The second annual Jump Conference is coming up on April 23rd 2016, at Oldmachar Church in the Bridge of Don, Aberdeen. Building on the success of last years’ event we are delighted to welcome Jo Squires, head of BIG Ministries, to be our main speaker this year. In addition we are excited to have Mark Cameron and his band from Ps & Gs church in Edinburgh coming up to lead our worship!

This year our focus is: ‘Jump in with Confidence!’ and Jo will be speaking on how we can be confident in our calling to work with children. In addition, we have put together a full schedule of workshops, covering a wide range of topics, with the focus on practical ideas for encouraging, inspiring, and equipping you, whatever your role with children may be.

Jump Conference Day Schedule

• 9:30-10am: Registration
• 10:00-11:30am: Main Session 1: “Jumping In With Confidence”
• 11:30-11:45am: Coffee Break
• 11:45am-12:30pm: Workshop Block 1
• 12:30-1:30pm: Lunch
• 1:30-2:15pm: Workshop Block 2
• 2:15-3:00pm: Workshop Block 3
• 3:00-3:15pm: Coffee Break
• 3:15-4:30pm: Main Session 2: “Swimming With Confidence”

Main Sessions

Morning Session – Jumping In With Confidence: “How do we hear God’s call? Are we sure that God is calling us? How can we have confidence to Jump in?”

Afternoon Session – Swimming With Confidence: “Jumping in is just the first step… we have to be able to not just tread water, but keep swimming with confidence too! How do we build up our stamina? How do we stay focussed amidst difficult times?”

Workshop Block 1:

The All-In Thing (Speaker: Jo Squires, Venue: Main Hall): “All-age worship has the potential to be so beautiful, and yet so often it’s the service that people resent or just don’t come along to. The All-In Thing is a new vision and model for planning and leading worship when everyone is all-in together.”

Building a Ministry Team (Speaker: Gordon Roy, Venue: Back Hall): “Recruiting and maintaining a good team is one of our biggest struggles as Children’s Ministry workers! Whether you’re putting together a holiday club team or trying to get extra help at Sunday School, this seminar will help you think about how to get and keep volunteers. Gordon Roy is the North Team Leader for Scripture Union Scotland and will be sharing with us from experience of team ministry with both SU and Compass Christian Centre.”

Interactive Prayer Spaces for Children (Speaker: Anna Riach, Venue: Crèche): “Creating spaces that engage children in prayer easily and independently. It is amazing how children can be drawn into prayer so easily with some simple creative spaces. These ideas can be used in homes, kids church groups, and schools. Come and see, experience prayer spaces for yourself, and hear some fun stories of children experiencing a living loving awesome(!) God while they pray.”

Workshop Block 2:

Engaging Children in Worship (Speakers: Mark Cameron & Gemma Stoddart, Venue: Main Hall): “Join Mark and Gemma to be equipped and encouraged to engage children in worship. Both are on the staff team at St.Paul’s and St.George’s Church in Edinburgh where they regularly work together to prepare all-age worship with Worship and Children’s Ministry teams. Learn principles and practical tools that can be helpful in your context.”

Dealing with Challenging Behaviour (Speaker: Jo Squires, Venue: Back Hall): “Why do children display challenging behaviour? How can we manage those being challenging and cope with their behaviour? What do boundaries and discipline look like in a church context?”

The Best Stories Ever Told (Speaker: Sue Thomson, Venue: Crèche): “Kids (and grown-ups!) love stories. We want our children to love Bible stories, to look forward to hearing them and to be excited when they hear the words “let’s have a story from the Bible”. Come and think together about how our storytelling can ensure more of God is revealed and how we can make our stories engaging, fun and creative.”

Workshop Block 3:

Building Bridges with the Whole Family (Speaker: Lisa Lyall, Venue: Main Hall): “So you have plenty of children coming to your ministry, but does it ever feel like their parents are on another planet? How do we reach out effectively and meaningfully to the families of the kids in our programmes? Lisa Lyall is the long-time Children’s Pastor of AoG Central Church, Fraserburgh, as well as the iKids Scottish Area Leader for the Assemblies of God. Lisa will be sharing with us about her experiences building bridges between our children’s ministries and the families we seek to serve.”

Children’s Games: Play-Time Inspiration! (Speaker: Cheri Young, Venue: Back Hall): “Need some fresh games for your children’s programmes? Lost when it comes to group activities? Cheri Young is the Regional Worker for SU in the North East and has over seven years of experience in children’s and youth ministry roles – and she loves games! For small groups or large crowds, this session will not only teach you some new games, but how to tie those games into various ministry/topic themes.”

Knee-High Church (Speaker: Henna Cundill, Venue: Crèche): “Henna’s workshop will be looking at how pre-school and early years’ children experience the Church environment, and how we can make the best use of the time these very young worshippers spend in Church alongside the adult congregation.”