Rachel Harley describes how the new congregation STJ Minis based at St James in the City has grown and developed as one of the Joshua Centre communities.
Describe your congregation
I am Rachel Harley and I am employed by our church, St James in the City, with the help of the Joshua Centre, to run STJ Minis. This is a toddler group that meets every week on a Thursday morning in our church building. We aim to provide a fun & welcoming environment for anyone with preschool-aged children. We meet from 10 - 11.30 and provide hot drinks, juice, toast & snacks. We have a large area set out with lots of toys and a craft table where the children can play along with soft toys and mats for babies. From 11 am we sit in a circle and sing a welcome song where we welcome each child by name followed by lots of action songs. This is a great time of celebration where many of the children really come to life! We also have a story bag that the children dip into to find props to help with our story time which follows the singing. Finally, we ask if anyone has anything they want to thank God for or pray for and we sing our prayer song!
In addition to the toddler group session, we also have an optional lunch & discussion group, Minis Extra, 11.30 - 12.15ish that is open to anyone who wants to stay. We provide a healthy lunch for adults and kids and then have someone lead us in a short, interactive, Bible-based session for the adults. During this time, if we have enough members on our Minis team, they play with the kids to give the adults space to engage.
This term we have been having an average of 24 people attending (12 adults and 12 kids). We usually have 4-7 adults along with their children who attend Minis Extra.
During the changeover from Minis to Minis Extra, we often have a member of our worship team to lead a few family worship songs whilst toys are being cleared away and the final lunch preparations are being made.
We mostly meet during term time but we do have some meet-ups over the summer break usually outdoors in a park.
I have three regular volunteers (one student & 2 retired people) along with 1 other person who is an STJ ministry assistant. They are all fabulous! We also have other people from church who sometimes help with lunch, family worship sessions or Minis Extra. We meet at 9 am to set up and pray together and then we have a short time of evaluation & prayer around 1 pm once we’ve cleared up.
How did the parish decide what to do and what the need was?
It was felt that there weren’t many other toddler groups around in the local area that offered both a place to meet and an opportunity to engage with spiritual matters. It was thought that it would be a good way to reach out to people in the local community and offer them a loving, supportive weekly group that cared about them and their children & where friendships could grow, relationships could deepen and conversations about faith happen. I took over running Minis about a year after it had started.
What went well?
We have always had a lot of fun, created a really welcoming environment & been very family-friendly. We regularly have not just mums, but some dads and also grandparents & great-grandparents! We’ve also had quite a number of families from other languages & cultures, currently; from Romania, Italy, Morocco & Peru. It’s been really lovely to see friendships forming & developing between the different families, sometimes people meet up in the week. We also love our holiday meet-ups in the park where we get to meet older siblings, some of who have been a part of Minis themselves.
This coming week, one Minis mum has asked if we could celebrate her daughter’s 2nd birthday during our Minis season because all of her friends are Minis!! For some people, we are the only group that they attend during the week.
Another mum I spoke to recently & asked if she wanted to give any Minis flyers out to her friends. She replied that she had broken ties with all her friends due to them being associated with her life of addiction and she wanted to make a clean start. Attending Minis has been a part of that.
We have people who attend the Minis Extra session regularly. Many of them don’t have any regular church connections. We have read & discussed Scripture together, heard personal testimonies about the difference that God has made in the lives of others, learned about parenting & how to raise Godly children, and prayed together. It’s really exciting to be part of this kingdom work!
One Minis family has joined our church and also regularly attends a Bible Study mid-week group for families. Quite a number of families have joined in with STJ activities & events over the last couple of years.
For another mum who comes from a different religious background, Minis has been a part of her journey towards a new faith which she is still on. She could not be seen to be attending church but she regularly joined in with Minis Extra sessions along without team prayers before & after Minis! She always said how she could feel God’s presence when we prayed for her.
What was difficult?
It was quite a challenging time during Covid. We ran our sessions on zoom but without being able to provide space, toys, drinks or a physical place to visit & relax in, it was quite a different kind of session! We had small numbers but still had regular attendees who said they valued the shape that it gave to their week. I also took the opportunity to include a Bible story or puppet show linked to that week’s theme since we have a whole hour of content.
Establishing a regular team of volunteers has been one of the most challenging things because most people in the church are busy on a Thursday morning. I have spent a huge amount of time on this and have always had to put a lot of extra time into making things work each week due to not having enough people to share the load with. Thankfully I now have a few faithful volunteers who help regularly, along with more support from the church leadership team, so this term I’m finally in a place where I can begin to develop & grow other areas of Minis rather than just keep it going!
What would you do differently?
I’m still not sure how I would have gone about raising a team differently since I felt like I made the most of every opportunity I had! I still have a lot to learn in this area! It was often a struggle fitting everything in that I needed to do but then it has been worthwhile. Maybe ask me this question in a year or two!
What are you looking to do in the future?
Now that we have a more healthy & stable team situation, I can spend a bit more time planning for the future!
One thing I’d like to do is to develop links with some of the local primary schools to promote family events at church for school-aged children and Minis for their younger siblings. Maybe I, along with some of the Minis team, could help out with some assemblies or RE lessons.