When The World Comes To Play - Kate Diwakar (Toddler Pastor)
When the World Comes to Play….
Every Monday and Wednesday morning the whole ground floor of this church becomes a sea of toys, children, parents, carers and grandparents all having fun together. Every week we welcome 110 families and their young children into the church to chat, play, create, sing, make friends and experience the love of a caring community.
By providing families with refreshments and a safe place to play we are able to support them in the amazing task of parenting their little ones. And we do it all with tea/coffee and God’s love…
The Lordswood Hall is set up as a canteen serving coffee and tea to the adults and toast, juice, cheese chunks, raisins, breadsticks and biscuits to the children. The Wentworth Hall is our quiet area with the farm toys, dolls’ house, jigsaws, Lego and craft. And the Main Worship Area - well, it is just full of toys - bikes, trikes, buggies, rockers, a slide, a climbing caterpillar, train sets, cars, diggers, a Home Corner and dressing up clothes, a space rocket and a house made from large cardboard box! We have such fun together.
But Toddlers is about so much more than Toddlers.
It’s not just about toys and tea and playing. It’s about meeting people where they are, loving them, meeting their needs and showing them what true family is.
Toddlers is a major part of the evangelistic life of the church. This is a whole family ministry with the potential to change our community.
Harborne is a multicultural and diverse community and Toddlers reflects this. We have families from France, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Estonia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India and Pakistan as well as all from over Great Britain. At the last count we had 34 different languages spoken at Toddlers and we are able to welcome everyone and support them as they make their home here. Every week new people join us and we befriend them, listen to them, meet them where they are and share God’s love with them.
Through Toddlers we can:
Look out for those in need
Spend time with those who need a listening ear
Offer wisdom and advice to those for whom parenting is new or overwhelming
Through Toddlers we can:
Chat with those who just need to hear that what they are experiencing is normal, whether it is sleepless nights or tantrums from their two year old.
Encourage those who just need to hear that they are doing a good job.
Pray for people. People are so willing to be prayed for and I have never had anyone refuse prayer when I have offered to pray for them.
We run a Parent and Baby Group on Tuesday afternoons providing a welcoming and safe place for up to 20 new parents to meet with each other and chat about life with a small baby and adapting to life as a family.
Our FaithChat Group runs termly for 6 sessions on Tuesday mornings. This is a small group through which Toddler families can attend Parenting Courses, the Start Course or 321 Course (similar to Alpha) talk about life and faith and read the Bible together.
Through Toddlers and our Parent and Baby Group we can:
Receive referrals from Health Visitors and the GP Social prescribing Service.
Refer mums to counselling for post natal depression, breast feeding advice, support for domestic violence and family support.
Run workshops on weaning, Language Development, reading with children, tooth brushing….
Support families in Emergency Accommodation in Birmingham. The Toddler community collects clothes, toys and baby equipment which we donate to resource these families in need.
Refer people to the church’s Bridge Building Ministries like The Crossway, Warm Welcome, Friday Night Cafe, Community Cafe and Recovery.
Through Toddlers we can:
Encourage families to come to church at other times, to other church events, so that they can meet Jesus for themselves. Many Toddler families come to our Light Parties, The Christmas Adventure and our Holiday Club. So many families feel completely at home here because of Toddlers and many of them have started coming to church services as well. This is their church.
Through Toddlers we can do so many things!
But all this could not happen without prayer and without the most amazing team of people.
Toddlers is run each week by a team of committed people dedicated to supporting parents and carers through the trials, strains and joys of caring for young children. I am always amazed that between 9 and 9.45am, on Monday and Tuesday mornings, a steady stream of people arrive at church, each knowing their own particular role, and transform the church building into a welcoming place of toys, tea, coffee and comfort.
Our team is a diverse team ranging from students to parents with Toddlers and children of their own, and those who have retired. There is a job for everyone, even registration jobs and kitchen jobs for those who aren’t keen on small children! Some people help just for a while but many on team have helped for years. One lady was greeted on the High Street a while ago with the words “Oh, you’re the Toddler lady! My son is now 35 years old!” Now that shows commitment!
For our Toddler families whose own family live far away our team provides surrogate aunties, uncles and grandparents. Adults they can know and trust. They wave and smile to each other on the High Street and in Waitrose.
All our team members bring salt and light into the sessions.
The impact of friendship evangelism cannot be underestimated
Toddlers is about so much more than Toddlers!
Prayer underpins all that we do and when Jesus is present this place becomes more than a Toddler Group. It becomes a place where people can meet God.
Do you have time to help people meet God?
Please email katediwakar@stjohnsharborne.org for more information or to enquire about joining our fun team. Thank you.