A church group for adults with intellectual disabilities in Sydney has recently expanded, now running programs in a total of four different parishes.
The Jesus club, originally begun at Christ church Gladesville in 2006, now also sports three more clubs in Turramurra, Naremburn-Cammeray, and Jannali anglican churches.
Mel Fung, co-ordinator of the Gladesville club and the person responsible for supporting and resourcing the other clubs, says the expansion came about because of the continuing success of the club in Gladesville, combined with interest from other parishes.
“[Gladesville Jesus club] has been going really well,” Ms Fung says, “and that then inspired us to start up the other clubs. right now, we’re just trying to find more people that might like to join the other clubs.”
The Jesus club model aims to focus on teaching and explaining the Bible to members while also creating ways for appropriate and relevant fellowship and fun.
Program nights typically consist of games, singing, Bible lessons and crafts. Part of Ms fung’s work involves creating support and training materials and programs for use by the clubs and other interested groups. the next 12 months will see the Jesus club focus on creating a longer and more complete curriculum to support the groups.
“Our goal is to open up these Jesus clubs all over sydney,” Ms Fung says, “just to help people, really, and our emphasis is on teaching our members about god. I’ve been to other christian programs where they’ll do prayer, or a short segment of Bible teaching, but for us most of the program is trying to teach the Bible in a fun way.”
Ms Fung says members of the clubs are often really keen to be a part of the group, and that can make Jesus club “a really encouraging ministry”. the next step, in addition to growing the groups themselves, is to also try and find ways to integrate members and their families into the wider church communities.
“Sometimes it’s a struggle,” she says. “at the moment [we see] the Sunday as being more them getting to know other people, and Wednesday is the time where they can learn at their own level.”
