NT BX3 Low Furness

Friday afternoon I was in Low Furness School doing lesson 3 of New Testament Bible Explorer.  The series of stories started with Jesus almost being stoned by the authorities in Jerusalem.  We covered the lost parables and I told a very quick version of the lost sheep, but went into a little more detail with the lost coin which included visual aids and a trick.  We heard about Lazarus and also about Zacchaeus.  We heard and watched a short video clip of Jesus going into Jerusalem and then went on into the Temple Market.  I had created a short sketch with props to explain what was happening in the temple, it involved a rich man wanting to buy a bull for a sacrifice but only had Roman money so he needed to change it for temple money.  However he lost out on the exchange, but when he went to buy the bull,  it had been reduced in price so now he had temple money left over - which he needed to exchange back to Roman money and he lost out again.  It was a silly but simple illustration of what was happening in the temple.  Next we cover the Last Supper and the betrayal by Judas followed by the prays then arrest, trial and Peter's denial of Jesus again a short script was used here.  Next came the crucifixion of Jesus and his death and burial.  Since we had covered a bit about burial with the Lazarus story the children knew what had happened with Jesus.  Not wanting to leave Jesus' death in the childrens minds we covered the resurrection story too, which is a good point to stop the lesson.  I had a great time and the children seemed to enjoy it too which was great.

Low Furness School

Following our assembly at Church Walk we dashed across to Urswick for an assembly at Low Furness School.  The theme there was empathy, we started the assembly by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then I read the Good Samaritan Story from the Lion Storyteller Bible and Sarah then encouraged the children to be like the man that helped rather than the men that didn't - because when we do we Shine from the Inside Out which was a cue for the next song.  At the end of the song I said a short Prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning Sarah and I went along to Church Walk Primary School for our first assembly of the new school year.  As it is the beginning of a new term we decided to talk about beginnings and creation, so after singing Creator God Sarah told the creation story from the Lion Storyteller bible.  I then followed the story up and talked with the children about their summer holidays and how beautiful this part of the world is.  I also mentioned about how God wants us to look after the world that he has created and care for it as well as care for each other.  We followed this up with a new song God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  Then we said a short Prayer.

Penny Bridge School

This afternoon we went over to Penny Bridge school.  As we arrived the children greeted us and asked how we were which was a great welcome for us.  We did the assembly that we have been doing in all our schools for the first one.  So we sang Creator God and then Sarah introduced the theme - creation by asking the children if they could guess what we might be talking about.  As we have done in other schools I read the Word on the Street version of the story while pictures appeared on the screen.  At the end Sarah asked more questions and talked about us being the caretakers of our planet. Then we sang a new song God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  Sarah concluded the time together with a prayer.

Pennington School

This morning Sarah and I went along to Pennington School for the first assembly of the new school year.  We decided to do the assembly that we have been doing at other schools in our area - creation.  Sarah introduced the theme after saying hello and asking the children about the summer holidays.  We sang Creator God and then I told the creation story as it is in the Word on the Street Bible with a few extra bits thrown in.  Then Sarah talked a little about the creation and how we are called to be caretakers of the planet and how we should look after it as well as ourselves this led into Great Big God which we sang before finishing with a prayer.

Messy Church

Yesterday (Saturday) was the first Messy church of the new term.  The theme was on Moses and in particular the exit from Egypt.  There were a number of children around and some new faces too.  We all had a great time doing the crafts and playing games.  Then altogether in the main church we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger before I told the story with pictures that talked a bit about the Israelites in Egypt the escape and crossing the Red Sea.  We finished that section off by singing Great Big God.

NT BX2 at Low Furness

This afternoon I was once again at Low Furness School for the second lesson of New Testament Bible Explorer.  During the last lesson we had heard about Jesus' birth and the birth John.  We left the story as Jesus was being baptised and then tempted by Satan.  This week following a recap of the previous lesson we told the story of Nicodemus's visit to Jesus at night, and also the woman at the well story.  Before moving the story through to the start of Jesus' public ministry and him selecting the disciples.  We covered the sermon on the mount and the calming of the storm as well as the feeding of the 5000.  Parables are also talked about, leading up to Peter getting it and declaring that Jesus is the one - the Messiah.  We finish the lesson as Jesus is transfigured before his chosen disciples.  Next week onto Jerusalem.

Ignite

This evening at Ignite after we had munched our way through 6 large pizzas and 2 bags of French fries we had a game of bingo - I did think that we might be able to create a pattern on the bingo card that would spell the key word for the evening - but the first game took so long we never got the chance.  We watched a Relive video tonight about the 10 Lepers and focused in on the fact that all were healed but only one came back to say thank you.  We then explored some different ways that we can say thank you to God, we had a phone, a tray, a heart shaped cushion, a bible, a worship CD and some arm bands for swimming.  Each one can remind us about what to thank God for:-
the arm bands for saving us
the bible His word
the phone we can simply talk to God
the tray we can serve God by serving others
we can thank Him during worship
we can thank Him because He loves us so much

Then we split into small groups with a tube of bubbles and blew bubbles and thank God for all kinds of things.  The children then made a list of 10 people that they would like to say thank you to, and who they would pray for this week.  We ended with a time of chatting to God.

St Peters

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters to take the first assembly of this new school year.  We decided to do the assembly that we have done n all our schools just recently.  So Sarah started by asking if the children had had a good summer holiday and then we sang Creator God.  Sarah continued to talk with the children (as I got the visual aids ready) asking if they knew what story I was going to tell and seeing if they knew which book of the bible it came from she also explained that I was going to read it from the Word on the Street Bible.  I explained to the children a bit about the bible I was using.  During the story Sarah displayed pictures displaying the days of creation.  Then she explained a bit about the story and about how we should look after the planet and each other after all our great big God has given it to us to enjoy which was a nice link to the next song.  Following the song I said a short prayer, followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

Tuesday afternoon Sarah and  went to Croftlands Infants school for the first assembly of the new school year.  It was great to see all the children again and in particular all the new reception class.  We did the story of creation with them but instead of using the Word on the Street Bible Sarah read the story from the Loin Storyteller Bible.  As we don't use a projector at the school we couldn't show them any pictures - however the story does give a good description of what is happening.  We sang Great Big God to start us off then Creator God at the end.  I concluded the assembly with a short prayer.

Croftlands Junior School

Sarah and I went along to Croftlands Juniors this morning for the first assembly of the new school year.  It was great to see all the children again and in particular the new year 3 children who had come over from the infants.  To start with we sang Creator God as that linked in with the story I was going to tell.  Sarah asked the children if they could guess what the assembly was about after we had sung the song.  Then she asked if they knew which book of the bible it was from.  I told the story using the Word on the Street Bible and explained to the children that it was very much in street talk - and asked if they got wot I was saying man!  During the story pictures appeared that reflected the days of creation.  When I had finished Sarah talked to the children about some of the things in the passage - like it said we are caretakers of the planet she explained to them that we should look after what we have here on earth.  She also talked about how beautiful our planet is and in particular living here in the lakes.  We do have a great big God - which was a cue/link to our next song.  Following that I said a prayer with the children.

Broughton School

This morning we had a lovely drive over to Broughton.  It was the first assembly of the new term so the little reception children were all in.  We started with introductions particularly for the new children and then sang Creator God.  Sarah asked the question did anyone have an idea what our assembly was going to be about - creation came back the answer.  We had some visual aids to show and I read the creation story from the Word on the Street Bible - which adds a bit of humour to the story.  As each day was mentioned a different part of the picture was revealed.  Following the story Sarah talked and asked questions about it getting across the point that we are all caretakers of our planet and as such we should look after it well after all God has made it so beautiful.  This led into Our God is a Great Big God.  Sarah concluded the assembly with a prayer.

NT BX1 at Low Furness School

Yesterday afternoon I was at Low Furness school for the first New Testament Bible Explorer lesson.  It was a rather large mixed group of year 5 and 6.  After explaining a little about Bible Explorer I launched into the lesson starting at the beginning Adam and Eve and the fall hence sin entering the world, which led to the rescue plan Christ the Messiah.  It seemed rather strange telling the Christmas story complete with some OT prophecies in September.  This story then leads into the first set of hand signs.  The lesson went well and I completed it just on the hour, but then the teacher open up the floor to questions which was a very interesting time for about 10 minutes.  Next Friday lesson 2.

Leven Valley School

This morning we went down to Leven Valley School.  It was our first visit of the new school year and the first time for the reception to be in the assembly.  Sarah introduced us to the new children and said hello to everyone else and enquired about their summer holidays.  To start we sang Creator God, following that Sarah asked if anyone could possibly suggest what story we were going to tell.  A few answers came back like -  a bible story, an old testament story etc.  We got the right answer in the end - creation.  Sarah asked which book it was from and we did get the answer Genesis after some guessing.   I read the story from the Word on the Street Bible which uses street language.  To help the children to remember the story we posted pictures on the screen for each of the days.  At the end Sarah talked about the world and how beautiful it is and how we should look after it - the passage had talked about us being caretakers of the planet.  She also moved on to talk about looking after each other and linked that to the new children in reception.  To end we sang Great Big God and Sarah said a prayer.

Our Ladys Dalton

This morning Sarah and I went for our first visit of the new school year to Our Lady's in Dalton.  After introducing ourselves to the new reception children we started the assembly with Creator God.  Sarah then asked if anyone had an idea what we might be talking about today - a sea of hands went up and someone suggested creation - which was the correct answer.  I had decided to tell the story from the Word on the Street Bible.  During the telling of the story pictures which represented the days were shown on the screen.  Sarah then talked a bit about what was read for example the passage said that we are the caretakers of the planet so she asked the children about that and explained that we should look after not only the planet but each other too.  This was linked to the new children and how we should watch out for them in school.  We ended the time with Great Big God because that is what he is.  Sarah then said a prayer.

Low Furness School first assembly of the new term

Our first assembly of the new term was based on creation.  So after a brief welcome and chat about the summer, we sang Creator God.  I then displayed some visual aids as I recalled the creation story from Genesis Ch1 using the Street Bible.  I did however alter a few words so the children would understand it a little better.  During the reading I displayed a picture for the day - which unfortunately couldn't easily be seen due to the sun.  After the reading I talked a bit about creation and how beautiful flowers are and how unusual some creatures are like those with big long noses or the duck billed platypus.  I followed this up by talking about us and how special and unique we are that is all different.  Different but all created by a Great Big God which led us to sing that song.  I prayed at the end of the assembly for the children at the start of the new year/new term.