, there is a wide range of activates for them to enjoy.

Sunday Children coincides with the 10 am Service, and after a few minutes with family and wider congregation the children go to their own short service of praise music and prayer. There is also an opportunity to be updated on Christian Blind Mission, which is a charity the children have supported for many years.

Then it's off to their respective groups for about 40 minutes of craft, stories, drama, video and discussion based upon the day's theme. The leaders currently use the highly imaginative Light materials and resources developed by Scripture Union, and which are designed specifically with the following groups and age ranges:

This is the group and that spans the pre and early teenage years and encourages young people with the challenge of having a personal Christian faith in contemporary society.

Lazers also team up with the Youth Group at St Leonard's Oakley on joint ventures such as attending Soul Survivor - Britain's premium Summer Christian Festival in Somerset. See www.soulsurvivor.com/ for further details.

The children and leaders all come back into the church to receive a blessing when there is a Holy Communion Service. This also provides an opportunity to share with the wider congregation something of what they have made or learnt during their time together. This could be a craft activity, a memory verse or a short piece of drama. Book Prizes, and tokens for the older children to spend on music and other resources from the church's own bookshop, are awarded after 15 attendances.

Meetings continue during half-terms, however, there is normally a 2 week break at Christmas, a week at Easter and 5 weeks in the summer.

Please note: All activities are carefully planned and closely supervised with experienced children's leaders, who have the appropriate CRB clearance.

Generally, The Message meets on a Sunday but sometimes on an alternative night depending on when we can make it! We meet at Debbie and Chris’s house from 8pm to 10pm (ish!). The age range is year 10 upwards.

If you chose to come along you are in for a wide range of discussions which link our lives to our Christian beliefs. We raise money for different causes in various ways, for example we have done two quizzes to raise money for 'Send a Cow' and 'Stop the Traffik'. We raised £320 and £143 respectively. At different times of the year we have a bonfire & fireworks or bbq get together. Last year at our Summer bar-b-q, we played games in the garden until it was dark, a bit tricky , especially when we were playing hot chocolate ( which is basically the same as 'What's the time Mr Wolf ?' ) bit difficult when you can't actually see the person let alone whether they are moving or not !!!! If you are coming to The Message you have to consume vast amounts of food, generally pizza!

SCAMPS Just to confirm "we meet every 1st Tuesday of the month in Church. Adults and children joining together for short songs and stories centred on the Bible. Age range is from 0 - 60 ish! The worship is geared to pre-school children and their accompanying adult. A very good way to introduce very young children to "church".

Most of the major themes from the Christian Year are covered and we use art-work and models made during Chat'n' Play to help us with our worship.

The session finishes at 12.00 in time for lunch!"

Chat ‘n’ Play is an informal group for pre-school children and babies and their mothers, fathers or carers. It is run by the mothers themselves with a group of mothers coordinating the arrangements. It is open to all in the community who want somewhere for their children to mix and play with others and to meet other families.

The group meets every Tuesday morning in term time, from 10am to 12pm, in St Mark’s Church. There is a charge of £1 per adult, regardless of the age or number of children they bring along. This includes a drink and a biscuit for the adults and the children.

There are toys, books and puzzles to suit all ages. In addition there is always some sort of craft activity for the children to try out. At the end of each session there is either song time or a short pram service. This is called SCAMPS, and is designed with young children in mind and it is held on the first Tuesday of the month.

For further information please contact

Denise Sherrington – Tel No. 332258 or denise_ds@hotmail.com

St Marks Church Office – Tel. No. 840502