Junior Heroes 2007 report

2007 - Junior Heroes Holiday Bible Week Enfield was set up after Keith and Belinda Coote experienced a similar event in Bishop's Stortford in 2006.

The event in Enfield was held between 12th and 17th August 2007. Oakwood Baptist Church generously supplied the venue for the event, allowing HBW Enfield to use all the church grounds and facilities.

The theme for the week was 'Junior Heroes'. In the lead up to the event, the HBW presentation team attended six schools and took the morning assembly on the theme of HBW. We led the children through the stories of 'heroes' in the Bible.

The shepherd boy David
The boy who gave his loaves and fishes
Samuel
Josiah
Naaman's servant girl

On the Thursday evening many of the children brought their parents to look at their craft work and enjoy an evening in the main tent. Oakwood Baptist Church allowed its grounds and church buildings to be used.

At the beginning of each day an act of worship was held to prepare the leaders for the event. Jenny Deverell (Grange Park Methodist) led the worship and a church leader from five of the many represented churches led us in thoughts for the day. 155 children attended the event with at least 130 each day. Over 50 adults and young people helped with the event, representing 18 different churches. Accommodation was by way of a 100ft by 30 ft marquee and 5 x 15ft by 30 marquees. Music was provided by a six piece band with three vocalists. Richard Brookes (Oakwood Baptist Church) performed the role as site manager and was responsible for the audio/visual support.

HBW began at 9am for the leaders and 9.45am for the children. The children's parent picked them up at 3.15pm, leaving time for the leaders to prepare their tents for the next day.

The children were divided into age groups for some of the day and spent some time together in the main tent. They were led by Jim and Beckie Coote (Highlands, Grange Park Methodist) through the experience of being 'Junior Heroes'. This involved drama and music. Sandra Rose (Ponders End Methodist) brought some of her puppet friends along each day.

One of the important areas of HBW Enfield was the prayer team. This was led by Christine Day (Highlands, Grange Park Methodist). They took on the responsibility of helping the children through what may have been their first prayer.

The children were a mixture of 'churched' and 'unchurched', with a large number responding to our presentations in the Enfield Church Schools.

The feeling of community spirit amongst the children and everyone who took a part, no matter how small, was something very special.

I feel HBW achieved its objectives, which were:

To build relationships between the Churches and the Community.
To bring children into a caring and loving environment where they feel valued and where relationships matter.
To present Christian teaching in a relevant way through the various activities.
To encourage the development of social skills and moral values.
To introduce children to Jesus and the Church.
To provide interesting, stimulating and creative activities outside the school environment.
To offer the opportunity to develop new skills and discover positive ways of having fun.
To enable people from various Churches to work together and display true Christian unity.

I am very pleased with the response, especially as this was the first year for Holiday Bible Week Enfield. Now that the event is over, the planning for next year has begun. The thoughts are to open the event to the whole of Enfield and find a venue in the centre of the borough.

Keith Coote
Chair HBW Enfield
1st November 2007