As the baby son of a Dales shepherd prepares to play Jesus in a chapel nativity play, John Hobbs reports on how this has come to pass through the remarkable revival of a Sunday school.

TWELVE years ago, village postmistress Judith Raine said a prayer and set off on a pilgrimage to try to resurrect her local Sunday school.

With only three children turning up each week, the centuries-old school at High House Chapel, in Ireshopeburn, Upper Weardale, was virtually down and out.

Today, against all odds and against a backdrop of drastically declining Sunday school numbers throughout the UK, Mrs Raine's prayers have been answered.

With a lot of help from friends and an infusion of ideas, which many Sunday school teachers, both past and present, would either envy or frown on, she has raised the attendance roll to a remarkable 25.

For a start, Sunday school is no longer Sunday school - it's called Kids on Sunday, but it meets on a Thursday night.

"We found there were too many rival attractions for children on weekends, and with both parents working they wanted to spend more time together as a family," said Mrs Raine.

"So we gave it a trendy name, introduced games and pop music, making it a bit like a youth club, and moved it to Thursday nights.

"It was a gamble, but it was a gamble we had to take. What we have tried to to is put fun into religion - and it seems to be paying off."

Mrs Raine's latest inspiration has been to use a real baby - five-week-old Thomas Ian Heslop - to play Jesus in the nativity being staged by Kids on Sunday.

Thomas, appropriately the son of a Weardale shepherd, takes centre stage in his crib in the play, which is part of Sunday's nativity service at High House.

Mrs Raine, a devout Methodist who attended Sunday school when she was five, said school life was much more "strait-laced" in those days.

"We did have some lovely outings to places like the Lake District," she recalled. "Some kids never went anywhere, except for the annual Sunday school trip.

"I dread to think what the minister would think about what we are doing here today."

The nativity hymns, written by former Sunday school pupil Helen Scott, are accompanied on keyboard by Mrs Raine's daughter, Maxine, to a jazz or dance beat.

And there's also a healthy measure of pop culture thrown in.

"We can only applaud what is a remarkable achievement by a very dedicated lay person, who has inspired others to help out," said the Methodist minister for Upper Weardale, the Reverend Les Hann.

It is not just the Methodists who are trying to woo more children into church.

"In the Church of England, we have been conscious for some time that new initiatives are needed to attract children to church," said the Reverend Paul Allinson, children's advisor to Durham Diocese.

These have included the starting of midweek clubs, taking over from the traditional Sunday school, and introducing a culture which connects with young people. Even video games with a biblical theme are played at some children's clubs.

"But our main aim is to make churches more family friendly - and our efforts have already bearing fruit," said the Rev Allinson.