Wednesday 23 October 2013

Penny Bridge Samaritan's Purse Assembly

This afternoon we made our second visit of the week to Penny Bridge School however this time it was with Lisa and we did a Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child assembly.  I open the assembly and we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Lisa spoke to the children about God's love and referred back to previous assemblies that she has done with the children at the school.  This led to the shoe box appeal.  I then showed the children what they can put into a shoe box and played the Love in a Box video.  At the end I read the words of the chorus to the children and told them how many shoe boxes we sent away last year - 1 million and asked the children if they thought they might like to get involved this year.  I end the assembly with a short prayer and Lisa shared her bottle of Coke replaying the ad campaign from this summer.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Low Furness School

Today the theme for the assembly was God's Love so after singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger I took a bottle of Coke and asked if anyone remembered the Coke ad from the summer which was share a Coke with.... I used the Coke as an illustration of how we can share God's love.  I asked for examples of how we can share God's love with others and those that gave me answers got a small cup of the Coke which I shared.  I then handed over to Sarah who spoke a bit more about God's love and she then read 1 Corinthians 13 about love and for each statement I displayed it on the screen.  We then sang I Love You and the girls signed it at the front.  We closed with a prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning Sarah and I went along to Church Walk Primary school to take a Samaritan's Purse assembly.  After the children had settled down we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger which led Sarah into the talk about love and about getting ready for Christmas.  She asked if the children knew how many days it was until Christmas and if they had started their Christmas lists or not.  A lot of the children put their hands up during the assembly.  Sarah told the children that their are children in the world today that have never ever had a present of any kind - she asked how they might feel - sad, upset, unhappy came the children's replies.  Sarah handed over to me to talk about what they could do.  I explained about Operation Christmas Child and how simple it is to collect a few items and put them in a box for a child in need.  We then watched the Love in a Box video.  At the end of the video I told the children that 1 million boxes were collected last year and that they could be a part of that 1 million this year.  We then said a short prayer.

Monday 21 October 2013

Penny Bridge School

This afternoon I was at Penny Bridge School for the assembly.  I introduced the children to a new song 'God Can do Anything'   then told the Ruth story to the children using the children's bible and displayed the pictures on the screen as I read the story.  I then encouraged the children to be like Ruth and put others first before themselves as she did and reaped a great reward as a result.  I then linked that to the Samaritan's Purse assembly which is planned for Wednesday.  To close we sang Wonderful Lord. and I said a short prayer.

Pennington School Samaritan's Purse Assembly

This morning Lisa Smith and myself went to Pennington School to do a Samaritan's Purse assembly.  We started with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger and then Lisa talked to the children about sharing what we have with those that don't have as much as we do.  She used the Coke ad from this summer as an example 'Share a Coke with...'  She explained that the children can share their love this Christmas time by packing a shoe box.  I then explained what to put into a shoe box before showing the Love in a Box video clip.  At the end I read the words of the chorus again to the children and encouraged them to get involved to be a part of the 1 million shoe boxes we are hoping to send again this year from our country.  I then ended with a prayer.

Saturday 19 October 2013

Haverigg Primary School Samaritan's Purse Assembly

Sarah and I went over towards Millom yesterday to do an assembly for Samaritan's Purse at Haverigg Primary School.  It was our first ever visit to the school.  We had a wonderful warm welcome from both the staff and the pupils.  There was a great buzz about the school and a friendly atmosphere.  The head opened up the assembly with some awards to pupils of the week in each year as well as giving out cake to children with birthdays.  We were introduced to the children as Mr and Mrs Callaghan.  I introduced us to the children as Mark and Sarah.  To start we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  Then Sarah talked about Christmas by asking the children if they knew how many days to Christmas Day including today.  She also talked about Christmas present lists and asked a few children what was on theirs.  This led to talking about children in our world that don't get any presents at Christmas or birthday's.  Sarah asked the children how they would feel if they had never, ever got a present - sad, upset, unhappy came the responses.  She handed over to me to talk about Operation Christmas Child and how they could make a difference by packing goodies in a shoe box.  I told the children what they can and can't put in a box and showed them examples.  Then I talked about the cost of sending a box to a far of place and how the £3 would help to send their boxes this year.  We then watched the Love in a Box video clip.  After the clip had finished I read the chorus out to the children again and explained that last year 1 million boxes were sent from our country.  I also asked who would love to get involved this year and most hands went up.  Sarah then said a prayer as we ended the assembly.  At the end the head asked us to play the video clip again as the children left the hall, and some of the year 6 children came up to us and thanked us for the assembly a couple even shook our hands.

Thursday 17 October 2013

Croftlands Junior school Samaritans Purse assembly

This morning I was at Croftlands Junior school to do a Samaritans Purse assembly.  To start with we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then I asked a few questions about presents like for birthdays and Christmas.  All the children thought that getting presents was great. I told the children that there are some children in the world that have never had a present at all in their life. I asked them how they would feel if they had never been given a present.  Sad was the thing most children said.  I went on to explain about the work of Operation Christmas Child. I then showed the Love in a Box video, at the end of it I read out the words of the chorus.  I then explained how they could get involved.  I left them with some Go Boxes as well as some leaflets. I finished the assembly with a prayer.

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I along with Scruff the Dog went over to see the children at Crosthwaite school.  We had decided to do a harvest themed assembly so to begin we sang Our God is a Great Big God.  Then I introduced Scruff the Dog to the  children, they have seen him before so it wasn't new.  Scruff was quite excited to see the children as he looked around the room and whispered in my ear.  He told me that he had something for me a present which was in his bag.  Sure enough there was a piece of cloth which turned out to be a vest - Scruff proudly announced in my ear 'Happy A Vest'  which the children laughed at.  Scruff felt a little embarrassed by this and tried to hide his face.  Even more so when I explained that it was Harvest and not A Vest time.  It took a little while but he came round and I explained that we could fix the little mistake really easily because like Scruff people get harvest mixed up they think it is all about saying thank you for the food we have - well it is and saying thank you to God is good but we should also look to how we can give things back as well.  There are so many people in the world that go without and at harvest time we could think about how we could help them.  Scruff understood this and to demonstrate it further I said thank you for the vest and gave it him back so he can keep warm in the winter.  Scruff was delighted by this.  To finish we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord and Sarah then said a short prayer.

St Peters Samaritan's Purse Assembly

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters and did a Samaritan's Purse assembly.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, Sarah talked about getting ready for Christmas like putting your list together etc.  She asked if the children liked to get presents - yes of course they do! but what if they never got a presents what then?  This led to her telling the children about Operation Christmas Child and how they could get involved.  I show the children a full box and explained using the box and a power point what they can put into it.  Then I explained about the £3 cost of sending the box and what £3 could buy you today.  We then watched the Love in A Box video.  At the end we told the children that if they wanted to get involved then we had a Go Box for them and a leaflet explaining what to do.  Sarah ended with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Croftlands Infants Samaritan's Purse Assembly

This afternoon Sarah and I went to Croftlands Infants school to do a Samaritan's Purse assembly.  We needed the video projector and screen for the assembly (we don't normally taken them) so we introduced a new song God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  Sarah then read the Mungo's New Home story to the children and I displayed the pictures on the screen.  After that I talked about Operation Christmas Child and how the children could help out again this year.  I showed the children what to put into a box and about how much it would coast to sent it themselves and about the £3 donation.  We also left them with 50 Go Boxes and enough leaflets for each child.  Sarah finished the assembly with a prayer.

North Walney Primary School Samaritan's Purse Assembly

This morning Sarah and I went to work over sea's - well over the bridge from Barrow to Walney Island.  We were doing a Samaritan's Purse assembly at North Walney Primary School.  As it was our first ever visit to the school we weren't too sure where the school was.  We got met at the door by the head and promptly started to set up.  Soon the children came in and we started the assembly, Sarah did ask before we started if we could sing a song so we did God's Love is Bigger than a Burger - which went down a storm with the children.  We then talked about presents and about getting presents and what it must feel like not to get anything at all.  This led into me talking about what you can do to help - filling a shoe box.  We then watched the Love in a Box video.  We left the children with 40 Go Boxes and enough leaflets for everyone should they wish to do a box.  Sarah concluded the assembly with a short prayer.

Monday 14 October 2013

Broughton School Samaritan's Purse Assembly

This morning Sarah and I went over to Broughton School to do a Samaritan's Purse assembly.  It was great to see the children again.  We started by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  Sarah then talked to the children about getting presents and in particular Christmas presents.  She asked a if anyone had started their list and also asked a few what they wanted.  This led on to her talking about Operation Christmas Child and how they could get involved this year by putting together and sending a shoe box.  I then very quickly went through what to put into a box before showing the Love in a Box film clip.  At the end Sarah prayed with the children.  Then a few hands went up and we answered a couple of questions about shoe boxes.

Friday 11 October 2013

NT BX5 Low Furness

Had another great time this afternoon with the children of year 5/6 at Low Furness School.  It was the last lesson of Bible Explorer, so following a quick recap of the story from last week in particular Paul we launched into the lesson today.  We were looking at the missionary journeys of Paul as he took the gospel message to the gentle's of Europe and Asia.  We covered a few of the stories in Paul's life and his time when he was asked to explain himself to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.  We also heard about his beatings and imprisonment and the night earth quake that set him free.  Finally we read about his arrest and call to Rome as the message of Christianity spread even further.  The children enjoyed doing all the hand signs so much so they also wanted to do all the ones from last year's OT and go right through but time caught up with us.

Thursday 10 October 2013

Ignite

We had a great time tonight at Ignite.  Once the children had munch their way through a load of pizza and chips, we had a game of card's (which was part of the theme)  The idea was to see how the children felt when they won abd how they felt when they lost.   We then watch the video which was the story of the great banquet.   Following this a discussion started about heaven and about who is invited - basically everyone but not everyone takes up the invite.   Some of the children came up with some deep thought provoking questions. We also asked what they thought heaven would be like, again very interesting points came out.  We talked so much that we almost ran out of time.    All in all a fab night.

Leven Valley

We went to Leven Valley school this morning for a Harvest themed assembly.  We started by introducing a new song today 'God can do Anything' before introducing the theme of harvest to the children.  I had Scruff the dog with me and when I brought him out there was the usual few questions of who are the children, have they seen him before, etc.  After a bit of chit chat Scruff told me that he had something for me so I looked in his bag and found a vest - upon lifting it out Scruff whispered in my ear Happy A Vest time.  This of course got a loud laugh from the children as I stood wondering what to say (as it were) I needed now to correct Scruff and tell him that a mistake had happened and that it isn't A Vest time but Harvest Time when we thank God for what we get off the land and out of the ground.  Scruff looking at me asked what stones?  No I said the fresh vegetables and fruit and things.  I did redeem the situation and the mistake by telling the children that people do sometimes get the wrong idea of Harvest in that they say thank you to God which is only part of it, we should also look to what we can give away as well at Harvest to help those in need.  I told Scruff's vest said thank you and gave it back to him so he could keep warm in the winter.  He then went away and we sang a Harvest song ' Fruits and Veggies'  Sarah then finished with a prayer.

Our Lady's Samaritan's Purse Assembly

This morning we made our regular monthly visit to Our Lady's in Dalton however this month we did an assembly about shoe boxes.  Lisa. Abbie, Sarah and myself told the children all about Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child.  Before the talk we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  Lisa open the talk by talking to the children about God's love for us and how we should share that love around to people like children in other less developed countries who perhaps might never have received a gift or present in their life.  She took a bottle of coke and started to share it between Abbie and myself to demonstrate the point of sharing, this was particularly apt as the ad campaign this summer for coke has been 'share a coke with...'  This left me with the task of telling the children what to put inside their shoe box and about the £3 donation to send with the box.  We then watched the video 'Love in a Box' at the end of the video I repeated the words of the chorus to the children before saying a short prayer.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

St Marys Samaritans Purse Assembly

Today we did the first of our Samaritan's Purse assemblies.  Lisa and I did the assembly between us.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, Lisa talked about God's love and how it is shared out for everyone, she also took some sweets and shared them out with some of the children.  I talked about Christmas and how it is only 78 days counting today until Christmas.  I asked if the children had started their lists yet - a few hands went up.  I talked briefly about what a present Jesus was to the world and about how great it is to get a present backing up what Lisa had said about love.  I showed a power point about packing a shoe box and talked about the £3 donation needed to send the box.  We then played the Love in a Box video.  After the video I read the words of the chorus again to the children.  The assembly concluded by Lisa saying that we are going to give each child a shoe box to take home then she encouraged the children to try and do more shoe boxes that last year.

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Low Furness School

Today I went to Low Furness School for the assembly.  I started the assembly by singing God can do anything, I asked Grace and Martha to help me with the actions and two others helped as well.  Following the song I did the talk, I had taken Scruff the Dog with me and we started a conversation he whispering in my ear and I telling what he said.  Scruff then told me that he had something for me which was in his bag.  I got it out to find that it was a vest!!  Then Scruff announced 'Happy A Vest Time'  I needed to question this and he told me that at this time of year which is Avest Time ... I needed to correct him that it is not Avest time but Harvest Time.  The children laughed and Scruff was not very happy and started to look away and sulk.  Despite my best efforts he continued to sulk.  I turned things around by saying that at Harvest time it is easy to get things wrong because people think it is just about saying thank you to God which is a good thing to do but we should always look to what we can give away in order to help other people.  I explained this to Scruff and the children then I thanked Scruff for his gift but gave it back to him so he could wear it in the winter.  Scruff said good bye and went away.  I then recapped what I had said about Harvest Time before singing Fruit and Veggies song, I got 9 children out to help me with the actions.  At the end I said a short prayer.

Friday 4 October 2013

NT BX4 Low Furness School

This afternoon I had an enjoyable time with the children from year 5 and 6 at Low Furness School.  It was lesson 4 of Bible Explorer.  In the last lesson we had heard about Jesus being crucified and then resurrected, today we discovered what happened after he went back into heaven and what happened when the Holy Spirit came.  I told the story of Pentecost using a poem with a catchy repeating chorus which I encouraged the children to repeat.  The children learnt about the Jews punishing the Christians and trying to get rid of them but despite their best efforts the Christians spread out and therefore more people joined them.  There was a focus on three people mentioned in Acts, they were Philip, Paul and Peter.  Next week we shall be taking a closer look at the journeys Paul went on and learning about the gospel message spread even further.

Thursday 3 October 2013

Ignite

Tonight we had a great time with the Ignite group.  We used the Walk With Jay series about what we say.  The title was 'I hate you'  two children had fallen out with each other and said nasty things to each other.   Jay got them to say the words again but they all appeared on the walls of the house.   It looked a mess and needed to be sorted out.  It happened when the children said sorry.   I focused on the verses in the Bible which talked about the tongue and made a number game which got the children talking about the various passages.  The children opened up about lot's of the issues being discussed.   All in all I really enjoyed the session and I hope that the children did too.