ANNETTE OSBORNE | SUNZ Children & Families Consultant
At the beginning of 2021 Scripture Union NZ (SUNZ) launched Thrive, a new resource to help the church think through faith formation with children and young people. Thrive has been a really effective way to help churches look at what is important as they move forward into a ‘new normal’ with the changes that COVID-19 has bought here in New Zealand. Over the course of the year, we have walked alongside a small number of churches, supporting them to create a workable plan and to begin to put it into action. We began by bringing the whole church together to look at the eight important strategies for faith formation. From this, we have guided each church to prioritise two or more key areas to work on, with resourcing and training as required. SUNZ has been able to provide ongoing support and encouragement, acknowledging that keeping momentum going in a Covid world can be a challenge. Here is what one church leader had to say: “I’d like to thank you profusely for the very meaningful workshop you provided... I’ve met with the leadership last week and have their blessing to proceed with a
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working group tasked with incorporating strategies from Thrive for this year. [This group] all have unique gifts that I hope will make us a dynamic and cohesive group for change.” Faith formation is not primarily about numbers. It is not measured by how many seats are full on a Sunday morning. But we do know from statistics and anecdotal evidence that an increasing number of children and young people are disengaging from church, and we want to see this trend turned around. We long to see healthy churches, where children, young people and their families are thriving in their faith. We would love to talk with your church about THRIVE, and how we can best support you and your community with the faith formation of your children and young people. ____ We have limited spaces available for 2022. Contact liz.e@sunz.org.nz now to find out more.
