A reason to Celebrate

Today was our Holiday Club Celebration Service following Polar Explorers last week.  We had a full church and lots of children came too.  We had a great time of praise and worship as we reflected back over the week.  We heard from the reflective time when the children voiced their own ideas about the characters they had learnt about during the week.  We had some of the children's prayers read out as well.  I summed up the week and the daily themes too as well as bringing in the theme for the day, we had Peter - never too many mistakes, Stephen - never too ordinary, Philip - never too near or far, Paul - never too bad, Timothy - never too young and today Lydia - never too unlikely.  Each of these people had either met Jesus, had an encounter with him or heard about him and they had decided to follow him.  In following him they said sorry for the wrongs they had done, put their faith and trust in him and decided to follow him.  God then poured out his Spirit on them which equipped them for his service.  We too can be like this none of us is perfect we all make mistakes, do bad things, are unlikely characters for God to use, we might be too young or old and just ordinary BUT God can use you just as you are so why not ask him right now!

Polar Explorers Holiday Club final day

To day was our final full day of Polar Explorers at Croftlands.  We have had a great week with the children as they have heard stories and learnt about 5 bible characters from the New Testament.  Each person left a positive mark on the people around them and it is this lesson that we have being keen to get over to the children during the week when the children have had a quiet reflective time with their group leader.  Each group came up with a word or two or a phrase about the person they have being learning about and we have displayed them on a board for other people to see.  We have encouraged the children and their families to come along to the celebration service on Sunday when we will be displaying photographs of the week.  Today finished with the customary picnic and then the water fight.

Day 2 of Polar Explorers

Day 2 of Holiday Club, the children came back today ready to go off on another expedition.  Today we looked at the story of Stephen and how he did an ordinary job - giving out food and waiting at tables, but as ordinary as that was God used him in a big way.  He was happy doing his job and doing God's work in the process to we said :- Never too Ordinary to be part of God's Big Expedition.  There is a lesson for us all in that.  We might be doing a really boring job of work put God might have put you there for a reason - to do his work.  Now there is food for thought! - notice the link to the story food?  Well it works for me it is late after all.

A Chilly Start at Croftlands

Today at Croftlands Community Church nearly 70 children gathered as we set off on an expedition to the South Pole guided by Bare Feet, Sister Sledge (wheelie that is her name) and me Sir Random Finds as we started our Holiday Club Polar Explorers.  The children heard the story of Peter and reflected on what his 'foot print' might be, that is what did he leave behind him.  We heard how he had let Jesus down and then on the day of Pentecost and being filled with the Holy Spirit stood up and proclaim Jesus and 3000 people became followers that day.  We sang big action songs, did crafts and played games and generally had a great time.  Following a rest this afternoon we'll do it all again in the morning.

526

This morning Sarah and I did our last assembly of the school year at St Peters.  It brings the assembly season to a close and also marks the end of 5 years in full time ministry.  This morning was also our 526th assembly since I started keeping records back in September 2011.  I cannot begin to imagine just how many children during that time have heard a gospel message during a school assembly.  So many seeds have been sown over the years into the lives of so many young people in our area.  We praise God for each one of them - we don't know how many but He does.  We thank God too for the privilege and the openness of schools to invite us in year after year to take collective worship.  We look forward to the next year with a number of other schools wanting us to go in on a regular basis to do assemblies and we pray that God will continue to bless the work within the schools and that He will also continue to inspire us as we seek to do His work.  We also thank God for all the support we get both in prayer and other ways from the people like you who are reading this Blog now - Thank You and God Bless you richly.

Mark and Sarah

St Peters

This morning Sarah and I did our last assembly of the school year at St Peters. We saw the year 6 children yesterday at Low Furness school when we did the transition assembly and lesson we apologised in advance because part of what we wanted to do today was about moving on.  So after singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger I retold the Abraham story with pictures on the screen, I talked about the promise God gave to him about the place he and his descendants would live in and about how many they would become.  I finished with the promise given to Joshua in chapter 1 verse 8 about being strong and not afraid because God is with us wherever we go.  Linking into the song we had started with I said that God Love's us so much and he will be with us as we move on through life because God Can Do Anything - cue second song.  Following the song Sarah closed in prayer.

Low Furness School

Today was our last transition assembly and lesson for the year and our last assembly at Low Furness school.  Sarah and I with the help of Vic and Charlie did the transition assembly for the children at the school as well as the year 6 children from St Peters.  The drama went down well as it has done during the whole run of assemblies.  Then we did the lesson which we hope will ease the year 6 children into the secondary schools in September.

Church Walk

This morning I went along to Church Walk School for the final assembly with them for the year.  After singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I told the story of Abraham - a story which I did tell to them about 3 years ago at this time of year.  I linked his move with the move the children will be making in September as they go up a year group.  They know where they are going but Abraham didn't but he did know that God was with him in all he did I used the verse from Joshua 1:8 which says be strong and courageous for I am with you wherever you go.  After this we sang Wonderful Lord to finish off the assembly.

Lindale School

This morning Sarah and I went for our second visit to Lindale School.  It was great to see all the children again they gave us such a warm welcome.  To start the assembly we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then I told the story of Abraham and showed some pictures as I did so.  I explained that he was a man of about 75 years old when God told him to move on.  He also told him that his wife Sarah was going to have a baby except she was about 70!  Well we all know the story and Abraham did as God said and a baby was born and later on the Jewish people numbered in their millions.  God was faithful to Abraham and Sarah and look after them no matter what they did or where they went.  Sarah then reminded the children that that is true today.  God is with us and looks after us no matter what we do or where we go.  She linked this to the children moving on no only in the school but also the year 6 children on to secondary schools too.  She said that God holds us in his hands.  She reminded the children what it says in the Bible in the book of Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.  After this we sang Great Big God and closed with a prayer.

Croftlands Junior School

After the assembly with the infants we crossed the car park and did the same assembly with the Juniors. So after singing Be Happy Sarah asked the children what sort of things makes them happy, a few put up hands to answer.  She then showed a picture of Grace and Martha and asked if they looked happy and if so how can you tell.  The fact that both a holding up their thumbs and have a big smile is a bit of a give away.  Sarah then said that she is so thankful for them that is what makes her happy.  I then displayed a picture of some carrots - plain ordinary carrots - nothing fancy about them - just carrots.  I then said that I am thankful for things like carrots.  The point was we all have things that we look back on a celebrate and are thankful for like birthdays, Christmas and other special times but most of the time we have carrot days - that is ordinary days which is great.  We do however have sad days so the next picture was a box of tissues and during our sad days we should think about those happy days to help us through them because we can look at them and be thankful for those happy times.  Following the talk we sang So Many Ways because it mentions about being thankful.  Then Sarah close in prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

Today Sarah and I went to do our final assembly of the year for Croftlands Infants.  So after singing Be Happy Sarah asked the children what sort of things makes them happy, a few put up hands to answer.  She then showed a picture of Grace and Martha and asked if they looked happy and if so how can you tell.  The fact that both a holding up their thumbs and have a big smile is a bit of a give away.  Sarah then said that she is so thankful for them that is what makes her happy.  I then displayed a picture of some carrots - plain ordinary carrots - nothing fancy about them - just carrots.  I then said that I am thankful for things like carrots.  The point was we all have things that we look back on a celebrate and are thankful for like birthdays, Christmas and other special times but most of the time we have carrot days - that is ordinary days which is great.  We do however have sad days so the next picture was a box of tissues and during our sad days we should think about those happy days to help us through them because we can look at them and be thankful for those happy times.  Following the talk we sang So Many Ways because it mentions about being thankful.  Then Sarah close in prayer.

Pennington School

This afternoon Sarah and I along with Charlie and Lisa, did the transition lesson for the year 6 pupils at Pennington school.  We did the lesson that we have done several times now in a number of different schools.  Following the lesson we did an assembly for the whole school about moving on.

Penny Bridge School

This morning Sarah and I along with Charlie, Lisa and the vicar did the assembly at Penny Bridge school.  It was the transition assembly for the year 6 pupils.  We did the assembly that we have done several times now in a number of different schools.  Following the assembly we  took the year 6 pupils for a special lesson all about their move to secondary school.

Black Combe Primary School

This afternoon we visited Black Combe School to do a transition assembly with the whole school.  We did the same assembly as we did this morning at Lindal and Marton School.

Lindal and Marton School

This morning Sarah and I along with Vic and Charile did a transition assembly then a lesson at Lindal and Marton School.  So after singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord we performed a short drama about a family that were moving, there was mild panic as they realised the day for the move and arrived and confusion as they didn't know where they were going - this was a bit like Abram in the Old Testament but god was with him.  We linked the drama to the story of Abram.  Following that we sang Great Big God and closed in prayer.  After the assembly we did a special lesson with the year 6 children about moving on to year 7.