Since I haven’t written an article since the Christmas update I will try and cover from Feb-April. A lot has been going on but it’s all great stuff so if you have time please read to see what we have been getting up to with our children and families at ACC and in the local community! And if you don’t get chance to read it all just know how thankful I am to so many of you who have prayed, helped in anyway and have chatted to new families and helped make ACC a family where they can belong and be loved.
Hawbush Family Afternoons
Since February we’ve had 2 Family Afternoons at Hawbush Gardens. One in the Feb half term and one in the Easter break! Both events booked up really quickly and were well attended which is always encouraging. For those of you who don’t know what the afternoons are, we partner with Hawbush Community Gardens (run by the wonderful Ken, my dad!). The afternoons are aimed at families who live in the Hawbush area and the hope is to provide free food and activities for families to do together. The afternoons are a great opportunity for us to build relationship with local families and spot needs that we can help meet.
In February, the team ran the event without me as I was away but I heard that they did an amazing job! We had lots of crafts and games and jacket potatoes from Café 105!
At Easter the team did a brilliant job, again having lots of activities and lunch bags made by Harry’s Café. Integrated Plus ran some woodland activities and Top Church training ran some rock painting too! Unfortunately it rained part way through which meant some families left but the ones that stayed had a great time and we had some great conversations.
Pancake Party
We were a little late but we celebrated pancake day by gathering lots of families for games, crafts and pancakes here at ACC. There was a great feel to the afternoon, we had a mix of ACC families and some families we are connected to through things like Tots, Hawbush and friends of friends!
It was a busy afternoon, Paul and Twist joined us and the children listened very attentively even while some of us adults were chatting away in the background! Great connections were made and some of the families have been on a Sunday since the event so that’s really encouraging.
Easter School Visit
On Thursday 24th March, myself, Paul Willmott, Sophie Spree and Lucas Barton ran an Easter afternoon for the Yr1 & 2 classes from Amblecote Primary School. The children walked up to the church, came and sat on the carpet of the main hall and heard from various characters about who Jesus was and what happened when he died. Firstly, we told the children about ACC, about what worship is and what happens in the building. Then the children met the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem on, and the boy who provided the food for feeding the 5000. They spoke about how amazing Jesus was. Then the children heard about Jesus’ betrayal and trial and in response did some colouring. Next the children listened to Jairus’ daughter talk about how Jesus was gone but how if he brought her back to life maybe he could come back to life too. Lastly, Paul summarised how Jesus came back to life and how he loves us all. The children took home their colouring, a book about the easter story and a leaflet for our events.
The children and staff were all really positive about the afternoon. We couldn’t take any pictures but there was around 90 children and 10 staff all listening attentively to the Gospel!
Family Easter Celebration Meal
In partnership with Dudley HAF, we ran a meal and activities for families in the area who are entitled to free school meals. HAF helped fund the afternoon meaning we could pay for the farm on wheels to visit with some of their adorable animals such as a donkey, lambs, bunnies, chicks, rats (yep, they were cute too!). We had a great team who ran a parents café, a lady called Laura ran the catering side with Lyn, we had people running crafts and games and Paul spoke to the families about the Easter message! We also had some wonderful families from ACC join in to help connect with new families and make them feel welcome. The team were EXCELLENT! It was a lot of fun and the families really enjoyed themselves. Every child went home with an Easter story book, some goodies and an Easter Egg (Ray Gibbs organised for us to receive lots of Easter Eggs from Foodbank which was so kind and meant we could give them to families over Easter!!)
Sunday Services- 17th & 24th
On Easter Sunday we had a very celebratory feel to the service. There was some lively songs, Twist, an easter egg hunt upstairs which I hear was quite chaotic but lots of fun (well done to the team who ran this! I told them it would be pretty laid back and easy but I was wrong haha!). Some of you got to witness me tripping up the stairs on the way to introducing the service. The service was eggciting and full of joy and it was great to see it so packed out!
The following Sunday was a Family Easter Service which had more of a family feel but we saw people of all ages attending which was amazing! The reason behind it was we wanted to open up a more laid back accessible service for some of the families who came to our easter events. Despite having a dream that no one turned up, we ended up with a full service which consisted of a mix of all sorts of people. There were around 8 completely new families and I was so pleased to see them enjoying the service and being welcomed in, and to see so many of you chatting to them! Me and Darcie (one of our splash kids!) facilitated the service. It was her first time but she did absolutely amazingly. We did musical statues, worship, gave away prizes, made a craft and reflected together.
Straight after the service we had a picnic upstairs with a buffet and again it was a really lovely afternoon and gave more opportunity for some of the new families to connect in.
Summary!
I want to say a big thank you to everyone who helped over this period! Thank you to those that helped with logistics and constantly moving the chairs for us. Thank you to those that have prayed. Thank you to the team that prepared ALL the crafts, gift bags and equipment for the Easter events. Thank you to the outreach team for holding and planning this all with me. Thank you to the teams that ran the events from refreshments to kitchen prep, to crafts, chatting, and clearing away/setting up. There was such a lovely feel over the whole spread of events and it felt like the church family really came together to love and serve and witness to the goodness of God to so many families.
Roxy 😊