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.