Starship Discovery

This week Madi has been attending a Holiday Club at the Methodist Church, aiming to provide 'a fun, informative and action packed bible based programme of events'.

I was not brought up with any religion myself, and as parents we were agreed that we would not enforce our own (differing) beliefs on our children, but allow them to explore faith and spirituality and reach their own decisions.

Before we moved house, JK was a chorister at our local Church, and attended a maintained Church of England school. He therefore has experience of many Christian customs and practices, what to expect to see and do in a Church, and some knowledge of the Bible. It has occurred to me recently that although we have made visits to learn more about Buddhism, Islam and Judaism over the past year, and followed these up with reading, talking and more, it has not really occurred to me to look at Christianity with Madi.

The Starship Discovery Holiday Club seemed to provide an ideal opportunity for this. Through singing and dancing, puppetry, stories and crafts, Madi has learnt a number Bible stories over the week, including memorising several verses, and particularly more about what it means to be a Christian. Each day she has come home with a worksheet with puzzles, games and colouring and has sat herself down (I wanted to say 'religiously' here!) every afternoon to enthusiastically complete what she describes as her 'homework'.

On Friday, after we had dropped off her friend, she was quiet, so I asked her if anything was wrong. She explained that they had been asked if they wanted to be Christians, and that she was worried they would think she was ungrateful or a bad person because she hadn't said yes. She went on that she had really enjoyed the week, but that she didn't know enough about it yet, or about 'all the other religions' to make a decision! A very proud parent moment for me!

We talked about what she had said, and agreed that she would make a proper 'Thank You' card for them to make sure the leaders knew that she really appreciated them giving up their time and that she had enjoyed herself very much and had learnt a lot and would like to learn more. We also agreed that she didn't have to make this decision yet, or ever, if she didn't want to.