Some helpful hints

How to have a positive session

Children need:

·        To know they are welcome: How do you greet them?

·        To know that their place is ready for them: Clean tidy and 
          attractive environments

·        To be safe: Rules, clear of hazards

·        To have your attention: Are you listening?

·        To experience your skills: Are you prepared?

·        To have quality resources: Are our kids worth spending money on

·        To have your prayers: In and out of the session

·        To have your interest: What matters to them matters to me

·        To be encouraged: Your words have great power

·        To know the boundaries: Clear expectations

·        To be engaged: Do our activities have the children in mind?

·        To know God’s love: It is a privilege to be with the children

For more information see the Core Skills for Children's work book

Keeping kids safe

Safeguarding children may not sound glamorous or exciting but it is essential if we want children to thrive through the work we are called to do. The various events we put on for the children in our community are for the benefit of those who attend. From toilet trips to hot drinks our children deserve to come to a place where the adults who are serving them have done all they can to ensure that they are safe. The world children live in is not always a safe place; our church and church activities need to be!

On Monday 31st March we are hosting a training evening at St Barnabas for all those working with children and families so we look forward to seeing you there. 

Click here to see more from CCPAS, about the importance of safeguarding

God knows best

Exodus 16-17, 19-40

Something to say

Recap the story. Rules, rules, rules! They're not much fun are they? Ask the kids to raise their hands if they have ever heard anyone say 'you can't have dessert until you've finished your dinner' or 'no running in the house' or 'raise your hand if you have a question'. There's rules everywhere! When I was younger my mum would always shout at me for picking my nose and I'd always ask 'But whhhyyyyy?'. Ask the kids if they have asked that. It's a good question to ask. We want an explanation as to why we can't do something. My mum would just say to me 'because I said so'. That doesn't sound like a good reason does it?

Something to show

Show the kids a selection of road signs, ask them if they know what the sign means. Ask the kids why we have rules on the road? Is it to be mean? is it 'because someone said so'? No! It's because we don't always know what's round the corner, there may be a bump in the road or children crossing the road. We need rules because we don't always know what's best for us. When I got older I realised my mum was right about my nose picking because now I get nose bleeds! I didn't know the reason for the rule when I was little but if I had listening to her and trusted her, it would have been okay. Like the Israelites instead of complaining and questioning all the time, sometimes we just need to respect God's rules and learn that he knows what is best for us even if we don't understand why.

Something to pray

Talk to the kids about a 'respect fist bump'. Respect is like saying I value you, I care about you and I will listen to you. so obeying God's rules is like giving him a massive 'respect' fist bump! When people around see us fist bumping God, they will notice. By obeying God's rules we are acting like Jesus and others will see Jesus in us! Pray, God help us to respect your rules even if we don't understand them. Help us remember we have your rules because you love us and you know what is best for our lives. Amen.

A verse to remember

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. Psalm 19:7

Impossible made possible

Exodus 14-15

Something to say

Recap the story. There was a big sea, what on earth were they going to do? It was impossible to escape! Ask the kids what they did? They panicked. There was no way out but God had a plan, he was going to make the impossible, possible!

Something to show

Get a girl and boy to volunteer to do a challenge. The challenge is to open as many wrapped sweets as they can in 60 seconds. Ask the volunteers and the rest of Kids Church if this is an impossible or a possible task. They should say its possible. Just before the challenge starts suddenly produce a pair of oven gloves for each child to wear while they unwrap the sweets. After 60 seconds ask them and the rest of Kids Church whether the challenge was possible or impossible. They should now say it was impossible!! Ask the kids if they can think of anything else that's impossible for us to do but that God can do. Remind the kids that God can do anything! Nothing is impossible for him!

Something to pray

Get the children to think about something in their life that seems impossible and that they can't do anything to fix it or help it. Pray, Father God, we know how powerful you are. You parted the sea and made the impossible, possible. Please come and change our situations and make the impossible, possible. Amen

A verse to remember

With human beings this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26

Keep on Trusting God

Exodus 3-13

Something to say

Recap the story emphasising the promise God gave to his people. He made the promise to bring them out of Egypt even before they became slaves. Even though God had promised to free them, the Israelites were in Egypt for over 400 years. Moses kept going back to Pharoah and Pharoah kept saying 'no, you can't go'. Moses and the Israelites had to really trust in God. Sometimes it's difficult to trust God because we can't see him or touch him. But God is here, he's with us, he is in control and we need to put our trust in him.

Something to show

Get a selection of everyday objects of varying weights (heavy to paper light). hold an item up and ask the kids to guess what would happen if you let it go? As it drops to the floor, talk about how we all trust gravity to bring things down and stop us floating away. (repeat for al the objects, they will fall at different rates but they will eventually all come down) Explain again that when we wake up we expect to be able to walk on the floor without floating away because we trust gravity to be there even though we can't see it or feel it. In the same way, we can trust God to be there even though we can't see him.

Something to pray

Ask the children to think of something they would like to trust God with. Pray, Father God, teach us to put our trust totally in you and to know that you always have the answers and you will always be there for us. Amen.

A verse to remember

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

A Fair Lent

 I am all too aware of the many pressures bearing down on parents, so the idea of trying to engage the family
in some sort of Lent fast or habit has the potential of becoming the straw that breaks the camels back. For those who missed it, yesterday was the beginning of Lent which ends on Easter Sunday. Lots of christian's choose to observe Lent in some way either by fasting in a certain way or as encouraged by '40 Acts', taking on something new and living more generously.
What I like about the '40 Acts' is that rather than encourage us to give something up for 40 days like chocolate, which if you're like me is broken on Easter day by a chocolate gorge, they're encouraging people to take something on. The hope behind this is that we make a positive a permanent change in our life becoming more of a blessing to those around us. The 40 ideas they've given are fantastic and you can see them in Becki's earlier post. They include things like trying to live off £1.40 for one day or baking cakes and sharing them with class mates as well as many other creative ideas.
Fairtrade fortnight ends this weekend and we have a guest speaker coming to Kids Church on Sunday to help raise children's awareness to the importance of Fairtrade. This is an issue that God cares about and I believe he wants children to care about this as well.

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,

    and this is what he requires of you:

to do what is right, to love mercy,

    and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6v8

Walking home yesterday evening I came up with a practical idea that I can do with my family to support Fairtrade and help us think about the issues facing people who work so much for so little. What we've decided to do is change our usual breakfast meal not every day but just once a week. Every Monday throughout Lent instead of having our favourite cereal we're all going to eat a banana together and pray for Fairtrade. It's not 40 acts it works out as 6 acts but it's something that we as a family can all do together from the youngest in our family through to the adults. 
You might want to do  the 40 Acts throughout Lent, you may want to do one every other day, you may want to give up chocolate (heed my earlier warning), you may want to give my idea a try or come up with your own idea as a family. I want to encourage you to give something a go but don't let Lent overwhelm you because that is not what Jesus wants. What matters most throughout lent is what matters most throughout life and his name is Jesus. Any activity, any prayer or any idea we adopt as part of Lent that isn't aimed at getting closer to Jesus in my opinion is a waste of time, so lets try and get closer to Jesus this Lent.

40 Acts for Lent

Lent has begun and rather than giving something up for 40 days why not try 40 acts. Below is a poster giving you an idea of a simple act you can do as a family every day during Lent (Sundays don't count!). Give it a go and join in with us blessing each other and the people in our community.

How to love

Genesis 37-46

Something to say

Recap the story saying that good and bad things happened to Joseph. Ask the kids what did Joseph decide to do at the very end of the story? He FORGAVE. Tell the kids you are going to show them what forgiveness looks like.

Something to show

Heart cut out of fabric. Ask the children who were the people that hurt Joseph and what did they do to hurt him? Write these on the heart using a washable felt tip. Once the heart is full show them the messy heart and talk about how sad and angry Joseph would have been if he had carried around his messy hurting heart every day. But, the story tells us he made the choice to forgive and when he forgave something amazing happened. Put the heart into a bowl of undiluted bleach (wear rubber gloves!), then take it out. It will take around 30 seconds but all the felt tip will wash away and the heart will be clean again. Show the children the clean heart and tell them that God made his heart clean. He took away the hurt and filled Jospeh's heart with love. Repeat this whole process using another fabric heart, but this time write down some of the people who hurt us and what they do to us. Then put the heart in and out of the bleach again and tell the kids that God cleans our hearts too and wants to fill them with love.

Something to pray

Ask the children to think about whether they have hurt in their hearts. Encourage them to make the choice to forgive the people who have hurt them. Pray: Father God we ask that you would come and take away our anger and our hurt and our sadness. Holy Spirit please come and clean our hearts and fill them with your love.

A verse to remember

Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'come close to me.' Genesis 45:4