Bible Detectives provides an opportunity for children in full time kindy to year 2 to learn more about Jesus. 36'ers is run concurrently with activities focused on the year 3 -year 6 age group. Held during the sermon each Sunday, children are encouraged to join in conversations and craft activities to develop their faith and understanding of the Bible. Themes for each term are based upon seasons and festivals of the church year. Opportunities to develop friendships with other children are also encouraged during combined activities with the 36’ers ministry. As part of Bible Detectives and 36'ers ministries, children also have the opportunity to participate in congregational activities such as the Christmas Eve service, creation of Christmas Nativity and Easter displays.

For more information, please contact Jayne Hartwig (BD) or Chris Cook (36'ers) via the church office

Bible Detectives provides an opportunity for children in full time kindy to year 2 to learn more about Jesus. 36'ers is run concurrently with activities focused on the year 3 -year 6 age group. Held during the sermon each Sunday, children are encouraged to join in conversations and craft activities to develop their faith and understanding of the Bible. Themes for each term are based upon seasons and festivals of the church year. Opportunities to develop friendships with other children are also encouraged during combined activities with the 36’ers ministry. As part of Bible Detectives and 36'ers ministries, children also have the opportunity to participate in congregational activities such as the Christmas Eve service, creation of Christmas Nativity and Easter displays.

For more information, please contact Jayne Hartwig (BD) or Chris Cook (36'ers) via the church office

Little Lambs' Music is a St John’s preschool ministry. It takes place on a Monday morning from 10am until 11.30am in the St John’s Ministry Centre during school terms. Come join us for a 45 minute session where we will sing, move, dance, play instruments, hear stories and rhymes. The session time ends with a fruit time for the children and a morning tea for parents. All preschool children/babies and their parents/caregivers are welcome.

Kids from upper primary to early teens meet once a term with the opportunity to grow in faith, in a sense of belonging and in friendships amongst each other while having a lot of fun. These events include games, crafts, and other activities including faith conversations in different age brackets.

Parents are also encouraged to stay and mingle with each other in a separate space enjoying their own afternoon tea, connecting and supporting each other on the journey of parenthood.

Contact the Church office for the next Junior Youth event ad book your child in!

Baptised young people from Year 8 onwards are invited to confirm the faith which God gave them in their baptism. This is done through a series of confirmation preparation sessions which are usually held on Sunday afternoons in the St John’s Ministry Centre.

Through the Rite of Confirmation the confirmees publicly remember their baptism, express their faith and share their desire to follow Jesus as his disciples.

(Temporarily on hold.)

Youth Space encompasses high school age students from Years 7 to 12. Youth Space takes place weekly on Friday nights during school terms, from 7.00-9.00pm. The aim is to provide a safe environment for young people to grow and mature in their faith and under the guidance of young adult and adult youth leaders and to build relationships with their peers.

Youth Space is an integral part of the journey leading to the Rite of Confirmation, which takes place when a young person is in Year 9 or 10.

St John’s has a vibrant young adult community, which gathers each week on Tuesday nights.

This is a place for young Christian adults to talk about life, faith in the context of a supportive community. Each week we gather for a variety of activities including meals, worship, study and service.

Each year in October we hold a weekend retreat for the young adult community. This is a wonderful opportunity to grow together and individually in faith, grow together as a community and build deeper relationships with one another.

St John's has many ongoing small groups of women across all ages and stages meeting in the evenings, either fortnightly or monthly, at participants homes or at the St John's Ministry Centre for a time of growing in faith together and building connections and friendships.

All small groups are always open and looking to welcome in anyone who would like to join.

St John’s aspires to have a men’s group that meets every couple of months to listen and learn from a guest speakers, encourage each other in faith and in life.

Everyone is invited to come along.

Contact the Church Office for upcoming dates.

This bible study group of women across ages and stages meets every Tuesday morning at the St John's Ministry Centre at 9:45 during school terms, they begin their time together with a morning tea followed by a bible study where they work through various books of the bible throughout the year.

Everyone is invited and welcome to join us to grow in faith, connection and friendship.

This is an active fellowship with a strong service focus, meeting for Devotion, Bible study with song and prayer as well as a blessing for the meal prepared by the month's hostesses. There are often Guest Speakers and a collection is taken for current LWA and LWSA/NT projects.

The Women's Fellowship meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 10:00am in the Church/Hall.

New members are always welcome.

As the Pastoral care team, we provide support to families and individuals as we develop a growing understanding of the needs and circumstances in our community. We further provide support to our congregation and community by praying, providing practical help to those who need support, hospital and home visits and pastoral care conversations.

Please let us know if we can support you in any way.

Through the meal of Holy Communion, we receive the gift of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus, given through bread and wine. In worship, baptised children of God are invited to regularly eat and drink at the Lord’s Table to receive the assurance of sins forgiven and life with God forever. Before regularly receiving Holy Communion, we offer instruction about what Holy Communion means and how God wants to grow us in him. As 1 Corinthians 10:16 says: ‘Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?’

To help prepare young children, St John’s provides a short First Communion program over several Sundays each year. Parents and their children attend the program together before celebrating their First Communion milestone.

Children are generally in years 3-5 when preparing for First Communion, but this is negotiable. Older and younger children and adults are also welcome to participate in the First Communion program.

Passing on the Christian faith is supported with partnerships between individuals and families across the generations within our congregation.

God has blessed St John’s with people across all generations. Each generation can learn, grow and be blessed as we interact together. Generations in Faith Together (affectionately called GIFT) is the name we give to intentional activities and events that bring the generations together to encourage all ages in their faith as they participate in a common activity.

No matter what age you are, you are invited to join in and celebrate life together!

‘From generation to generation we will proclaim your praise’. (Psalm 79:13)

When Christian parents choose to have their children baptised, they agree to partner with the congregation to bring up their children to know Jesus as their Saviour and to grow their child’s identity as a part of the body of Christ.

Our Faith Trail Ministry is our congregation’s commitment to support and resource families as we “grow up to Christ” (Ephesians 14:15) together.

Parents are invited to attend mini workshop events so that they can be equipped to best support their child’s faith formation according to the age of their child. Children and families are then blessed, gifted and prayed for in our Sunday worship.

See this week's TAKING FAITH HOME page - button on the left. GROWING FAITH AT HOME is a weekly lectionary-based resource to help your households live, share and celebrate faith together each and every week!

- Looking for a way to link Sunday worship with household faith formation Sunday to Sunday?

- Want to provide resources to help parents and grandparents pass on the Christian faith in their homes?

A resource that connects weekly congregational worship with the faith life of the home.

Where does GROWING FAITH AT HOME come from?

GROWING FAITH AT HOME is developed by the Lutheran Church of Australia department, Grow Ministries

Is GROWING FAITH AT HOME only for families with children or youth?

People of all ages can use the devotional resources (Bible readings, prayers, blessings) in their personal or couple ‘quiet times’.

Small groups, ministry teams and committees can also benefit from using the Faith Talk questions for spiritual reflection and focus.

Using GROWING FAITH AT HOME to its full potential requires more than simply photocopying the resources and distributing them to select households. It has proven to be of most benefit when reinforced through Sunday worship, promoted to households on an ongoing basis and supplemented with practical teaching and training.

A Congregational users guide and Home user's guide have been developed to help you introduce the resource to your congregation and support its use over time.

If you would like to know more about mentoring, check out the Mentoring Equipping documents attached.