Opportunities for faith and beyond at SUPA

Birdwood SUPA club proves that the fun doesn’t have to stop when you finish primary school. You just need to be willing to start something new!

Daniel has led the SUPA (Scripture Union Primary Age) club at Birdwood United Church, in the Adelaide Hills SA, for the last five years and been a team member for ten years. When speaking to him, it’s clear that he counts it a true blessing to be able to share the Good News of Jesus with children every week.

“SUPA club is a fun and welcoming place where kids find out about Jesus. We hope that they then make a decision to follow him. It’s a real blessing to be able to just be upfront that that’s what we’re about,” Daniel explains.

The time is filled with fun games, crafts, Bible stories, music and of course – afternoon tea! But at the heart of SUPA club is a community where kids can explore what faith in Jesus means to them. It’s a place where kids feel safe to belong.

“We’ve always been strong on the fact that they don’t have to be a Christian to be here … We just want to tell them about Jesus, hear about where they’re at, and have that safe space to discuss those big life questions.”

With SUPA clubs being originally designed for children in primary school, Birdwood SUPA club encountered a problem.

“Kids were getting to Year 7 and they were still really wanting to keep coming,” remembers Daniel.

His team saw this not as a problem but as an opportunity, and so the SUSA (Scripture Union Senior Age) club was born! The two clubs now run concurrently thanks to the faithful team of volunteers.

Daniel shares that a couple of years ago, they had the “real honour” of baptising some of the SUSA kids who had started their faith journey when attending the SUPA club.

One thing that has struck him in his time with the SUPA club is that people are far more open to hearing about Jesus than we might assume:

“I’ve just been blown away by how many kids that aren’t from church backgrounds have come along, and their parents have been more than happy for them to come knowing that we are going to be telling them about Jesus.

“They go home, and they share some of the things that they’re learning with their parents.

“God is doing his work and we can have our own small part in that.”

Thank you for supporting SUPA (and SUSA) clubs around Australia. If you’d like to find out more about how you can get involved with SUPA clubs or other SU ministries, head to www.su.org.au/get-involved.