I thought I should write something about the start of our
kids’ cell group as it has been quite interesting for various reasons. Our
church has a network of cells for adults and for children in homes all over the city.
These are partly for members of the church and partly for outreach. There are
around 300 kids cells, with perhaps 20% of the kids coming regularly to the
church children’s groups on a Sunday, the rest being friends and neighbours of
church members, or part of specific outreach groups that children’s leaders
have started in more outlying areas.
Being a British-Quechua multicultural family, and living in
a mixed area with regards to race, material wealth/poverty, etc. I have been
enthusiastic to start a group in our house that reflects the area and to try and break down
some class and racial barriers. It’s not an easy task. Kids here, as anywhere,
see just as quickly as adults the differences between themselves and others and
they can be pretty mean, but I have seen barriers broken down to some extent at
CORASON and so I know it’s possible.
A lady from the church, Franz, an experienced children’s
leader, is coming each week to lead the
Bible teaching (using materials from Brazil, from where our church was
planted), while I am responsible for inviting the kids, playing some games with
them, doing art/craft and providing refreshments. I’m also teaching some fun
songs from an English-teaching CD set as
learning English is always an attraction. I’ve told them they can bring English
homework along if they need help, but so far just one girl has brought
something.A couple of days before the first meeting, I gave out invitations to kids I know locally, plus a few others I met on the street nearby. This resulted in 13 visiting kids coming along so that was an encouraging start. A couple of days before the second meeting, I gave out invitations to these kids again (or at least those who had managed to give me an address I could find) plus a few more I met on the street. This resulted in 23 visiting kids (27 in total with our 4)! The third week I decided not to give out any more invitations and see who turned up.
Our third Friday was a complicated afternoon for two
reasons: ( 1) We had realised, due to a doubling of our water bill for May,
that there was a water leak in the pipe that brings water into the house. Since
all the pipes are cemented in under the floor the best solution was for the
plumber to dig channels in the wall round one side of the lounge, through the
downstairs toilet and along the long wall in the kitchen. New pipes could then
be fitted from the tap outside to the sink. At 4 o’clock the plumber had finished all the
digging out but you can imagine how the lounge looked! (2)The girls needed to
visit the social worker for the final appointment of the two year process, and
she decided that 4pm on Friday was when they should go to her office. The
office is about 45 minutes away so Roland had the choice of helping to run the
cell group while I took them, or taking them himself. So he took them but that
meant that I would be on my own with all the kids for up to an hour until Franz
from church arrived to lead the Bible section, plus the plumber and the mess to
sort out. Oh, and the plumber had cut off the water supply to the kitchen,
including the tap with the water filter for drinking water. Fortunately I had
already made a jug of juice and the downstairs toilet was still working!
At 4:10pm I was reading a book with Ben sitting in the
passage just outside the house (best place for sun at that time of day, it’s
cold indoors) when the first kids arrived – a family of 4 that includes a 3
year old and a 1 year old, looked after by their 6 and 8 year old brother and
sister. I told them they could listen to the story too. About 5 minutes later another
couple of boys arrived who also joined in listening to Ben’s story. By 4:20pm I
decided to give up with the story and get a ball and our home made skittles out
(the big yogurt bottles here make good skittles or cones for games). The
plumber was staggering in and out of the house with rubble and by 4:30pm the
lounge was ready to be put back to normal, with the dug-out wall mostly hidden
behind furniture. I then quickly spread out a simple craft on the dining table
(a basic cut and stick rainbow activity – it was Cusco’s anniversary week and
we have a rainbow coloured flag). This was a bit calmer than the skittles
activity and occupied all 8 or 10 kids that had by now arrived, Sammy and I
helping the 3 and 1 year olds who didn’t get very far on their own.
By 4:45pm Franz had arrived, thankfully a bit earlier than
normal (she comes straight from work in town) and so by 5pm we were ready to
start with the English songs and then she did the Bible story. A few older
girls (11 and 12) arrived at the last minute and I’m still trying to figure out
where they come from. They walk home from school near our house but I think
they then catch a bus to an area a couple of miles away. We really need to
divide the group in two since we have more kids than we expected and a rather
crazy age range! We said 4 to 9s on the invitation, but no one takes much
notice of age groups here so I’m not surprised we’ve ended up with 1 to 12 year
olds.
For the fourth meeting I decided to go round with
invitations again (in the form of memory verse sheets this time), having
ascertained where a large proportion of the kids live. Sammy came with me – the
last time he did this he was about 1 and in a pushchair, accompanying me and
Tom on our Eastbourne Kidz Klub round! (Tom and I visited kids in Eastbourne
weekly for 6 years, finishing when Tom went to Uni and we came to Peru.) The
Kidz Klub that Kings Church used to run continues to send ripples round the
world – the weekly visiting and memory verse/ information sheets are key
strategies – very simple, perhaps obvious, but very effective.
This time the first kids arrived at 4:05pm – it’s getting
earlier each week. They were three girls that have come every week so we let
them in and gave them a pile of books to look at while I finished getting the
room ready (certain things have to be moved to make space for 20+ kids). Sammy
helped with registration and preparing sandwiches with Roland. Ben sat outside
hoping that his friend from school would come for the first time – thankfully
he did, together with a friend of Hilda’s who came on week 2. Once about 10 kids
had arrived I put the playdough and tools out on the table, which they
absolutely loved. About this time Franz rang to say she had a bad throat and
could hardly speak so could I lead the Bible section? Fortunately I had purchased the book of
resources the church uses for kids’ cells during the week and more or less knew
what it was about! The session went well with ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’
as the English song and a lively song from church. (Katy likes to help lead
these!) Ben and Hilda’s friends seemed to get on OK, although we have some work
to do to help the kids get to know each other as they are from a variety of
different schools. Although they live fairly close to each other, they don’t
know each other on the whole. Total kids this week: 23, including 3 new ones.
Next task is to find the homes of a few kids that I haven’t
been able to locate yet and start to get to know their families. Plus, with a
couple of children now coming from Ben and Hilda’s class, I think it will make
it easier to invite more from their school. I also want to read up a bit on
children’s cell groups and think about the distinctives of a cell group as
opposed to a Sunday kids’ group at church.
3 Month Update
We are now 3 months in and numbers have stayed high, the
record being 32. We have 8 regular kids between 10 and 15 years old and they
have become leaders for small groups of 3 or 4 children, the idea being to give
the older ones some responsibility and to mix the kids up for certain games and
activities so that they get to know each other better. We have had a very small
puppy attend a few times, but he did start to become rather disruptive so I
think he will be staying at home from now on. The mouse that came one week was
quite well behaved but I am a little afraid someone will bring a cat sometime,
which could be difficult. The one year old fell asleep again last week and I
ended up carrying him home as he is a bit heavy for his 8 year old sister. It’s
a fun group to lead and there’s never a dull moment!
