How prayer and a warm welcome are the key to sharing Jesus with toddlers and their carers
About Evangelical Alliance
The Evangelical Alliance joins
together hundreds of organisations,
thousands of churches and tens of
thousands of individuals to make
Jesus known.
Representing our members since
1846, the Evangelical Alliance is the
oldest and largest evangelical unity
movement in the UK.
United in mission and voice, we exist
to serve and strengthen the work of
the church in our communities and
throughout society.
Featured Resources
00:04
It was one of my friends,
through my daughter's school,
00:07
recommended this play group.
00:09
I'm not a Christian,
00:10
I don't have any religious
beliefs, personally.
00:12
I suppose I was little
bit hesitant at first,
00:15
just wondering about the
content of the sessions.
00:17
Just curious, I suppose, as
to how much Bible stories
00:21
or the Christian messages
00:23
would be prevalent
throughout the sessions.
00:26
But actually,
00:27
I found it was all very
measured, very age appropriate.
00:32
Nothing ever felt forced onto me.
00:35
The welcome really did put me at ease,
00:38
and it made me feel that
this was just a kind of
00:41
exemplary play group.
00:48
I think people value,
00:48
in a toddler group, a really warm welcome.
00:51
That it's obviously
quite a daunting thing,
00:52
when you walk into a group for a new time,
00:54
and for the first time,
00:56
that there's someone there to greet you,
00:57
to explain the situation,
00:59
explain how the morning
or the afternoon runs,
01:02
and just to make you feel
welcome into a new environment.
01:06
You get to know other parents,
01:08
and I pretty much know all
the children's names as well.
01:11
And it's a great
opportunity for evangelism.
01:13
We can just chat to people,
01:14
and they're actually in a
church environment thinking,
01:16
"They've made us feel welcome."
01:18
"This is nice."
01:18
"And these people seem
quite normal, this is fun."
01:20
That, I think, that's essential.
01:22
The other thing that
was really striking was
01:24
the warmth of the welcome.
01:26
How genuinely interested Lucy,
01:28
and the other ladies that we met,
01:30
seemed to be in myself
and in my daughters.
01:33
Everyone made an effort to talk,
01:35
not just to me, but to my girls as well,
01:38
which I thought was a really nice touch.
01:39
The fact that it's so friendly,
01:42
it makes the Bible accessible,
01:44
and I really like the fact
that my children can come along
01:46
and hear Bible stories,
01:48
as well as just socialising
with little people,
01:52
and I get to come along,
01:53
have a nice cup of tea
with my friends too.
01:55
We love the fact that
it's really interactive,
01:56
and great fun.
01:58
You like the craft at the end.
02:03
I think the greatest
thing for any church to do
02:05
is to be praying for the
group to get behind them,
02:08
even though not the whole
church can be here every day,
02:11
they can pray.
02:12
I think this one's different
and it really stands out,
02:14
because of the warmth of the people here.
02:16
You can't forget that.
02:17
I know I've spoken about it quite a lot,
02:19
but the fact that everyone
is warm, and genuine,
02:21
and interested,
02:22
makes a huge difference.
02:24
It almost makes you want to
have another child, but--
02:27
I think my other half
02:29
would have something to say about that.
February 2020
From
Evangelical Alliance
Topics
Early years
Children
Community events / engagement
Families
From
Evangelical Alliance
Topics
Early years
Children
Community events / engagement
Families
This story was produced by the Evangelical Alliance with the support of
