The Year of the Community

Overview

It's time to go outside of our gates! Skylark Retreat Centre is a part of this community. We have an obligation to help our neighbours. Skylark is now in a position to reinvest the riches God has blessed us with into the community that welcomed us so warmly. We cannot change this country, but we can impact our community.

In 2009 we will have a "3-Fold" approach to community development, addressing the following areas:

• Spiritual needs
• Immediate physical needs
• Planning for the future health and development of the community

Spiritual Needs

In 2008 Skylark began supporting a Child Evangelism Fellowship (APEN) worker to begin ministry in our area, particularly in the local schools. Skylark will continue nurturing this relationship and will commit to offering CEF the facilities of Skylark one time per month at the nominal cost to conduct their ministry with local children.

Immediate Physical Needs

There are many needs in this community, and Skylark cannot address them all. A priority will be placed on addressing medical needs through partnership with 3-Fold Ministries and the Medical Mission Team Program. The Directors will meet with community leaders on a regular basis to remain informed of other pressing physical needs, and these will be addressed if possible on a case by case basis through the ministry budget, or by creating a partnership with a short-term mission team.

Planning for the Future

In the New Year, the Directors will develop a long-term vision plan for community development. A priority will be to research programs already being developed in the area, by community members themselves, and come alongside them to support the work they are doing. The centerpiece of this plan will be the Early Years program to be launched in February 2009:

General Info about the Early Years Program

Need: The children of this neighbourhood have little opportunity to play, discover, explore and learn during the critical early years of their minds' development. Their mothers do not have the time or the resources to devote to early childhood education. This puts these children at a life-long disadvantage educationally.

Purpose: The purpose of the proposed program is "three-fold":

• To give local children the best possible educational start in life, stimulating their minds during the crucial stage of development from 18 months to 3 years
• To equip local mothers to assist in the educational process of their children
• To encourage mothers in their role and to minister to them spiritually

Program: Three mornings per week 12 children ages 18 months to 3 years will participate in a co-op style early education program. A professional teacher will be in charge, but the mothers will take turns staying to act as helpers, as their work commitments allow. The program will consist of the following components:

For the children:

• Each day's program will consist of a Bible teaching time, lesson time (age appropriate units such as colours, shapes, etc), arts and crafts, active games and supervised free play with educational toys
• A healthy snack

For the moms:

• On the job training - each mom will be expected to serve as an assistant two mornings per month. The teacher will invest time in training the moms to be helpers - giving them guidelines for assisting children to learn. For those moms who cannot commit due to work restrictions, etc., an alternate way to contribute will be found, such as assisting with weekly cleaning of toys and materials.
• Mom's afternoon out - one Saturday afternoon per month a special time will be set aside to encourage and care for the mothers. There will be three components to this afternoon out - spiritual, teaching and fellowship. The teacher will be responsible for coordinating a "lesson time" each month, perhaps bringing in people to talk about concerns such as nutrition, hygiene and discipline. A local church will be approached to provide a committee of ladies to oversee the spiritual and fellowship components, serving as mentors to the mothers.
• Three times per school year there will be a special event for the ladies, something planned to provide a little bit of pampering in their difficult lives, such as pedicures or a meal out. The leaders of the local community pre-school will also be invited to these sessions to encourage them in their work and further build into the next phases of education available in the community.

A Pilot Program will be launched in February 2009 along with the new school year, using the facilities already in place at Skylark. The dream is to grow this program into a dedicated facility equipped to hold more children of the appropriate age from the community.

Other ministry initiatives for 2009

Each quarter one weekend will be set aside for ministry purposes. The following events will be developed and held on these ministry weekends:

• Twice the international missionary community will be invited to use and be refreshed by the facilities at Skylark. No program will be offered, but information will be available on the facilities and hosting short-term mission teams.
• For one day the Centre will be open to local pastors and their families, by invitation only.
• In the final quarter of the year, all pastors who have used the Centre for their church events will be invited to enjoy the facilities with their families.
• In addition to the above ministry days, in November of each year Skylark will invite the graduating class of the community school to come and enjoy the facilities with their teachers. Some activities will be organized, and refreshments offered.