I can celebrate
Topics: globally connection, celebration
Your child aged 8-14 is invited to join us in our monthly program, Growing Big Things. This month we will be using games to explore the good changes that has happened in our world over the last 50 years, and we will celebrate by throwing a party!
We will also reflect on the role of leaders in guiding this process and send them some thank you letters.
Learning Goals:
Participants will:
Be able to recognize the good things that have changed in the last 50 years
Write a letter of thank you to our outgoing politicians
Learn that celebration is an important part of loving others well.
Learning Objectives:
Overarching narrative: Celebration is a way of holding onto hope and showing hope to others when its easy to see all that is negative in the world.
Spiritual reflection: How Jesus used celebration to care for others.
Resilience activity: I can celebrate good things in the middle of hard things.
Agency: I can make a difference by writing a letter of thank you to our outgoing politicians.
Each participant is required to bring a hat, closed shoes and a water bottle. There is no need for devices to be used throughout the program.
About the program
Growing Big Things introduces participants to different justice issues that are facing our society and equips them with the skills and knowledge they need to make an age-appropriate difference. Using games, simulation activities, excursions, cultural learning experiences, times of reflection and times of practical advocacy, we hope to introduce them not only to ideas but to practical ways that they can be a positive influence on the world. The program will be a fun way to learn these things while spending time with their friends. At the heart of the program, we believe that change can only be made when we love others well and work “with others” instead of trying to give to or seek justice “for others.”
The program will be organised and facilitated by Stacie from the Walk Humbly Initiative in conjunction with volunteers from the Holy Innocent’s Anglican church parish and others who have been involved with the Walk Humbly Initiative courses. All leaders have undergone child safeguarding checks and training and that they will abide by all the rules and guidelines of the Anglican Faithful service code of conduct at all times.
The leaders of this program are from Christian backgrounds and the Christian values of justice and charity frame our responses to poverty and charity. In response to this, there will be short times of Christian reflective content throughout the program including journaling, imaginative retellings of bible stories, quiet contemplation in nature, meditating on Indigenous Christian artwork, times of silence, explorations of what the Bible has to say about issues of justice and kindness, and spoken/read prayers/poems. Your child will be invited to participate in these activities and invited to share their point of view. However, there is no expectation that you or your child hold a Christian belief or faith, and this is not an ‘evangelistic’ program - that is, it does not aim to change the beliefs of any participants about religion or faith.