18: Final FAQ

Take a few minutes to review your work with children – practically and spiritually. Maggie Barfield, editor for Tiddlywinks, suggests where to start…

Activity: sorting out your equipment and resources
Organisation: on your own or with other group leaders
All you need: your storage area, a bin, paper and pen, spare boxes with lids, determination and a ruthless streak

• Someone once said, 'Nobody who can read can ever clear out an attic' which rings true to the majority of us 'squirrels'. We hate to throw anything away because 'it might come in useful one day' but I suspect that most of us are hoarding vast quantities of stuff that we will never need – and probably don't even know we have!
• Check through your toy collection. Discard any that are broken and cannot be mended quickly or cheaply; throw away items with sharp edges or missing pieces; check all the pieces of games and puzzles and store them in separate boxes (it can be a fun activity to mix up two jigsaws and then sort them out again but it’s a nuisance to have to do it every time!).
• Go through your art and craft materials. Are you ever going to need 719 empty yoghurt pots? (If you are, could you let me know what for because that's how many I had stacked neatly in my garden shed!) Do any of those felt-tip pens actually work? Will you ever be able to soften that rock-hard modelling clay?
• Dressing up clothes may need cleaning or mending, small world toys are bound to need tidying and sorting out, and books may need repairing.
• Store everything as efficiently as you can and label boxes and shelves so things can be put away in the right places. Train yourself and your helpers to note down anything you're running out of so you can replace it in time.

Activity: assessment of resources
Organisation: on your own or with other group leaders
All you need: paper and pen

• Now that you've got your resources in better condition it will be easier to work out what you need. Start to make a list of replacement toys, books or craft items that would enhance your work with children; add on any extras that, ideally, you would like to have available.
• You've checked the safety and completeness of your resources, but now consider the 'hidden messages'. What sort of pictures are on your jigsaws? Do you have dolls of different ethnic origins; and do you have boy and girl dolls? What sort of image of Jesus will your children get from the pictures on your walls or the illustrations in your book corner?

Activity: stocking and restocking
Organisation: a leader to co-ordinate and organise

• WARNING: Having reached this point, whatever you do, do not put out a general appeal round church, family and friends for more resources for your children's work! You will end up with a miscellaneous assortment of invaluable equipment and total junk, and will have to start the whole process again.
• Put your 'shopping list' into order, grouping what you would like to have in order of importance. Then think about how you can obtain some of them. Here's some ideas to get you started:
  • Ask your church for a budget for your group (there may not be funds available but if you don't ask, no one will know there is a need!)
  • Link up with other leaders who may be running groups for similar age groups on the same premises – can you share equipment and resources? Can you buy in bulk to save on costs?
  • Put a regular (and specific) list of requests in your church newsletter or notice board; only buy things that you cannot get free.
  • Put on a fund-raising activity for specific items of equipment.
  • Join a library to borrow books, videos, music and toys; find out if your local authority runs an equipment loan scheme for voluntary organisations.

Activity: checking your meeting area
All you need: your meeting area, specialist help, as necessary

• Facilities for children's groups can range from the purpose-built fully equipped centre, through the bare school classroom, to someone's front room or the back corner of the church during the service. But wherever you meet, there are features that need to be checked. This is not necessarily your responsibility but you need to know that someone is alert to health and safety issues. Has the building and equipment had a safety check recently?
• Is there enough space? Where are the toilets and are they suitable for your age children? Are food areas clean and safe? Is the room clean and warm/cool enough? What does it smell like? Do you and can you cater for children with special needs? Where is the telephone? How can you leave the building? Do you know what to do in an emergency?
• Are you aware of child protection issues? Has your church developed a scheme of good safe practice for children's workers? Do you know who to go to if you are concerned about anything?
• How adequate are your records? You may know name, address and birthday but do you also know: who to contact in an emergency, who came with the child and where that person will be during your meeting, special needs, food allergies, medical conditions? Do you remember to keep the records up-to-date and to check them before you try certain activities?

Activity: assessing your work with children
Organisation: children's work team, church leaders
All you need: somewhere comfortable where you can meet and think through issues together

• All this assumes your children's work is happening and continuing, but now is also time to take stock of what you are doing and whether it is what God wants you do. Get together with other children's workers and spend some time thinking and praying through your aims for children and assessing how well you are meeting those objectives.
• Review the past year. What has gone well and what didn't work? Enjoy reliving your 'successes' and encourage each other over the 'disasters'. Can you learn from this how to get more of the former and less of the latter? Have children joined or left? Do you know why? What sort of contact do you have with their parents or carers?
• Dream dreams! What would you like to happen in the next year? What are your aims for the group and how can you work towards them? Do you all agree that this is what God wants for your groups and your children? Share your vision and enthusiasm with your fellow leaders and the wider church community. Transform your dreams into reality by making some new year resolutions: these could be 'big' issues like finding new premises; or practical ideas, like all children's workers doing a first aid course; or things that are important to your leaders, perhaps having one morning a month when you can worship with the adult congregation.
• How does the children's work fit in with what happens in the rest of the church? Can you encourage prayer support, with each worker having prayer partners in the church, or the adult congregation making a point of praying for you all while you are leading your groups in a different part of the building? Is your church developing and encouraging new leaders for the future? Do you need to work at relationships between the children's workers and other church leaders?

Activity: taking some time out for 'you'
Organisation: you and God
All you need: some time, peace and quiet

• Well done and thank you! As a children's worker you are giving your time, your energy and your abilities to God. It's seldom a high profile or glamorous job; you may never see the 'fruit' of the 'seeds' you are sowing; you may feel (and be) isolated and unappreciated by the rest of your church but what you are doing is vital and valuable! For the children in your care you are ‘salt’, building a relationship with them and showing them the love of God; and 'light', sharing and helping them learn about God for themselves – and you may be the only person in their lives who is doing that!
• Give yourself a 'spiritual health check'. Are you feeling jaded and drained? You're ‘giving out week’ after week and there's a limit to how long anyone can keep doing that, if they're not also 'taking in' through worship, fellowship, prayer and Bible reading. As a dedicated and committed children's worker you are pouring your efforts into doing the very best you can but it’s not selfish to spend some of your time and energy on yourself and your personal relationship with God.
• Ask if this is still the work that God is calling you to do. The answer will probably be 'yes' but it may be that God wants to move you on to another area of service for him. Perhaps you would benefit from a short break or sabbatical. Try to be open to what God is saying to you.
• If the answer is 'yes', what do you need to move forward? Prayer support? Practical help in getting your equipment ready? Adult helpers? Regular time off? Training (spiritual, Biblical or practical)? What could you do to achieve these? Which is the most important to you? Write this down somewhere will it catch your eye, and work and pray to fulfil your resolution.