We’ve had an amazing term with Sweaty Church: having fun, playing games and sports, and growing in faith. The spaces available were full very quickly and we’ve had a waiting list for the past few months!
We were fortunate to be able to get some much needed additional volunteer support from local churches who would work with the children every week, leading their team, supporting the children, celebrating them and encouraging growth in their faith. The school where we run our flagship Sweaty Church has such a wonderful Christian feel to its community, coupled with a great relationship with the church next door and other local churches too.
It has been incredible to see the children worship in song together (after not being permitted to sing for a while) and pray together. Their prayers are so beautiful and selfless and has been so wonderful to hear them praying out loud. Our Bible based discussions have gotten deeper with many children and we love hearing their thoughts and the application in their own life.
On our last week of term, we brought the families together with the local church community connected to the school to have a family Sweaty Church. The hall was full and adults were pleased that we weren’t going to make them run around, whilst still giving them an experience of Sweaty Church. It was such a joy to see the children lead their families and local church family in worship, listen to families discuss the importance of Christmas together and see the prayers that they had written together and hung on the tree. We loved seeing the school Christmas tree full of prayers, as did the Headteacher! We were also able to celebrate each child in front of their families and share why we think they are incredible. We had such a positive and encouraging time together, complete with cakes served by local church prayer buddies and baked by our very own Sally, a long-standing team member. Thank you so much to Sally, Paul and Sue who faithfully support the children with us each week! It is such a privilege to be able to worship, discuss and pray with these children so regularly.
