News & Views
Lark in the Park - Sidcup 2007
written by
published on 15th August 2007
In the two best weeks of the Summer so far 18 DNAers had the privilege of serving
New
Generation
Church
in Sidcup and the 37 others churches involved in the two weeks of community events. This event has grown over the past 11 years from a small gazebo to Lark in the Park taking over a huge area of the park with several venues hosting everything from kids clubs to craft activities and seniors’ tea parties. Throughout the two weeks the DNAers lived on site, were involved in leading small groups in the team meetings, participating in teams for the afternoon activities and serving in the evenings.
Many of the DNAers were involved in two of the children’s clubs. The 4-7 years olds attended HQ Fizz where they sung songs, heard stories and did craft activities. The highlight of this was when some of the children stood up unprompted to worship God and were standing with their hands in the air as a song was played. The older age group attended HQ Buzz which involved messy games, singing, competitions and team members dressing up as Lenny the Lion and Percy the Parrot!! Three DNAers valiantly got gunged much to the children’s joy, but aside from the mess God really worked in this venue with over 40 children becoming Christians over the last few days of the club.
Other DNAers worked on the youth buses and took the young people out on various activities. Some were involved in leading a youth Alpha group which didn’t go quite to plan, but began good discussions. Some sung in the acoustic night and all had a good conversations with young people, showing them they are loved and accepted.
The senior citizens certainly enjoyed the event, with some DNAers being part of the team that played bingo, served them drinks and chatted to them as well as getting to pray with them.
Whilst the kids were occupied many parents and grandparents were sitting around outside in the beautiful sun. To provide for them a stage was set up and from this there was dancing, music and testimonies. Some of the DNAers joined the park pastors team which went around offering free refreshments and wearing t-shirts challenging people to ‘ask them anything’. From this they had the opportunity to pray for people, answer their questions and build relationships.
During all these activities there were three action teams which went out across Sidcup to tackle jungles disguised as gardens, paint schools and litter pick, showing Sidcup residents love in a really practical way.
Yet this was just the afternoons!!! The evenings involved us praying, serving food, being on ministry teams, painting nails, massaging, playing on dance mats with teenagers, participating in events and basically getting stuck in!
It was a fantastic event to be involved in and we really saw God move as people were healed, became Christians and saw more of God’s love. We feel so privileged to have been able to be a part of what God was doing and look forward to hearing about all that He continues to do in Sidcup!
