Trial Changes to Kids' Tea

Dear chruch family,

Kid’s Tea is a valuable part of the fabric of Trinity@4: it serves our children, creates community, and supports parents in bringing their children to church on a Sunday afternoon. Each year, we are serving more young people and with our hopes to keep growing, it felt like the right time to review how we operate. Some of our goals with this review have been:

• Making kids' tea sustainable and enjoyable for our volunteers: We want to avoid volunteers missing the service due to preparation and reduce the length of clear-up time after the service.

• Making kids' tea cost and waste-efficient: currently, a large amount of food is wasted each week.

• Introducing greater choice for children: Currently, if a child doesn't like the single option, there are no alternatives.
  

As a result of our discussions, we are going to make the following changes, for a trial period between the February half-term and Easter:

• Self-Service 'party-food' tea: Each week, we will provide a cold, self-service meal instead of a hot meal. We will send a survey to parents and try to gather feedback on the sort of food they would like to see provided over the trial period.

• Collecting in the hall, eating in the Concourse: Two tables in the hall will be laid out with identical food for kids/parents to collect. Kids will then go to the concourse and eat at the tables already set up there.

• Teas and Coffees: will be served from the hatch facing the concourse, not from the hall. So, our main post-service fellowship space will be the larger, lighter, concourse area, rather than the hall.

• All hands on deck: All of us take responsibility for returning plates, cups and mugs and wiping down tables

A huge thanks to David Duncan for his fantastic work heading up the Refreshments Team for the past two years. I am delighted that Claire Cheek will now be serving in this role, supported by Jo Patterson. Please pray for Claire as she leads this important area of ministry.

We'll review these changes over the Easter break, and we'd love any comments or feedback. Please get in touch: erin.kennedy@trinityatfour.org.uk

Let’s pray that our kids' tea continues to play its important practical role in helping us all to be increasingly rooted in Jesus and fruitful for him.

Best wishes,

Erin Kennedy