Shire Salvos corps leaders told: "Ewe are loved"

The Hosking family from Shire Salvos were part of a recent Kids Church “top secret mission” to bless their corps leaders.

It’s not often that leaders get thanks, or praise. “No news is good news,” is a saying that most would agree with. So, when Shire Salvos corps leaders arrived home from church on a recent Sunday to find their front yards decorated with messages of love and support, they were both surprised and delighted!

Shire Salvos in Sydney’s south is currently in the middle of a preaching series called “Our Generous Life” which focuses not just on financial generosity, but on having a generous heart – and acting on it.

Messages of love and encouragement were a surprise delivery to Shire Salvos corps leaders when they got home from a recent Sunday service.

At a planning meeting about the generous life series, Shire Children and Families Coordinator, Bec Cundasamy asked God how he wanted her to share the theme with the children at Kids Church. “Straight away I just felt like God was saying, ‘I’m going to bless the leaders though this,’” she said. So, she encouraged the children to think of a random act of kindness to bless the corps leaders that they could perform together, to put their generous hearts into action.

“In week one we studied the story of the lost sheet [Luke 15:3-7] and we talked about how shepherds care for all the sheep, the one that is lost and the ones that are still with Him. We talked about how shepherds care,” she said.

The kids began formulating their secret plan to care for the shepherds of their corps. First they cut out and decorated cardboard sheep, then they wrote messages of care and support on them, like “Ewe are loved”.

Children from Shire Salvos Kids Church decorate a corps leader’s lawn with “ewe are loved” messages of support and encouragement.

To put the plan into action Bec reached out to families and asked who might want to head home from church early the following week, and set up the sheep on the front lawns of the houses of the corps leaders – Joel Campbell, Kym Briggs, and Mark Soper. “So many families wanted to take part,” she said, which gave her the idea of inviting the parents of the children to participate by contributing money towards a restaurant voucher that could be placed at the front door of each leader with a thank-you card.

“We had so many contributions,” Bec said.

On the Sunday of the big surprise, Bec said there was a buzz in the Kids Church room, with all the children excited about surprising and blessing their corps leaders. “We did a generosity teaching and we spoke about the fact that the surprise blessing with the sheep that was happening that day was a big act of kindness, but generosity doesn’t always have to be big or costly… And we discussed small things that they could do at school that would have a lovely impact on people.”

When the corps leaders arrived home from church that Sunday, they found their front-yards full of little sheep! Kym Briggs said it was a privilege to be on the receiving end of such a thoughtful act of generosity: “It’s overwhelming to know that we are loved and appreciated, and I love how that is modelled to our kids.

“As a leader you wonder sometimes if you’re doing the right things, but when I came home to see that it was just so lovely to be reminded that you are loved.”