EDUCATION
We believe it is important for anyone
who is interested in the Christian faith
to have plenty of opportunities to learn
more about it, and that all Christians
need to continue to learn on their personal
and communal spiritual journeys.
Our parish brings together people of
all ages, people with a wide range of
church backgrounds, and people at many
different stages of their spiritual growth,
so we aim to provide educational opportunities
that meet a wide range of needs and interests,
and that enable people to learn together.
JUNIOR
CHURCH
We have a Junior Church which meets
at St Cosmus and St Damian Church every
Sunday during school term time at 10
a.m. Our team of Junior Church Leaders
work together to provide a programme
which is flexible enough to reflect the
age profile of the children in the group
at any given time.
All children are welcome:
we are very flexible about starting
age, and parents are welcome to stay
with
younger children during the classes
if they wish to do so.
We usually have about 30 children from
4 to 14 on our books, with perhaps 15-20
attending on a particular Sunday: we
know that a regular weekly commitment
can be difficult for all kinds of reasons – we
do not expect children to come every
week, but we do give prizes for very
good attendance at a special service
once a year!
Some of our special activities including:
•
raising money for a child in India we
support through Action 
Aid – sponsored
cycle rides and an annual bazaar help
with this;
•
leading all age services in church – we
use music (we have our own band and percussion
instruments), drama, art, powerpoint
presentations;
•
occasional social events – an annual
summer party for the children and their
parents is becoming a tradition.
•
organising the annual Crib Service at
4 p.m. on Christmas Eve – which
is always one of the best attended services
of the year.
YOUNG
ADULTS
In addition to Junior Church, we provide
opportunities for young adults:
•
to attend confirmation classes and to
be confirmed if and when this is the
right step for them
•
to contribute to worship in church (e.g.
in the band)
•
to take part in occasional social events
and activities (e.g. ten pin bowling)
ADULT
LEARNING
Some of the opportunities we currently
provide for adult learners include:
•
adult confirmation classes
•
an annual St Cosmus and St Damian Lecture
PLANNING
We have an Education Group which is
seeking to develop a richer parish education
programme and also to encourage our parish
members to become more involved in the
many opportunities available in the local
area – we are very lucky to have
the Franciscan Study Centre and the University
of Kent on our doorstep, the Cathedral,
and lively deanery and diocesan activity
readily available to us.
We conducted a survey of the congregation
to find out what kinds of education the
people who attend our church would like
more of: a large number of people asked
for opportunities to discuss the relationship
between faith and the challenging issues
of contemporary life in small groups.
In other words, people want to talk about
Christian ethics.
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Country
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