Contact Darryl Soh to volunteer to help with No Fuss Lunch or Dinner.

Church doesn’t finish with the last song, but continues in our encouragement and fellowship together over coffee and in our conversations. One of the ways we are trying to extend and encourage our informal interacting and connecting is over brunch/lunch/dinner together. It gives us just that little bit more time to chat and find out how things are going in each other’s lives. It even looks forward to that great day when we will be invited to sit at a table with our heavenly father and enjoy a celebratory meal of the new creation!

So, thank you for serving in this vitally important way. It is greatly appreciated.

Food and drink for the No Fuss brunch/lunch/dinner is usually organised in homegroups. To make it more no fuss, feel free to ask for help with cleaning up and other jobs. Helping each other as much as possible makes everything less fuss.

Safety.
Safety is any family’s key concern and our Church family is no different. Shown below are a couple of safety tips/ hazards to look out for.

  • If using the BBQ, please make sure that you keep children away from hot oil and hot surfaces. When putting out the food, always ensure that anything hot is safely away from the edge of tables.
  • Please ensure that the urns are kept in the centre of the table with no power cable dangling down the side.
  • Please take the time to locate the nearest fire extinguisher to the kitchen and familiarise yourself with its use.
  • First aid kits can be found in both kitchens (in the main church building and lower hall).

Organisation of the meal

  • Please start planning together as a group several weeks in advance.
  • When it comes to working out a menu, your home group may be feeling creative or it may be feeling like it needs all the help it can get! If you do need a menu suggestion, please call one of the staff.
  • For simplicity, try to give the kids the same food as the adults.
  • The meal should be outside in the green square whenever possible. If the weather is not nice, then in the church itself is the wet weather alternative.
  • Check supplies of utensils (bowls, plates etc.) and purchase extra if required.
  • A couple of bottles of soft drink and water. For lunch, it is recommended that 3 jugs of water is provided (as this is the best drink for the kids)Numbers vary depending on the time of year, public holidays, school holidays, etc, but generally there are 20 adults (9am), 70 adults and 30 children (10:30am) and 60 adults (6pm).
  • Try to keep your overall budget to about a dollar a head (70 adults + 30 kids = 100 dollars = a lot of sausages and buns).
    Any costs that your home group incur will be covered by the gold coin donation. So, please remember to get a reimbursement form off the website use that to claim back expenses (please click here for the reimbursement form). These forms can be put in the red boxes and will be processed at the next Committee meeting.
  • Please put out a bowl or ice-cream container and put a sign called “Gold Coin Donation”.
  • It is a good idea to divide up the things that need to happen in preparing food between different members of your home group. This way no one is left doing everything!
  • Think ahead and plan to set up before church
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: it is encouraged to work out the logistics of No Fuss Brunch/Lunch/Dinner in a way where no-one from your home group misses out on the Bible talk. (For example, if you are doing a BBQ, it would be a good idea to par-boil the sausages prior to Sunday to ensure that the cooking of the sausages happens quickly.)

Below is an example of what has been working well at 10:30:

WHAT? WHO? HOW MANY? WHERE FROM?

Before:

  • Onion:  Craig Tucker 2 bags Coles
  • Sausages:  Fred 120 Coles…
  • Bread rolls: Bernie 90 Bakery near Franklins…
  • Soft Drink: Ted 3 Bottles Coles
  • Pre-Cook Sausages: Julie

On the day:

  • Mary & Julie: arrive early, check the weather, decide on a venue (green square or in church), set up tables
  • Bill: leave church 10 mins before the end
  • Bill, Craig & Ted: cook sausages
  • Mary & Julie: set out drink, bread, servieettes on table
  • Bob & Susan: clean up.

Other easy options

  • SOUP. about 4-6 people in the group bring a pot of soup. one person buys bread and cups.
  • PIZZA. Phone dominoes. Ask for a discount. Open the boxes.
  • For a whole list of easy recipes that even the worst cooks can follow, check out the attached recipe book (thanks to Petersham Baptist).