Yesterday and Today - Nurture !
a more detailed insight into some aspects of Mission life
Nurture
Youth work Jean Tomlinson writes... The care and nurture of children and young people has always been an important part of Bold Street Life and many dedicated have people have worked both in the Sunday School - now called Junior Church - and in midweek groups.
Junior Church - The Sunday School As we look back on the work of the Sunday School, it's hard to believe how things change and it is certainly true that things go full circle. The roots of the present Junior Church go back to Buttermarket Street and 1817 when children, boys and girls, were taught reading and writing as well as religious teaching. Education has moved on apace since those early days, but the important part played by Sunday School must not be forgotten. You may think that with modem education there is little or no need for Sunday Schools today - how wrong you'd be; in some respects the role of Sunday School is more important than ever. We live in a multiracial, multicultural age and our State Day Schools are unable to teach 'faith' of any variety. So the work done week by week of teaching about Jesus, his disciples and the works of the early Christian Church and its relevance to today we vitally important and we fail to do this at our cost. When I was in Sunday School over 50 years ago, teachers could be seen every week wending their way to Bold Street from Latchford, Howley and Bewsey, picking up children on the way; it was fun to go with "Auntie Amy". Today we need every Church member to encourage the children in their family, their friends and neighbours children to come to Junior Church, we have good fun and enjoy learning about Jesus and the relevance and influence his life and teaching has for us. We are never too young or too old to learn, the tragedy is when we fail to respond, long may Bold Street continue its fine tradition of Christian teaching.
Shell Group The Shell Group was the social arm of the Junior Church and gave the teachers the opportunity to meet the children in a less formal setting and become their friends. Youngsters between seven and thirteen enjoyed a wide range of activities and also brought their friends with them who did not normally attend on Sundays. Highlights were Pancake Days and Bonfires! However, there was also a serious side to the programme, building on what had already been learned on Sundays and giving the children opportunity to be involved with outside projects, such as hosting an evening for children from a Romanian orphanage and they also accepted the challenge of District Sports Days. Sadly as numbers declined Shell Group was disbanded in 1999 until there are more children in that age group once again.
Methodist Association of Youth Clubs In 1945, as World War II came to a close a man of vision felt moved to bring together young people throughout Methodism and unite them with a common cause and aim. His name was the Revd Douglas Griffiths - his job, Youth Secretary at the Education and Youth Dept in London. Because of his commitment and dogged determination MAYC was born and among it's founder members was Bold St Methodist Youth Club. (see the Links Page) Over the years many young people have made friends, met their future partners and enjoyed the sports and recreational activities we were able to provide. More recently we have opened the Bold Street Club to the Circuit and young people enjoy music & dance, table tennis, pool, basketball and badminton, favourite trips include - Blackpool for the Illuminations and Funfair, Stoke for swimming and water discos, LA (Bowl) for bowling and of course "London Weekends". Membership of MAYC is not only for fun things. Our members have slept out in Queen's Gardens in December to highlight the plight of the homeless, walked a groove in the towpath between Moore and Lymm for Christian Aid, and written to Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Robin Cook, to name but a few, in support of "The Debt Campaign". We've boycotted Nescafe products because of their unethical activities in Third World Countries with regards to baby milk products, we've raised money to build, staff and run a school in New Guinea and a hospital and school in the Solomon Islands.
The Wesley Guild Iris Russell writes... Wesley Guild Fellowships have been around in Methodism since 1896 and play an integral role in the spiritual and social development of the church. The aim of the Guild is to help train people in leadership and it is often the initial teaching place for those who want to go on to preach the gospel. It was originally set up as a young people's meeting, later being recommended as a meeting for the whole family. Every fellowship programme was to be divided into 4 sections, Devotional, Literary (Cultural), Social and Musical, and Christian Service, each section had a Secretary and Committee. There was also to be a Look-out committee. During the Guild Season, the Committee for each section would arrange monthly meetings focusing on their areas. The Committee who oversaw the outlook section focused on attracting new members to the Guild and also on the welfare of the existing members. As far as records can tell, Bold Street was one of the earliest Methodist churches in the country to open up a Guild Fellowship and it has more than withstood the test of time. Just four years ago, Bold Street celebrated the Guild's centenary with a candle light dinner attended by all the Church members and a sprinkling of former "Guilders" who had moved on to pastures new. The Guild has always been very active within our church and records show that we have had 34 people attending the seasonal meetings, although the numbers are lower than this today. For many years both a Junior and Senior Guild met but the former ceased to meet some years ago. Whilst our present meetings do not have a Committee for the individual sections, we still have the principals of Guild Fellowship at the core of our meetings. The Guild season runs from autumn to the spring: and we meet once a week. In addition we have held a wide range of meetings, including At Home evenings, Guild Weekends, Beetle Drives, Fashion Shows and Coffee Evenings. We have devotional meetings at least once a month during our season and have been able to attract guest speakers on a variety of different topics. We have a tremendous spirit and fellowship at our meetings and they have proven to be both beneficial and inspirational to our members. Our hope is that we will grow and develop both spiritually and socially and in doing so increase our membership to continue our existence long into this century.
Women's Meetings The women of Bold Street have always had their own meetings as well as joining in the general church activities. ln the days when few women went out to work they had free time which they willingly spent in church activities. Probably the most supported, and certainly the longest running women's meeting was the Sisterhood, a weekday devotional meeting with a variety of speakers. It was later renamed Women's Fellowship, which continued to meet until recently . A Young Wives group was formed in the 70s, later becoming the Ladies Circle as several of the group were no longer 'young' and several were unmarried. After some time when pressure of other commitments led to a decline in membership regular meetings ceased, and those who were left were mostly absorbed in the Network Committee. Bold Street was also very active in Women's Work, the women's branch of the Methodist Missionary Society which used to raise money to help women working overseas and which has now been absorbed in Network. For many years a Sewing Class met where the ladies made things to sell either to their friends or at church Bazaars with the sole aim of raising hinds for the church. Less well known was the Shilling Group, a group of ladies who took it in turns to provide a meal at their home for the rest of the group. Everyone paid a shilling for their meal and the proceeds were used to buy crockery etc. for Bold Street.
Nowadays Network is the umbrella title for all women's activities in the Methodist Church. It has its own magazine, Magnet which is informative, suggests orders of service for special times such as Easter and Christmas, and lists resources available to local groups. Quite a number of Bold Street women support and help to organise the events in our own church and circuit, which raise money for the annual Network Project and some attend District Days and conferences where they can widen their knowledge and share fellowship with other like-minded women. They are also able to support work with partners in the Methodist Church around the world.
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