by Sammi Si-Hoe
More children than ever join Covenant Kids as Sunday School is held in cyberspace.
Unprecedented measures are needed for unprecedented times. Following the nation-wide Phase 1 re-opening after an almost two months’ circuit breaker period, Covenant Kids (CK) at Covenant Community Methodist Church (CCMC) re-opened too – online with the launch of CK Zoom on 7 June 2020.
CK teachers were already in a flurry of activity two weeks prior to the launch, contacting their young charges, enquiring after their well-being during the circuit breaker and registering their interest to participate in CK Zoom. Meanwhile, those involved in leading worship and sharing, as well as facilitators of the CK Zoom sessions were kept busy with rehearsals to ensure a seamless delivery of these sessions.
On 7 June, all was set for Kindy Worship for pre-school children going online at 10.15 am and Junior Worship for primary school children going online at 11 am.
This virtual space was saturated with much anticipation as teachers started to log in as early as 30 minutes before Kindy Worship. Hot on their heels were the pre-school children, coming online in a steady stream as teachers admitted each familiar face from the “waiting room”.
Exactly at 10.15 am, the “spotlight” was zoomed in on Teacher Alicia Israel as she greeted everyone with a cheery welcome! Immediately after an opening prayer, the first worship song, “Jesus You’re my #1”, was streamed to each child and their families! From the first note till the end of the 20-minute session, the children worshipped exuberantly, spontaneously dancing and singing! What a joyful sight to behold!
Matthias Yu Junxian praying during CK Zoom Kindy Worship.
Shortly after Kindy Worship ended, CK Zoom was ready, with quiet anticipation and prayer, for Junior Worship. As each child was admitted, they were greeted with the familiar worship chorus “Counting on God”. Just after 11 am, Teacher Audrey Bong led everyone in worship for 10 minutes, followed by another 10 minutes of story-telling by Teacher Sammi Si-Hoe. Peering from each Zoom box were wide-eyed children enthralled by this new experience and happy to be together again with friends whom many have not seen for two months or more. The delight could not be dampened by technical glitches like echoing audio nor the graffiti from mischievous hands. This CK Zoom session ended with fellowship time among CK teachers and their children.
Sophie and Bertie Monday logging on to CK Zoom!
Thirty-five preschool and 70 primary school children attended the inaugural CK Zoom sessions. Including teachers, there were almost 200 people in total. This figure is 50% more than the last physical attendance at CK prior to the circuit breaker. Thanks be to God!
Clarissa Soo, Church School Superintendent, expressed her appreciation for the attendance of the CK teaching team from odd and even months as well as the worship teams serving at Kindy and Junior Worship. She saluted the efforts of all involved and their courage to embrace new and creative avenues to engage all CK children during the successful launch of CK Zoom online! Clarissa pointed out the unexpected advantages of this brave initiative. There is a closer partnership with parents, new ways of communication between teachers and children, new collaborations across CK teams and fresh ways of teaching. Yet another blessing is that families – children and parents – are now able to worship together during Kindy and Junior Worship. In addition, all CK ministry workers are able to attend the pre-recorded church service before or after CK Zoom.
This is a season of many firsts, and an exciting “God-thing” happening at CK!
“Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” - Isaiah 43:19 (NKJV).
If your children has not yet registered for CK Zoom, or if you know of children you can invite to explore this way of going to Sunday School, please do a one-time registration at http://tinyurl.com/ckonline. CK Zoom sessions continue every Sunday for Preschool CK Zoom @10:15 am and Primary school @11 am till further notice.
If you would like to be involved in this exciting new initiative, do express your interest by email to: ccmc.myck@gmail.com. The CK team looks forward to hearing from you.