This past year we were sad to see the departure of several families, but the Lord has opened the door for some new families to arrive and we were very happy to welcome them. With some new children and even teachers, we have been able to continue this precious work of teaching the Word of the Lord and helping to lead our little ones to know God in a personal way. Seeing their eager, smiling faces on Sunday mornings makes this children’s ministry so fulfilling.

1. Attendance

Since last September, we had anywhere from 3 to 17 children attending during services, with ages from 5 to 12. At times this made it difficult to plan the lessons, but we were able to adapt. Recently a youth group has been started in the church, so 3 of the older ones in Sunday School have joined the pre-teen group. We now have 6 to 10 children who attend regularly, from the ages of 5 to 10.

We were glad to have the following children:

4-6 years old Hannah Myriam, Jean-Paul, Manina, Mathilda

7-10 years old Jidé, Camille, Hugo, Samuel, Daniel L., Anaëlle, Daniel, Jessica, Cossette, Thomas, Raphaël, Ornella, Hugo, Olivia

11-12 years old Mimi, Victorya, Lewis

2. Teaching Language

Based on the decision made during the last meeting in October 2009, the lessons are now taught mainly in French, (with an English-speaking assistant).This was because many of the children understand little or no English and our aim is not to teach them English, but to bring them to know God. Those who speak English are in fact bilingual, so this is not a problem and they are very flexible.

3. A Typical Lesson Plan

-Prayer to thank the Lord and to focus on His message -Introduction -Song -Bible Lesson highlighting a biblical truth -Manual Activity to reinforce the lesson that has been taught -Memory verses – important focus because the verses you learn in your childhood are often the ones you remember most in your life.

4. Curriculum

We are now using Book 2 of the Series “On the Way”, “Sur le Chemin”. This month the theme is about Jesus’ divine authority over sin, sickness, nature, death... In taking a closer look at who Jesus is, the children will know Him better and will be led to love and obey Him as their personal Savior.

5. Christmas Play

In December we were delighted to present a Christmas Play brilliantly directed by Dona Diehl. Fifteen children happily participated. Sometimes is was a bit hard to contain the kids’ energies during rehearsals, but on show day, the Holy Spirit really helped everyone to do their best and give such a beautiful witness of the real meaning of Christmas.

6. Teaching Team

We are blessed to have a dynamic group of teachers, all with a heart for Jesus:

Dona, David, Fred, Montserrat, Jean-Philippe, Maryse, Cécile, and Lilia.

7. Prayer and Support

We know that it is a privilege and a responsibility to teach children about the Lord. However this work cannot be done alone and needs the continued guidance of parents as well as the support of the congregation. Please keep us in your prayers to have the love, patience and wisdom to guide the children that the Lord has confided us. And may they have a true hunger and thirst to know God and walk with Him daily.

Lilia Ledent April 2010

St Marc's crèche Report 2009-2010

St Marc's crèche is rather improperly named, because it includes children up to the age of 5. We do not have enough children to have separate "babies" and "maternelles" groups.

We lost a most important family at the end of last school year. Connie was a wonderful teacher, and Donovan also was a very active little member ! However, the Lewis family has now returned ! I never cease to wonder at God's provision for our sunday school. Invariably when teachers leave He provides new ones !

Since the Rentrée, we have had the following children on a regular basis : Eva and Jessica, Joshua, Mathilda and Williams, Rhiannan and (more rarely) Gabriel.

The crèche is staffed by "pairs" of teacher/helper. We endeavour to have both french and english spoken.

Our staff is currently : Carine, Juliette, Craig, Elizabeth, Alison, Lilan, Stephanie S-K, Shona, with valuable help from Maureen when someone is absent. Each pair of teacher/helper is on duty once a month.

In 2008/ 2009 the decision was made to teach the older (above 2) children. This was done with some material brought in the US, which the children appreciated.

However, given the number of children speaking no english, together with the sunday school, we aquired material from TNT ministries which is published in both french and english.

Generally, the teacher will lead the lesson with the older children, and the helper will take care of the babies, but sometimes both do both.

The lessons are well adapted to very small children, and bring home a simple message every week, and generally something to bring home. Sometimes (when there are nearly no children) we leave the lesson to the next week, this explains that we are only about half way through book one of our "first steps" course !

About half the crèche time is taken by the lesson, then we play. Sometimes the children teach us games ! Sometimes we have a goûter.

We sometimes wonder what exactly the children take on board, but we believe it is never too early to talk of God and Jesus to them, and that it will be a grounding, along with what they hear from their parents. To us it is a great challenge to try and express ourselves in a way understandable to small children, to make them participate as much as possible, and develop a good relationship with them. We pray for all our children and families.

Elizabeth Cherhal-Cleverly April 2010