Church Walk Primary School

This morning we were at Church Walk School.  We decided not to do an Easter themed assembly as next week they are holding an Easter Experience outside which we are involved in.  So after singing Great Big God I recalled the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5 using the magic trick that I have made.  As the final part of the story came out and Naaman had dipped himself 7 times in the River Jordan the look of surprise on the childrens faces as they saw the transformed Naaman was great.  The whisper of wow and that's magic went across the children.  I said that what I had done was a magic trick but what really happened was something else beginning with M and Sarah explained.  Sarah then talked about other miracles asking the children to tell her about some.  This led onto modern miracles and how they still happen today.  To finish we sang Wonderful Lord and Sarah said a prayer during the instrumental part.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon we travelled over to Crosthwaite School.  Once again it was a beautiful day.  We started the assembly with singing Shine, then we showed them a short video clip from PIXAR about some birds who didn't like another bird getting into their group.  Following the clip both Sarah and I talked about the actions of the birds and asked the children what type of bird they saw themselves as.  Were they different from the rest, or did they follow the crowd to help them I had captured some screen shots of the movie clip and displayed them as we talked.  Sarah explained that we are all different in one way or another this led us into singing Touch a Finger followed by Wonderful Lord during which I said a short prayer.

St Peters Ireleth

This morning we went over to St Peters for the assembly.  It was a beautiful day as the sun lit the hills and mountains.  We decided to use the same assembly idea that we did at Low Furness School yesterday.  So after singing Shine we played the PIXAR short but the sun was just catching the screen so some of the detail was lost.  We then talked about the clip and about the different types of birds.  then asked the children which bird they thought they were.  We explained about the bible passage in that Jesus wants us to love everyone as he has loved us.  Following the talk we sang Wonderful Lord and during the song said a short prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I were at Low Furness School.  The theme was caring, so we decided to sing Shine - from the inside out to start with as that is what we wanted our end message to be about.  We played the PIXAR short called For the Birds which was used at the front of a PIXAR movie some years ago.  It features a bird on a wire which gets joined by other birds which he dislikes.  Then before he realises there are lots of birds on the wire which all have a go at each other.  In the middle of this a rather large bird sees the fun and wants to join in - the other birds poke fun at him and move away.  But the larger bird flies over and plants itself in the middle of all the birds.  Well they don't like it at all and start talking about him and having a go at him including pushing him off the wire.  So now he is hanging upside down on the wire as his toes start to slip off one by one - the two nearest birds peck at them until he is hanging by just one toe.  One of the other birds realises that if they continue then it will be bad for them but it is just too late as the last toe falls off the wire which was rather stretched catapults all the other birds into the air at such a speed they leave their feathers behind.  Now the big bird still with his feathers becomes the shelter for all the little featherless birds.  You need to watch it to see the whole point.  I had taken a few screen shots of the movie at key points ready to talk about them.  Sarah asked the question which bird the children thought they were and as I displayed different scenes I asked the question again and again until the scene when all the birds needed the big bird for shelter.  Sarah referred to John 13

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

(John 13:34-35 NIV84)

Having sung Shine to start she also said that we should shine from the inside out, and if we care and show love to someone then that care and love will be reflected back.  To end we sang Wonderful Lord and during the instrumental break Sarah prayed.

Pennington School

This morning Sarah and I went to take the assembly at Pennington School. After singing So Many Ways I told the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5. I used a magic trick to tell the story.  I told the children that it was a magic trick but in the real story it was another 'm'. Sarah then talked about miracles asking the children what other miracles they knew about.  We were greatly surprised just how much they knew about them. She asked if miracles still happened today,  the children responded with a yes. She recalled a modern miracle about affootball player who's heart stopped working for over an hour.  We then sang God can do Anything followed by a prayer.

Broughton School

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to do the assembly at Broughton.  To start we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord then I told the Naaman story using my magic trick.  At the end someone said that's magic to which I said yes this is magic but what God did was something else beginning with an M which Sarah is going to tell you about.  The M was of course for miracle and Naaman was healed by a miracle from God.  Sarah explained through question and answer what a miracle is.  Then she asked if miracles still happen today the children replied yes they do.  Sarah then talked about the footballer Fabrice Muamba whose heart stopped for over an hour, he recovered and without any side effects - a modern day miracle.  This led to our song God can do Anything, after singing Sarah closed with a prayer.

Leven Valley School

Following our assembly at Our Lady's we went down to Leven Valley to do the same assembly.  After singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I once again told the story of Naaman using the magic trick I have.  Sarah then asked the children to name some of the other miracles in the bible - the children knew loads of different ones including some of the less know ones like the women touching Jesus's cloak.  She once again told the story of Fabrice Muamba who basically died during a football match back in 2012 when his heart stopped for over an hour.  She rounded off the talk by saying that God can do anything which was the cue for the song.  Afterwards she finished the assembly with a prayer.

Our Lady's Dalton

This morning we went to Our Lady's in Dalton.  It was rather a contrast to yesterday's bright sunny morning as today was foggy.  Our theme was miracles, so after singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I retold the Old Testament story from 2 Kings 5 of Naaman, using a magic trick.  Sarah then drew the assembly together by talking about what miracles are and asking the children to name some other ones - we had water into wine, healing ones, walking on water, feeding the 5000.  She explained what the word miracle means using the definition from the dictionary.  Then she went on to talk about modern day ones like the footballer who's heart stopped while playing in a televised game.  We then sang God can do Anything before closing in prayer.

St Peters Ireleth

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters, the sun was shinning and the drive was great.  It was such a good feeling, a morning to be happy on - which was the title of the first song we sang Be Happy.  After the song I retold the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5 using a magic trick that I had made last year.  I explained who he was and that he had a problem with his skin and I showed a picture of him looking a bit unhappy and covered in red sores.  After being told by an Israelite slave to go to Israel and see God's man Elisha he bathed seven times in the dirty river Jordan.  Now Naaman didn't feel like doing this as the water was so dirty as he had better and more cleaner water in his own country.  But he obeyed and as I counted up to seven I place the picture of Naaman into a frame which was to represent the water.  After the seven washes Naaman needed to get dry and to do that he needed a towel so I covered over the frame and dried him off but now when I lifted him out he was clean and the red sores had gone and he was happy - Naaman was healed.  Now this was a trick but what really happen was a miracle.  Sarah then went on to talk about other miracles in the bible as well as modern day miracles too.  After we had finished we sang Shine and then closed with a prayer followed by the Lords Prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I were at Low Furness school for the assembly.  The theme of the day was miracles.  Now we know that there are lots of miracles that happened during the bible and people - children generally think of them only happening during the New Testament.  So after singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I recalled the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5.  I used my magic trick that I made last year to tell the story.  After the story Sarah talked to the children about modern day miracles like the miracle of life.  She also mentioned Fabrice Muamba who's heart stopped for over an hour live on Television while playing football.  She described a miracle as an event that can't be explained by natural means in other words supernatural - God.  Following this we sang God can do Anything.  Then Sarah closed with a prayer.

Penny Bridge School

This afternoon Sarah and I went to do an assembly at Penny Bridge School.  We decided to talk about our community and how we can have an impact upon it.  So to start we showed some pictures of Ulverston following the events that go on here.  Then we displayed some flood pictures from the recent news reports.  Finally we displayed pictures of the troubles in the Ukraine.  Sarah started to ask questions about what the children had seen asking what can we do about it.  This led to me reading from Mark 4:30-32 which is the mustard seed passage.  I then explained that Jesus wasn't talking about gardening when he told this story but about how we can do something quite small that can then have a big impact on the lives of other people.  Sarah reminded the children that they had done something small in sending shoe boxes before Christmas which funnily enough went to the children of the Ukraine!  The mustard seed being the smallest seed grows into the biggest garden plant.  Jesus was one man who told us about God and 2000 years later millions of people follow him and in turn tell others about God.  To conclude we sang Shine from the inside out.

March Events

Dear all

 

I hope this email finds you well.  It hardly seems five minutes ago that I was sending out the events page for February – except I forgot to attach it at first!  At the start of last month Sarah and I were heading south to Eastbourne for the Hand in Hand Conference for children and family workers.  We had a great time while we were there (the journey was….interesting to say the least).  We had the chance to meet and talk with lots of different people as well as attending many different seminars.  Sarah and I went to different seminars and talks focusing in on key issues with childrens ministry.  One of the big issues was about encouraging faith to grow in children while they are in the early stages of childhood in order to nature them through teenage years and see them develop into Christian adults.  Church’s have seen a drop off in their childrens and youth ministries as children get older and in particular when they go off to university and collage.  The idea of building a faith community was discussed were everyone within the church/faith community has a part to play and the idea of creating an ‘intergenerational church’ were the older members of the church and the younger members feel at ease with each other.  One suggestion that was made was to interview both older members and younger members in a service to ask questions about their journey and their life.  In one church this idea to interview people was done one Sunday morning and a young boy was the interviewee and he was asked about all kinds of things – but one thing came out and that was he liked playing games, not computer or on a games console but board games.  His parents though didn’t get a great deal of time to sit down and play as work got in the way.  Sitting in the congregation that morning was an older man, he liked playing games too – chess mainly.  The next young club night he went along with his chess set to ask if anyone would like to play.  Now that might seem a little strange but the youth group had such a take up on this that they dedicated one whole room to a chess playing room and loads of kids now play with lots of other older members of the church.  That is great but the really cool part is that older Christians and getting involved in the lives of younger Christians, and I feel that is so important.  As the chess games are played out I am sure that conversation takes place too so the two players get to know each other.  Another idea that came out was for older church members to adopt a younger church member and each month to send them a post card of encouragement ( there were some examples to buy)  This shows to the younger person that someone other than their family is thinking about them – what a great idea.  These postcards are available from http://www.godventure.co.uk/ web site (no I’m not on commission).   Also on the Saturday evening we had a first taste of the Noah musical that Doug Horley is putting together along with Saltmine.  It will be great the songs we heard sound fantastic – it is coming to Barrow on 30^th May this year.

 

Well I hope that you all have a good month of March.  There is one very advanced notice between June 22^nd and 26^th 2015 – yes 2015 it is not a typo we will be welcoming back Bibleworld.

 

Have a blessed month and thank you once again for all your prayers.

 

 

Many Blessings

 

Mark