The aim of Christian Endeavour is to train the child for service in the Church.

 The meetings have several aims

• to train the child in working with others 
• to lead the child to the moment when s/he will decide for Christ and make a public profession of faith in Him 
• provide a place where s/he may have the opportunity to witness and to work for Christ

What do I need to get started?

• the co-operation of your local Church Fellowship
• the prayer support of the Church Leader and Church members
• Leaders and helpers with a living faith, enthusiasm, commitment and a love of children (Adhere to the Disclosure regulations.)
• a meeting place
• if singing is planned, a musician or confident singer or CDs and words on overhead projector or “Powerpoint”
• several copies of the same edition of the Bible as this will accelerate Bible search activities as initially the Bible passage can be given as a page number.  The Good News translation is recommended for children.             
• set a day and time for the meetings
• advertise the launch through the Church fellowship.  Prepare invitations to give to local children and their friends. A “Junior” is between the age of 7 and 13 approximately.  Keep to the age limit.

Christian Endeavour was begun by a Church minister for his youth programme so that they would learn to pray and read in public, have experience in organising their own meetings, leading from the front and be able to give a short talk. So it is planned that each week some Juniors  will take part in the meeting.  It is advisable to write on a slip of paper the ‘job’ that s/he will be asked to prepare for the next week so that they can take it home as a reminder. 

A Junior Leader always has to be one week ahead in the programme!  It is also a good idea to make a chart which can be filled in each week.  This will give a record of who has taken part and what they did.  (Print the activities down the left hand side and the dates, for at least the next month, along the top.)  Christian Endeavour is a Movement with no strict rules and regulations.  There are, however, four Essentials which should be found in the Group:

The four essentials....

1. The Covenant
2. The monthly promise night
3. The weekly devotional night
4. Group Activity

First Steps in Junior Christian Endeavour provides twelve starter programmes which gradually introduce the many activities which can be part of the weekly Junior meeting.  

Scottish Christian Endeavour is providing Junior Topic lesson plans online for a variety of Bible based subjects.  

These are gradually being put into electronic format from their Junior Leader’s Manual.  Hard copies of the Manual can be obtained from Scottish Christian Endeavour Headquarters.  (Refer to “Join Us”.)

The Award Scheme is another aspect of Junior work.  Groups may gear themselves up to working with the scheme or not.  

There are two topics which go into much greater detail about the mechanics of Christian Endeavour.  These will deepen your understanding, and also that of the Juniors, of the Christian Endeavour Movement.  They are:  “CE History” and “CE Principles”.