By Joseph Smith

Planet Giants, the new take on children’s ministry at St Paul’s, Menai, is having a local and an international impact for the gospel. The runaway success of the website www.planetgiants.org.au, which contains games and information about children’s ministry has seen the church receive hits from all over the world. But the opportunity for email contact with the 30 leaders is also assisting some of the quieter children in forming relationships, according to children’s minister Carlie Pack.
“The website has been such a blessing,” Mrs Pack says. “One of our leaders and his team at work put it all together, and they maintain it for free.”
Planet Giants was born out of the need to attract more children to Sunday School 18 months ago. In 2003 numbers increased significantly, with the number of children growing from 80 to over 120 every Sunday. “We have 300 children on the role and anywhere between two and ten new kids coming every week,” she says.
Previously Sunday school at St Paul’s was described as ‘quite traditional’. “It was great,” says Mrs Pack, “but it was only targeting the children from Christian backgrounds that were happy to sit and listen. It was hard for new kids from non-church backgrounds to plug in straight away. We wanted to appeal to a broader range of children,” she says.
Planet Giants starts with a playtime, and then moves into songs, prayers and a drama. Children then split into smaller groups where they receive preaching or a story time, work through books and craft.
“We first trialled the new program during the school holidays and the kids were having a great time. The parents agreed to try it out for a year in 2003. It took a whole year of careful planning, consultation and compromise. We put a lot of prayer into the whole process,” Mrs Pack says.
Encouraging children to take initiatives as Christians is a major focus of the leadership team. Mrs Pack says children can do things and develop skills they will use now and later in life. “We’re continually developing ways to do this practically, and finding ways to encourage kids to carry out tasks.”
While there are already 30 leaders, the dynamic children’s minister wants to see more. “We want to see really significant small groups develop, so more leaders are needed. If kids can build a relationship with a leader who cares about them and knows them, they will keep coming back,” she says.