Oakworth Methodist Church

Children of all ages are invited to share in the first part of the service at 10.30am and then to go to separate teaching classes where they learn the basics of the Christian faith and the teachings of Jesus through a variety of activities according to their age.

Most weeks they are taught in seperate groups - 'Sunday School' for primary children aged 3 to 7 years and 'Junior Church' for children 7 upwards.  A creche is also available for the very young. 

Every few weeks both groups meet together, especially when they are making displays or props for use in special services.

An 'All Age Worship' service is held on the 2nd Sunday of most months, when the young people stay in for the whole service which is appropriately designed to include everyone.

We also have five 'Praise Services' throughout the year - these are Mothering Sunday, our Sunday School Anniversary (May), 'Pantomime Praise' (July - see below), 'Prizegiving Praise (October) and 'Christmas Praise'.  These modern worship services are led by the young people and often incorporate drama and/or puppets. The young people either play an instrument (we have guitars, saxophone, clarinet, violin and drums when they're all there) or lead the singing, with accompaniment provided on the piano by one of the mums. A number of extra young people from our scout and guide groups often come along to these services, with some of them doing readings or leading prayers which is fantastic. (Photo: 2010 Christmas Praise, with Puppets)

Sunday School and Junior Church break for the main school holidays in July and August, and promotion between classes takes place in September.  Regular attendance is rewarded at the Prizegiving Praise Service.

Puss in Boots (2010) Finale

The event with by far the biggest involvement of our young people in the church is our annual Pantomime every February half-term - see the separate pantomime pages for further information about this.  However as mentioned above, we do have a Pantomime Praise every July which involves as many of the Panto cast as possible, in character, with various extracts from the current year's pantomime included. There is always a Christian theme drawn from the panto script which ties together the extracts and is interleaved with appropriate songs and readings. We are delighted that so many of the parents stay for this service rather than just dropping their children off as so often happens elsewhere.

Contact Ruth Howarth if you have any questions about Sunday School, or David Howarth for questions about the Pantomime.