Wednesday 30th April 2008
For Rachel Shearer, being a Christian is a matter of practicalities. Her commitment to helping build up her church's outreach to the young families of Abingdon, in South Oxfordshire, is a prime example of someone living out their faith, as Sally Jarman reports.
St Helen’s Church Centre, Monday morning, and the sound of happy children and chattering parents can be heard before you even open the door. The church’s Baby and Toddler Group is such a popular social event each week for the town’s young families that it has had to expand to two sessions, and a waiting list.
The format is simple. A warm welcome, a chance to meet with old and new friends over a cup of tea (or squash), playtime for the children and, to round it all off, a few familiar songs encouraging everyone to join in.
‘It’s very secular,’ Rachel says. ‘It’s outreach, not overtly Christian. But I think it’s an important place for the church to be, providing part of the support network for parents and carers at a time, with young children, when they can feel so isolated. And it’s enjoyable!’
When Rachel was asked to take on responsibility for the group, five years ago, the situation was not so healthy with numbers dwindling to the point where, she says, its existence was under question; a low in the natural cycle of all drop-in groups.
But the welcome continued just as warmly and, as is often the case, it took just a few new faces to tell all their friends about a great weekly social opportunity they had stumbled upon: ‘and suddenly we had all these babies rolling in’.
Rachel pays tribute to her loyal band of helpers from St Helen’s congregation who, she says, typically come once as a favour then just keep coming, setting up the hall, serving tea, playing with the children and providing a listening ear. A couple of sixth-formers from St Helen’s School, who helped out as part of their community service, enjoyed it so much that they asked to come back again.
Her own speciality is the weekly music spot at the end of the sessions . Although not a trained musician (she studied Botany), she says her family life has always been musical, with lots of singing around the house, and as well as her Baby and Toddler work she helps out with the church choir and runs her own children’s music groups.
Music is a great way of touching the soul, she believes. ‘Music is a key element in engaging with God, whatever age you are. It’s a known fact that babies are extremely sensitive to music, especially sung by someone they know, and for everyone it has the ability to touch the emotions and raise spiritual awareness.
‘I can feel the changes in myself when I sing; the endorphins kick in and cause a natural high, and it’s great to be able to share that, particularly with children because they haven’t yet got those inhibitions that say, only people who are good at it should sing. They get so enthusiastic.
‘Having said that, while two of my children are in the church choir, I daren’t join myself as they would be so embarrassed if I hit a wrong note!’
Delighted by the enthusiasm of the weekly Baby and Toddler groups, Rachel has since looked to encourage whole families to come together through the church, with the emphasis still on welcoming everyone, but introducing a slightly greater connection to the church itself.
Her solution – special one-off events marking celebrations such as Christmas, Easter and Harvest, taking place in the wonderful historic surroundings of St Helen’s. The last Christmas party saw more than 100 people joining in the fun. Each event has been different. But all include crafts, a short talk, a prayer, lots of music and, very importantly, cake.
Rachel explains: ‘I wanted to do something that all members of a family could come to, so we deliberately held the events at weekends. During the week many Dads are working, but when they do come along to the Baby and Toddler sessions they say how much they enjoy it. At the one-off events we’ve even had grandparents. I think the record was six adults coming along with one child!
‘St Helen’s has a wonderful, large, warm, welcoming space since its re-ordering, so it’s a perfect venue to just absorb however many people turn up.
‘The idea is always that we have various activities for everyone to enjoy and, importantly, the children can run around exploring the church and their carers can relax knowing that’s fine.
‘Again, the Christian element is very softly, softly, and the majority of families who come along don’t come to church regularly, but some do; the Children’s area in church keeps having to expand which is great. It’s just good for the church to touch so many lives.’
Rachel’s latest initiative is First Steps, which she has dubbed ‘Sunday School on Mondays’.
Wanting St Helen’s to offer something for 3-5 year olds, who had become too old for the Baby and Toddler Group, she devised a short, more structured series of sessions with a more obviously Christian element, consisting of Bible stories, music and play. Their theme tune is, appropriately, ‘One more step…’
The first trial of five sessions last summer was well received and she now has a regular core of around 10 families attending.
With her own three children (aged between 10 and 18) now off at school, Rachel could be forgiven for wanting to move on from children’s church.
But she says she would love to do still more if resources (human and financial) would allow.
‘My own experience of church as a child was a small village church in Scotland, with no activities at all, and pretty much no other children. No special provision was made for us.
‘The experience of my own children has been much different. We don’t talk about God all the time at home, but they have been absorbed into church life in a way that has kept them interested and attending, from children’s church to the choir.
‘I think it’s so important for churches to really engage with families, whether purely as outreach, or more deeply for those who attend regularly, and if I can help with it in some way I’m happy to.
‘There’s a really lovely phrase in a chorister’s prayer that says something like “May what we sing with our lips we believe in our hearts. Grant that what we believe in our hearts we may show forth in our lives”. That’s really the guiding principle for me.’