Ignite

Last night we had our Ignite group round.  After eating our way through 5 pizza's and a large bag of fries followed by ice cream we played a game.  The game was designed to test their hearing, as one person was sat in the middle of the group with a blind fold on, the rest handed round a bunch of keys.  The middle person was to listen and try to work out where the keys where in the group.  This led to the video which was about blind Bartimaeus.  Following the video we asked them what they thought about what Jesus had done.  Then we blind folded someone again and set them off walking towards one of the group.  The walk should have been straight however the rest of the group moved around just like the crowd had done in the story and bumped into the blind folded person sending them off course.  Eventually they got there.  The point was that there are times when people get in our way and we can hear Jesus calling but we get pushed aside by others around us.  We then sat round in a circle with a ball of string.  We started to pass the string round the group and whenever a person got it they had to say thank you to God for something, then as it went a second time they had to thank God for something in creation and finally they had to say sorry for something but not speak it out loud.  In the end we created a prayer web.  As holiday club is getting closer we decided that we would ask the children to video themselves talking about Jesus.  So we gave them the cameras and off they went - they said what Jesus means to them and what their favourite bible story is.  Next we introduced them to the memory verses for the week and asked them to think of interesting ways in which we could display them to the children.  Next week we will be taking some pictures of them.  We closed with a time of chatting to God.

Our Lady's - last assembly of school year - moving on

Today was our last visit of this school year to Our Lady's and as it was the last visit I asked the year 6 children what song they would like to sing - they picked Shine.  The story I told today was about Abraham who was told by God to move on from Ur to first of all Harran and then into what is now Israel.  I showed some pictures and a map of the area.  I talked about how strange it must have been for him and his wife Sarah to be told to move not knowing where they would end up.  I also spoke of the promise God made to them about having children as many as the stars in the sky.  I linked up with a verse from Deuteronomy 31:6 which says Be strong. Take courage. Don't be intimidated. Don't give a second thought because GOD, your God, is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; he won't leave you.  I encouraged all the children who will be moving up a year to take courage and be strong because God will be with them and He won't let them down.  To finish we sang Wonderful Lord and I prayed for all the children.

BX OT5 Pennington

This afternoon was the last lesson of Bible Explorer at Pennington School.  The children came into the lesson very excited to see me and couldn't wait to get started.  Following a quick recap of the books covered in the bible and a quick run through of all the hand signs to date we started the lesson.  I explained the North - South, Israel - Judah, 19 - 20, 0-8 again to them and talked a little about prophets as the Prophets Speak is the first hand sign today.  I also explained what it meant by Scatters and that even today some Jews don't bother with the people believed to be from the Samaria region.  I did a quick link to the New Testament and the Good Samaritan story.  The lesson progressed on at a quick pace until I got to my favourite story - Esther.  I do like to tell this story and get them involved with it.  The sense of shock, horror and hummer in it helps a lot, particularly as the story draws to a close and Haman is leading Mordecai through the streets and then as the plot is uncovered Haman falls on the queen and the king has him arrested and hung on his own gallows.  The children did well as they went through all the hand signs at the end.

St Peters - making a loud noise

The assembly today at St Peters was in a class room as the hall was in use.  Sarah stayed in the hall while I went to do the assembly.  After saying hello to the children they responded back and shouted hello to Sarah.  Our theme was in fact on noise.  We started by singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord before I told the story of Joshua and the children of Israel making loads of noise as they walked round the walls of Jericho.  I had my ram/cow horn with me too so after giving a couple of loud blasts on it I asked the children to shout - they did so we did it again and then a third time.  As the story goes the walls fall down.  I linked this to us when we praise God sometimes it can be loud but other times it can be quiet too as the words of the song say 'Praise the loud in silence...'  Following this we sang Wonderful Lord and during the instrumental I said a short prayer.

Low Furness - a loud and noisy time

Today the theme of the assembly was noise.  So Sarah and I decided that we would sing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord to start, then I told the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho.  The people were told to match around 7 times and then on the seventh day do it seven times but then to make lots of noise.  I showed some pictures and blew my cow/ram's horn to show what it might have been like and then I got the children to shout loud too.  I told the children that on this day with a lot of noise something special happened.  I also spoke about how we praise God and that it doesn't always need to be loud it and also be quiet.  Following this Sarah concluded the assembly as we sang wonderful Lord followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Penny Bridge School - final assembly of the school year

This afternoon Sarah and I went to Penny Bridge school for the final visit and assembly of this school year.  I decided that I would tell the story of Abraham using some visual aids I had prepared for another talk once before.  Abraham had been told by God to move and God had promised him a large family and that he would always be with him.  This I think was the most important point particularly as children in all schools are moving up a year or to a new key stage of even to a new school.  I coupled the story with a verse from  Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong. Take courage. Don't be intimidated. Don't give a second thought because GOD, your God, is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; he won't leave you. Sarah conclude the assembly by talking to the children and saying that God would be with them as he promise he would be with Abraham, as the move to a new year.  We sang Wonderful Lord to end and Sarah led the short prayer.

Broughton School - moving on

This morning over at Broughton we did our last assembly of the school year.  As it was the last one I decided to tell a story of a bible character that was told by God to move so I picked Abraham.  Using some simple visual aids I told his story and focused on the fact that God was with him and kept his promises to him.  Then to finished I talked to the children about moving up in the school and about how they might be a little frighten and unsure of things but encouraged them with a bible verse from Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong. Take courage. Don't be intimidated. Don't give a second thought because GOD, your God, is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; he won't leave you. I ended with a short prayer.