Stories for God’s Glory, Waterford
Siochana Kwakuvi shares her ‘Story for God’s Glory’ about the work of the Sunday School in St. Patrick’s Methodist Church, Waterford
In our church, we just resumed our Sunday School for the young children and the Discussion Class for the young people who are currently in secondary school couple weeks ago after the summer holidays. It felt absolutely amazing for me and the other Sunday School teachers at St Patrick’s Methodist Church in County Waterford to see the children learning everything about God and his gracious work in a kid-friendly way with the colouring activities, games and bible readings that is fun and interactive for the children to learn while the main service would go on with the sermons, prayers and the final song before grace. We are also currently encouraging the teenagers for them to be Garda vetted in order for them to help with both schools in the church which will be an amazing opportunity for them to learn from the best people within the community.
The first highlight I absolutely loved as a Sunday School teacher was the nativity play that I was involved with the young children during the Christmas season from last year because after the service, one of my aunties from the church had told me that she was extremely proud of me for being very involved with the church as my great-great grandpa was also involved with the church back in Cameroon – the country my mother was born in which had made me very blessed and happy after I left my first job couple months before that specific service.
The second highlight for me as a Sunday School teacher was when I landed my first volunteering job within the church community which was the Houseparty in Ardfallen, Cork with Heather, Lisa, Joseph and other volunteers on 14th and 15th September with many children from different churches in Ireland because from the very beginning, I was very enthusiastic about the whole program with other people from Sarah Baker to Sonja when we had the Zoom meetings over the course with the planning of the whole thing.
It was a special moment in my life because during the lunch potluck on the final day which was prepared by the people from the church that the Houseparty was taking place for the night, I had the most beautiful conversation with an elderly woman about where I came from and what church I go to every Sunday with my family. My favourite part about the trip was meeting other leaders in person on the first day because everyone was extremely nice to me, for which I am still grateful for that experience.
From my understanding, God has been saying such beautiful messages of proudness, kindness and hopefulness to me personally when it comes to me doing my job as a Sunday School teacher when communicating with the young children and teenagers. For instance, when many people from my local church would come up to me after the service to talk about the impact when I first became a Sunday School teacher for the church last year and The Almighty God had told me that he was overly proud of me for my huge involvement with the church despite only being in my early twenties as an adult!
For me personally, I would love to encourage all of the churches in Ireland to have the younger people including teenagers to suggest some activities and/or ideas they would like to do as a church such as retreats, BBQs and annual sports days because it would be a lovely way for the children to be involved with the church and also, it gives the adults from the churches a massive opportunity to take a break from always suggesting their ideas to the table!
