"Snowbucks Café' has proved to be a major drawcard for parents bringing kids to the HAWK holiday club at St Mark's, Thornleigh-Pennant Hills.
The annual Huge Awesome Week for Kids (HAWK), now in its fourth year of ministering to kids in north-west Sydney, has had its biggest impact ever with over 180 infants and primary age children attending.
Held in the first week of the July school holidays, HAWK has also reached many parents through the Snowbucks Café " that tied into the week’s winter theme " where parents could sit and chat over free coffee and cake.
St Mark's outreach minister, Dr Paul Whiting says the café is a brilliant opportunity for building relationships with local families.
"It's a place where parents can sit down for a while, have a coffee and talk to members of the church," he says.
"Many have no church connection so this is a low key way to do pre-evangelism. We had some literature there and topical tracts to use in discussion."
Dr Whiting believes this is the only way to reach many of the families in the community.
"People are not waiting around for an invitation to come to church. Many have other interests or abandoned the church long ago because they think Christians are hypocrites. This has condemned Jesus to oblivion for them forever.
"HAWK is a great opportunity because we are caring for kids, and there is nothing Australian parents care for more than their kids."
The Rector of St Mark's, the Rev Neil Flower, says events like HAWK are essential for reaching children and connecting them to church, particularly in a community with so many activities competing for their attention.
"There's ballet, netball, soccer, netball, singing and choir, netball, basketball, netball. There's so many things on so it's very hard to get kids to an after school kids club or Sunday morning church activity," he says.
Mr Flower cointinues to be encouraged by HAWK’s impact and the way the church pulled together to organise the event.
"At the end of the week we had a big family day with 300 people cramming into the tiny St Mark's building. It was a big community event that we could use to teach the gospel."
