The first 1001 days

From infographics by the Parent Infant Foundation

Babies hear at around 24 weeks of pregnancy, recognise familiar voice at birth, and prefer faces to other shapes. We are hardwired for relationships!

In the first years of life, more than 1 million new connections are formed every second in a baby’s growing brain. The way babies’ brains develop is shaped by their interactions with others.

A range of research shows that the way parents interact with their babies predicts children’s later development.

Children’s development in the early years sets them on a positive trajectory, although what happens next also matters. Children’s development at just 22 months has been shown to predict their qualifications at 26 years.

Family income and education is strongly related to children’s development. Babies in higher income families are more likely to have frequent caregiver-child conversations. By age 3, babies with university educated parents have been found to have vocabularies 2-3 times larger than those whose parents had not completed school.

Nobel Laureate James Heckman showed that early childhood is a smart investment. The greater the investment, the greater the return. Rigorous long term studies found a range of returns between £4 and £9 for every pound invested in early intervention for low income families.

When parents experience problems in the first 1001 days it can have long term impacts on their children. One study showed that children whose mothers were stressed in pregnancy were twice as likely to have mental health problems as teenagers.

Adults who reported four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) had 4- to 12-fold increase in alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and suicide attempts compared to those who experienced none. See a 2023 UK Report here.

Healthy social and emotional development during the first 1001 days:

Lays the foundations for lifelong mental and physical health.
Means the infant feels safe and secure, ready to play, explore and learn.
Leaves him or her ready to enjoy and achieve at school, and progress in the workforce.
Enables the child to understand and manage their emotions and behaviours; which means that they can make a positive contribution to their community.
Gives them skills to form trusting relationships and to be a nurturing parent themselves; sowing the seeds for the next generation.

Find out further information here.

From infographics by the Parent Infant Foundation, 09/07/2024

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

We meet at the Church Building (details here) for our Sunday Service starting at 10am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team who will be wearing a Welcome lanyard.

We serve tea, coffee and biscuits from 10am, before the service begins. It is a great way to meet people, or simply take time to find your bearings. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There are disabled toilets in the main foyer.

Our Service

The main service begins at 10am with a warm welcome from one of our team members. Then follows a time of sung worship, led by our band. We typically have 2 or 3 songs lasting approximately 20 minutes. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. One of our leaders will then give a sermon that is bible based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song. Sometimes there is an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service.

images: Services

What about my kids?

We have a great programme lined up for kids of all ages:

Creche (0 months to 3 years). Children under 6 months are welcome but must be accompanied by their parent/grown-up at all times.
Livewires (3-7 years)
Encounter (7-11 years)
Katalyst (11-15 years)
Young people (15+ years) Stay in service.

Children stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome, songs and notices. We really value worshipping God all together as a family. At the end of the notices someone will announce that it’s time for the younger members to go to their various groups. You will need to go with your children to their groups and register them as part of our child safety policy. Whilst you are dropping your kids off at their groups, we pause to take time to chat to someone sitting near or next to us, giving folk a chance to come back before the sermon begins.

The kids group activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, testimonies, praying, music, craft, drama, fun games and free play. Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes.

Getting Connected

Small Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our small groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week, some afternoons and some evenings. Check out Small Groups and see if there’s one that you could join, or we can put you in touch with a small group leader who will be more than happy to invite you along to their group.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team.

Other Ministries

We also run the following ministries:

Men's Ministries
Women's Ministries
Night Shelter
Foodbank

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.

Leadership


Leader 1		Leader 2
Leader Intro		Leader Intro

We hope that whoever you are, you will feel at home at our church.

Best Wishes

(Handwritten Signature)