CHILDREN AND ANNUAL MEETINGS - from National Children's Adviser, Mary Hawes;

"At this time of year congregations are usually busy writing and gathering reports from activities of the past year and planning for the annual meeting. How are children involved in this important reflection and planning in your congregation? In our congregation we stay for a soup and sandwich lunch after worship and then move into the meeting. The children go into another room with their leaders, and bring their report back near the end of the meeting. One year we provided a sheet of mural paper and asked the kids to draw the things that they really liked about our church. Then we asked them to add any new things that they would like to see added, or hoped we might do and put a cloud shape around it. When we returned to the meeting and the children were telling what they had drawn, Matthew said he drew a man sitting on the toilet (which actually surprised me as I had not noticed it earlier). "And why did you draw that?" I asked hesitantly. "Because the men's bathroom smells and I don't like going in there," he replied. The women's washroom had been renovated two years earlier, but not the men's one. The men had not thought it a priority, but now they had a different perspective on it. It was done that year! Sometimes the children have made up a song to sing. There are many possibilities. Be creative and inclusive".