D U R S L E Y T A B E R N A C L E
© 2006 Dursley Tabernacle United Reformed Church
TabTribe was launched in September 2004 to give our Junior Church a bit of a face lift. It has been a great success, growing in numbers and has become fun and noisy, with singing, messy craft and time to learn about what the Bible says and how it might influence our lives whether we are 3, 13 or 33.
We start off the morning altogether in the church service. After a children’s slot in the service everyone under about 15 leaves to go to TabTribe and FURY. We start by sitting on beanbags and talking about what has been happening to us during the week. Then we sing a song, sometimes with musical instruments to shake or bang. At the moment our favourite songs are ‘Our God is a Great Big God’ and ‘Lovely Jubbly’. We then play a game to link us into the Bible story. We try different ways of telling the story each week from puppets to drama to interactive participation. The children are then given a chance to choose from a selection of craft activities that link to the morning’s theme. Recently we have done cooking, glass painting, modelling clay and making puppets. They can also choose simply to play in the quiet room if they like. We stop to have a drink and biscuit, to talk about how the ideas in the story we have heard may affect our lives, and to pray. The children can then carry on with their chosen activities until they are collected by their parents at 12 o’clock.
At the moment we are averaging about fifteen children and teenagers each week ranging in age from one to fifteen. The morning is led by staff on a rota basis and we follow a Good Practice Policy.
