SANSSA Training Blog

(By Brenda Groeneveld)
This morning 5 of our Sunday School teachers attended a SANSSA (South African National Sunday School Association) Training morning. Jean Geerthsen, a children's pastor from Westview Methodist Church shared thoughts about 'Discipline in Children's Church' and 'Partnering with Parents'. It was a thought-provoking and inspiring morning, bringing together more that 40 people from various churches around Pretoria, who share a passion for teaching children about Jesus.

Jean had some creative ideas regarding discipline in Children's church. We discussed loving firmness and establishing rules that make children feel loved and welcome and safe.

Jean pointed out that one of the trends in parenting these days is to 'out-source' some of our children's training to professionals because we, as parents, feel inadequate or ill-equipped. We send them to Master Maths, OT, Reading Courses, Cricket Academy, remedial programmes, swimming lessons, play therapy... This is all fine and good, until it comes to our children's spiritual development. Jean feels that there is a danger that Sunday School teachers could be seen as the 'professionals' in spiritual development of children. Many parents feel too stretched or ill-equipped to teach their children about the things of God, but feel 'that's okay, at least I send them to Sunday School'. Since the Sunday School teachers see the children for less than 20 hours a year, even if they attend EVERY week, we cannot be the primary source of spirituality for the children of the church. Jean encouraged us to encourage the parents in various ways. Some of them we are doing already. Some of the ideas we will be working on during the year.

Here are some of the ways we feel we can partner with you, as parents, in the spiritual development of your children:

• We encourage parents to make use of the church library. We have some very helpful Christian parenting tools available there. We will continue to look out for great parenting books to stock the library. If you have any Christian parenting books you would like to see there, please let us know.

• We provide Scripture Union Bible Reading notes to aid in all-age Bible devotions. These are available in the foyer of the church at a very reasonable price.

• We recommend Focus on the Family Resources as a trust-worthy source of advice and guidance in Christian Family growth.

• We encourage parents to get to know your children's Sunday School teacher, and also to ask your child what they learned in Sunday School and reinforce it at home.

• We will be sending out more Sunday School Newsletters this year to keep you as parents informed about all that we are doing

• We ask for your prayers as we strive to give God the glory and to share his message of love with the children.

• We will be trying out some other ideas this year too, and would appreciate your advice, questions and suggestions.

Grace Birthday Braai

The year got off to a great start for the members of Grace Presbyterian Church by having a celebratory 3rd Birthday braai.

The Birthday braai got underway after our Sunday Service, Errol and Dave had already got the fires ready so it was all just a question of getting the meat on. One of the families, along with their extended family, just about took up a whole braai on their own ;-).


The afternoon was spent enjoying the warm weather and warm fellowship. The ice-creams, for pudding, were luckily cold and many folks ended up having at least a few more cones than just two!!! So happy third birthday Grace Presby, may you have many many more!

Session wonders at Wonderboom

Today our elders had a get-together at the Wonderboom nature reserve for a time of fellowship and sharing about our vision and strategy for the next cycle of work in our congregations. It was a good time of sharing, catching up and confirming that we were on the right track.

Seeing the Wonderboom was part of the object of the exercise because the tree is an unusual phenomenon which we hope will become a symbol of our endeavours for the next three years.

Here's what has been written about the tree:

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A 5,5 m diameter trunk at the heart of the Wonderboom is the remains of the original wild fig that began growing here over than 1 000 years ago. Branches of this trunk first spread out radically but gradually drooped towards the ground, where they sent out roots from which sprang a circle of new trunks.

In time, two of the offspring produced a third generation. Today the Wonderboom has 13 distinct trunks that cover an area of 1,5 ha. The branches spread over an area of 50 m, and can provide enough shade for over 1 000 people. A typical example of the species Ficus salicifolia? Not so, say the experts.

The wild fig is a hardy tree flourishing in open woodlands, on rocky hills and outcrops, and near streams and rivers. The bark of the young trees is smooth and a pale grey, while the bark of older trees is rougher and darker. The leaves are thick and leathery, and the tiny white fruits, only about 5 mm in diameter, become a yellowish-pink colour when they ripen between August and May.

But while the Ficus salicifolia seldom grows higher than 9 m, the Wonderboom stands taller 23m. In addition to its great height, the way in which it has extended itself makes it an extremely rare natural phenomenon.

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Our time spent there was very meaningful and has confirmed that we as Session believe that we are on the right track in the direction we believe the Lord is taking us in.