St John’s Kids Registration Forms
If you haven’t already done so this year, please complete our St John’s Kids Registration form for your child/ren. Keeping details up to date, helps our team communicate well and keep kids safe.
If your child/ren don’t attend our in-person program at the 10am service, please still fill out the form so that we have your details for special events that we run through the year.
Bibles for Bubs
If you had a baby in 2021, the Bible Society would love to gift you with a Storybook Bible now and a full Children’s Bible on your child’s 5th birthday, as well as other gifts each year in between.
Register your baby here and/or pass this on to friends and family who had babies last year.
Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday (a.k.a Pancake Day or Mardi Gras, which translates as Fat Tuesday) falls on 1 March this year.
Shrove Tuesday serves as a reminder we are about to enter the season of Lent – a time of reflection and preparation for Easter. Traditionally, pancakes or similar food items were made the day before Ash Wednesday, to use up any fat/butter, sugar, and eggs in the home – food items that many people fasted from during Lent.
Do you make pancakes to celebrate the day?
If you don’t, you might like to make it a new tradition. If you already do, leverage the occasion to turn your focus on God.
- It’s always good to thank God for things in our lives, but he also wants us to share with him the things we find difficult in life. As you eat your pancakes, use them as a prompt for prayer: Add something sweet (sugar, maple syrup, chocolate spread) to your pancake and thank God for something good in your life. Add something bitter (lemon juice) and tell God something that you are finding difficult.
- As a family, have a discussion about fasting (giving something up) during Lent. Explain to kids that giving something up for Lent can help us focus and depend more on God. It’s a way of saying ‘Jesus, you fulfil my needs better than this thing’. It can also give us an appreciation for all God has given us. Choose things to give up that make an impact but are age appropriate for your child – giving up junk food for six weeks may be manageable; no screen time for six weeks … maybe not! Perhaps try giving up different things for different length periods – no dessert for a week, no electronics or complaining for a day. Remember, Lent does not include Sundays, so give yourself a break each week and give thanks.
- Instead of, or as well as, fasting you could ‘Take something up’. What practices would be helpful to you as a family? Depending on your current routine, you could commit to praying and reading the bible more regularly together, keep a prayer diary so that you can look back and see how God has answered prayer, intentionally observe the Sabbath as a family, or begin volunteering as a family.
Ash Wednesday
Following Pancake Day, Wednesday 2nd March is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent.
There will be service at St John’s at 7:30pm, for or a time of reflection and prayer.
At home, you might like to take inspiration from one or more of these family friendly activities:
Have a great week,
Kylie – Children & Families’ Minister
St John’s is committed to Child Safety and welcomes your feedback on how we can keep improving.
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