Wednesday 27 February 2019

Burlington School

This morning I went over to do the assembly at Burlington School.  I started with an illustration that needed three people.  I asked them to pick a numbered card 1-4 which they did, I then gave them the choice to swap the card they had with another one - I did tell them beforehand that someone out the front was going to walk away with a bag full of sweets.  They decided to keep their cards, next I gave them a coloured numbered of their numbered choice which then represented a coloured bag - except I got the bag with all the sweets - I pointed out that they did have a chance to swap cards at first.  This linked into the telling of the parable the wise and foolish man - the wise man built his house on a good solid firm foundation while the foolish man built on sand.  Then when the rain, wind and storm came the foolish man lost his house and the wise man's house stood firm.  I pointed out that Jesus spoke in parables all the time and they are earthly stories that have a heavenly meaning.  I encouraged the children to make good choices and to build their lives on a firm foundation and following Jesus is the best way of doing that - this links with the line in the song Be Happy that says I'll follow Jesus 'til the day I drop.  After singing this song I closed with a prayer.

Tuesday 26 February 2019

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon I have been over to Crosthwaite School for the assembly.  I didn't start with a song as I had a little illustration to do which was all about the theme of the assembly which was - Making Choices.  I asked for three children to help me out and asked them to pick a playing card I had an ace, a two, a three and a four.  Once they had done that I gave them the choice to swap their card with mine or someone else's they chose to keep the card they had.  I had pointed out to them that someone up front was going to get a big bag of sweets at the end.  Next I took out a bag of coloured numbered disc's and gave each child the disc of their chosen number, which in turn matched the colour of a bag except my bag had all the sweets in it and the others only had a few - wrong choice I said as the children sat down.  I linked this to the parable Jesus told of the wise and foolish man one built a strong house on the sand while the other built on rock - then as the rain and storm came the house on the sand fell flat.  I encouraged the children to make good choices in like and to build on a firm solid foundation such as Jesus was referring to in the heavenly meaning of the parable.  We then sang Be Happy as it has the line I'll follow Jesus 'til the day I drop - which is a good solid thing to do a good foundation.  After the song I said a short prayer and as I won't be seeing the children until after Easter as a treat we sang the Chicken Dance.

Monday 25 February 2019

Penny Bridge Academy

This afternoon I went to do the assembly at Penny Bridge Academy.  I didn't start with a song as I had a special illustration to do, I asked three children to help out - loads of hands went up - I did say that they had no idea what they were going to have to do - it might be pouring cold water on them I said!  I gave the three children a choice of four playing cards an ace, a two, a three or a four.  Once they had made the selection I asked if they would like to swap cards but they were happy with the choice they had made.  At this point they knew that they were looking at the possibility of winning a bag of sweets as I said to them as they came up one of us out here was going to go away with a bag of sweets.  So the choice of number was made and they didn't want to change.  I then took out a small bag containing small coloured discs which had numbers on, I swapped the numbered card for the disc of the same number then looked at the coloured disc gave each child the matching coloured bag except my bag had all the sweets in it - wrong choice I said to them as they took out their two small sweets.  I then told the Bible story of the wise and foolish men the one built his house on a good strong foundation while the other chose to build his on sand.  Then when trouble came the good foundation house stood firm while the bad one fell.  I explained what this means for us today in that we need to make good choices in life and base them on a strong foundation such as following Jesus and reading the Bible.  This linked into Be Happy as it says in the song I will follow Jesus til the day I drop.  After the song I closed with a prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning I went to do the assembly at Church Walk Primary School.  We didn't start with a song today as I had a special demonstration to do.  I asked for three children to come out and help me, I told them that at the end they would get some sweets.  I then gave them a choice of 4 playing cards, they could swap them if they wanted to with mine or with each other.  Once they had made their final choice I got some numbered coloured discs out of my pocket and gave them a disc with their chosen number on it.  Now the coloured disc was exchanged for a bag of sweets - except I got the full bag of sweets while the children just got a couple of sweets.  I pointed out that they should have made a betters choice.  This was the theme of our assembly Making Choices.  I then told the parable of the wise and foolish man displaying pictures as I went along.  I explained that the wise man build on a solid foundation and that is what we should build our lives on by following Jesus and believing in God - reading the Bible.  I also said that everyday we make choices from the clothes we wear to the food we eat to the way we behave in certain situations like do we join in when someone is being unkind - or do we join in when someone is showing great kindness.  To finish off we sang Be Happy as it says in the verse that I will follow Jesus till the day I drop - now that is a good choice to make.  After the song I closed with a prayer.

Tuesday 12 February 2019

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went along to do the assembly at Low Furness School.  Our theme today was The Bible as a Book as the school are celebrating World Book day on Thursday.  So I took with me a selection of Bibles that I have to show the children.  I also took with me 66 A5 books that had all the names of the books of the Bible on them.  The idea was to get 66 children to help me explain about the bible - yes I did say 66 children to help me.  So we got 5 of the school council children to hold up the books of the law, 12 children that love history to hold the history books, 5 children that like singing and poems for the next group, 5 children that speak a lot for the major prophets and 12 that don't say so much for the minor prophets.  By now the children are about half way round the hall - we carried on into the New Testament.  We had 5 children to hold up the 4 gospels plus Acts, the 9 children that like to write letters for Pauls letters to the churches followed by 4 others for the letters to people, then 9 other children to hold up the remaining books so 66 children almost made a circle round the hall - this I said it what is in the Bible.  I then showed the children some of the Bibles I had taken in like the Action Bible, Lego Brick Testament, the Minecraft Bible etc and said that even at my age I still love to read the Bible and discover new things out about it.  Sarah encouraged them to read it for themselves.  To finish off we sang God can do anything as he has inspired many people over a long period of time to write the Bible.  Sarah then finished off with a prayer.

Saturday 9 February 2019

NT BX Lesson 5 St Pauls

On Friday I did the final lesson of Bible Explorer New Testament with the year 5'sthen the year 6 children at St Pauls in Barrow.  The lesson focused on the journey's Paul took to spread and advance the gospel message.  We also look at some of the difficulties Paul faced as he travelled as well as back home when he was asked to give account of why the Gentiles were becoming converts to Christianity but not becoming Jews first.  Our story came to an end as Paul set sail for Rome and following his ship wreck arrived in the Roman capital city from where he wrote loads of letters some of which we still have today.  I finished with the expansion of the believers into all parts of the empire and as we know today the rest of the world.

Thursday 7 February 2019

OT Mini Lesson 5 St Peters

This afternoon I was once again at St Peters School for the last lesson of OT Mini.  The lesson covered the scattering of Israel, the exile of Judah, the return of the Jews to Jerusalem.  We looked at people like Daniel and Esther before we looked towards the saviour that was promised by God and spoke of by the prophets.  At the end of the lesson I gave out the certificates and the 40 OT Mini Bible Stories book by Andy Robb.

Leven Valley School

This morning I went down to Leven Valley School to do the assembly, it was the first visit of 2019, so after saying Happy New Year I started the assembly with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger and asked the children to guess what the assembly was going to be about as the word appeared in the song (and it wasn't burger) - it was love of course.  I then explained that the Bible is full of stories and some of them show us love in the way people love others or groups of people or hoe God shows us love.  I focused on a few stories like Moses, David, Ruth, Esther and Jesus.  I displayed the words from John 15:12 - Love one another as I have loved you.  I explained the verse to the children and challenged them to do the same by showing kindness, love, compassion towards each other.  I also asked the children how they could do it too - we had by being kind, playing with people, giving a hug to someone, giving someone a smile.  I then concluded that when we do that we Shine from the inside out.  After the song I closed with a short prayer.

Our Lady's School

This morning I went to do the assembly at Our Lady's School, it was the first visit of 2019, so after saying Happy New Year I started the assembly with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger and asked the children to guess what the assembly was going to be about as the word appeared in the song (and it wasn't burger) - it was love of course.  I then explained that the Bible is full of stories and some of them show us love in the way people love others or groups of people or hoe God shows us love.  I focused on a few stories like Moses, David, Ruth, Esther and Jesus.  I displayed the words from John 15:12 - Love one another as I have loved you.  I explained the verse to the children and challenged them to do the same by showing kindness, love, compassion towards each other.  I also asked the children how they could do it too - we had by being kind, playing with people, giving a hug to someone, giving someone a smile.  I then concluded that when we do that we Shine from the inside out.  After the song I closed with a short prayer.

Wednesday 6 February 2019

OT Mini Lesson 5 Burlington School

This afternoon I have been at Burlington School for the last lesson of OT Mini.  Last we week heard the stories of the first kings of Israel and how the kingdom was united then divided and broke apart to become Israel in the 10 and Judah in the south.  I then explained again the role of the prophets as I went into the story of Israel being scattered.  I moved on to the exile of Judah and covered the stories of Daniel and Esther.  I also explained that the people started to return after 70 years with Zerubbabel who rebuilt the temple then Ezra who told the people about God and the law before Nehemiah returned to build the walls.  Then the people waited - the prophets had told them about a saviour so they waited and waited until 400 years or so later Christ came.  At the end of the lesson I gave them a certificate and the 40 OT Mini Bible Stories book by Andy Robb and encouraged them to look at the stories again.

Dalton St Mary's

This morning Sarah and I did our first assembly of the New Year at Dalton St Marys School.  After Sarah had said good morning and asked them if they had had a good Christmas she introduced our first song God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  After the song Sarah introduced the assembly theme by telling the children that there are loads of stories in the Bible and some of them are about love.  I continued by saying the love isn't the kissy, kissy stuff but love that people had for each other or individuals or the love God shows us or we show him.  So to start off I displayed a picture of Moses and talked a bit about him before displaying pictures of David, Ruth, Esther and finally several about Jesus.  To conclude I displayed the words of John 15:12 Love one another as I have loved you.  Sarah then expanded on this and explained what it means and then asked how we might show love to others - the children responded very well and gave a number of really good suggestions.  To finish off we sang Shine before Sarah said a short prayer.

Lindal and Marton primary School

This morning Sarah and I did our first assembly of the New Year at Lindal and Marton School.  It was good to see all the children again after such a long time.  To start we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, and Sarah asked them to look out for a word in it that was the theme for our assembly (the word wasn't burger by the way) - it was love of course.  After the song Sarah introduced the assembly theme by telling the children that there are loads of stories in the Bible and some of them are about love.  I continued by saying the love isn't the kissy, kissy stuff but love that people had for each other or individuals or the love God shows us or we show him.  So to start off I displayed a picture of Moses and talked a bit about him before displaying pictures of David, Ruth, Esther and finally several about Jesus.  To conclude I displayed the words of John 15:12 Love one another as I have loved you.  Sarah then expanded on this and explained what it means and then asked how we might show love to others - the children responded very well and gave a number of really good suggestions.  To finish off we sang Shine before Sarah said a short prayer.

Tuesday 5 February 2019

St Peters School

This morning I went to do the assembly at St Peters, it was our first assembly visit of 2019.  So after saying Happy New Year and that I hoped they had had a good Christmas we started with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  I explained that in the song there was a word which I was going to talk about after the song, so when we had finished it I asked them what the word was - love of course.  I then talked about people in the Bible that showed love to either a group of people or individuals or both as well as talking about the love they had for God and the love he has for us.  We had Moses, David, Ruth, Esther and then Jesus.  I finished with John 15:12 - Love one another as I have love you.  I then explained what Jesus meant by those words before expanding it out and asking the children how they might show love - we had things like - being helpful, kind, encouraging, by playing with someone...  I then said when we do that we can Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  After the song I said a short prayer.

Sunday 3 February 2019

Messy Church at Rheged

Today we have been up to Rheged as a family to take part in the second Rheged Messy Church.  We had a great time, I was involved in both the celebrations.  The theme was about gifts and talents and shinning for God so I did a couple of magic tricks to show my talent as it were but linked this to the gifts that God give us by talking about him as my boss, he is the best boss ever and he is so creative, and talented, he invents things, makes things, designs things.  I also said that he does it with his son.  I then said that he helped to write a book - I then took out my Holy Bible illusion say that his book some people think that there is nothing in it so I show the blank pages, others think it is so old it is like in black and white but it is so full of colour.  I then read john 3:16 and encouraged people to use their God given gifts and talents.

Friday 1 February 2019

NT BX Lesson 4 St Pauls

This afternoon I have once again been at St Pauls in Barrow first with year 5 then year 6 doing Bible Explorer New Testament.  Today we looked at the events after the death of Jesus.  His resurrection, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit before looking in detail at three people.  Firstly we looked a Philip then Paul/Saul and finally Peter. Next week we shall look at the journey's Paul took which spread the gospel message through the Roman empire.

OT Mini Lesson 4 St Peters School

On Thursday afternoon I was once again at St Peters school with the year 5/6 children.  I was doing lesson 4 of OT Mini, this lesson was all about the United Kingdom and the first kings Saul, David and Solomon.  I went through these stories starting with the birth of Samuel and had some children helping out in costumes.  I finished as Solomon died following his 40 year reign and having built the Temple in Jerusalem and the split that followed.  As I explained what happened to the northern territory which took on the name Israel and how none of the kings followed God afterwards I left the children with the prophets speaking out.  I also explained that in the south which took the name of the largest tribe - Judah only a few kings followed God.  I gave an insight into what was to come next week.