Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
11 August 2010
Youth Ministry YouTube Recommendations
http://www.youtube.com/godrox
http://www.youtube.com/tfneditor
http://www.youtube.com/youthspecialti...
http://www.youtube.com/thatjustinguy
http://www.youtube.com/chooseshalom
http://www.youtube.com/xbox360fanboy131
Ignatius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLGLBVSpBzY
09 March 2010
Free Christian Children's Talk 6 - Humpty Dumpty
So I've just got back into doing children's talks in church since the new minister started back in September. Was a bit nervous but people seemed to enjoy this one so here it is for all to read/share/use etc...
Who knows of any nursery rhymes?
Let the children give a few answers
There are lots of different nursery rhymes, but I want to talk about one in particular, it's Humpty Dumpty. Can you say it with me?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Excellent! I wonder does anyone know what Humpty looks like?
Let the children answer, they'll hopefully know the answer is...
...an egg! Yes he looks like an egg! I have one with me here. I didn't have Stewie as an aide at the time but he wanted to help today...
And what happened to Humpty when he fell? He cracked! So let's crack this egg (be sure to do this into a bowl or something and not just the floor!)
Oh dear! Look at poor Humpty! He's not in a good shape at all is he? I wonder how we could get him back together? What do you think the king's horses and king's men tried to do to fix him?
Allow a few answers - I got some funny ones including sellotape, superglue, masking take, staples, blu-tac and magic!
If you have time you cold try and get the egg back in the shell and try to stick together to show how difficult this is
I don't think we can do it. But you know sometimes we can be in messy situations that seem hard to get out of, a bit like poor Humpty. Maybe you've fell out with a friend over something and it seems there's just no way to sort it out, or maybe you're having trouble at school and it seems no one can help, or perhaps you've done something wrong and you don't know how to fix it. We can all get into hard and messy situations like Humpty from time to time.
But we're not like Humpty are we? We're not eggs! We're people and even better we're God's people! And when we have problems we don't need the King's horses or the King's men, because we have God who is the King on our side! When we ask him for help and allow him to help us, the King will get us out of the sticky messy situation we're in
Who knows of any nursery rhymes?
Let the children give a few answers
There are lots of different nursery rhymes, but I want to talk about one in particular, it's Humpty Dumpty. Can you say it with me?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Excellent! I wonder does anyone know what Humpty looks like?
Let the children answer, they'll hopefully know the answer is...
...an egg! Yes he looks like an egg! I have one with me here. I didn't have Stewie as an aide at the time but he wanted to help today...
And what happened to Humpty when he fell? He cracked! So let's crack this egg (be sure to do this into a bowl or something and not just the floor!)
Oh dear! Look at poor Humpty! He's not in a good shape at all is he? I wonder how we could get him back together? What do you think the king's horses and king's men tried to do to fix him?
Allow a few answers - I got some funny ones including sellotape, superglue, masking take, staples, blu-tac and magic!
If you have time you cold try and get the egg back in the shell and try to stick together to show how difficult this is
I don't think we can do it. But you know sometimes we can be in messy situations that seem hard to get out of, a bit like poor Humpty. Maybe you've fell out with a friend over something and it seems there's just no way to sort it out, or maybe you're having trouble at school and it seems no one can help, or perhaps you've done something wrong and you don't know how to fix it. We can all get into hard and messy situations like Humpty from time to time.
But we're not like Humpty are we? We're not eggs! We're people and even better we're God's people! And when we have problems we don't need the King's horses or the King's men, because we have God who is the King on our side! When we ask him for help and allow him to help us, the King will get us out of the sticky messy situation we're in
17 March 2009
12 February 2009
Free Christian Children's Talk 5
I hesitated about posting this one because its rather personal to our church, but the morning I did this talk in church the convenor for our vacancy was leading the rest of the service and asked me for the details so she could use it in her own churches the following week so it seems right to post it for others to use seeing as it has been reused already.
You'll see as you read this that you'll need to rewrite it slightly but it shouldn't be too difficult.
I've a picture on the screen and I have the actual thing in my hand here, can you tell me what animal this is?
It's a kangaroo! They don't have boxing gloves like this one normally but can anyone tell me which country you'll find kangaroos in?
Let kids have guesses
In Australia! It's very far away from here, you can see on this map.
That blue country at the top in the middle is where we are and the blue country in the bottom corner is Australia - all the way on the other side of the world from us.
I want to tell you about one of the bigger boys in our church called Mark who was in Australia in January taking part in the Youth Olympics shooting some arrows in the archery.
And he came back with 2 of these toy kangaroos, and he came back with 2 of something else too!
TWO GOLD MEDALS! One for the individual mens and one for the mens team! And it wasn't easy because everything was working against him
- Mark was sick and not well when he was in the final
- He was far from home with no family to support him
- He was competing against the junior world champion
- Who also was an Australian so the crowds were cheering on that boy instead of Mark
- The boy Mark was against was 3 years older than him
- And it was tense in his final shot because the Australian was 9 points ahead, so Mark had to shoot a 10 which is a perfect bullseye!
Talk about pressure! But instead of paying attention to all those things and worrying about them, Mark looked straight to the target and focussed on that. He was so calm and so cool that he was able to shoot a 10 and win! He kept his focus.
I want to read from Hebrews 12v1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. " (NIV)
Did you hear that? "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus"? Just like Mark was so focussed in the target not letting anything distract him we also need to be focussed on our relationship with Jesus and not allow anything to get in the way of that.
Let's pray
Dear God, We're sorry for the times when we forget to put you first and are distracted by other things. Help us to be focussed on you and your plan for our lives. Help us to give you your rightful place as number one. In Jesus name, Amen.
If you plan to use this I'd love to know!
You'll see as you read this that you'll need to rewrite it slightly but it shouldn't be too difficult.
I've a picture on the screen and I have the actual thing in my hand here, can you tell me what animal this is?
It's a kangaroo! They don't have boxing gloves like this one normally but can anyone tell me which country you'll find kangaroos in?
Let kids have guesses
In Australia! It's very far away from here, you can see on this map.
That blue country at the top in the middle is where we are and the blue country in the bottom corner is Australia - all the way on the other side of the world from us.
I want to tell you about one of the bigger boys in our church called Mark who was in Australia in January taking part in the Youth Olympics shooting some arrows in the archery.
And he came back with 2 of these toy kangaroos, and he came back with 2 of something else too!
TWO GOLD MEDALS! One for the individual mens and one for the mens team! And it wasn't easy because everything was working against him
- Mark was sick and not well when he was in the final
- He was far from home with no family to support him
- He was competing against the junior world champion
- Who also was an Australian so the crowds were cheering on that boy instead of Mark
- The boy Mark was against was 3 years older than him
- And it was tense in his final shot because the Australian was 9 points ahead, so Mark had to shoot a 10 which is a perfect bullseye!
Talk about pressure! But instead of paying attention to all those things and worrying about them, Mark looked straight to the target and focussed on that. He was so calm and so cool that he was able to shoot a 10 and win! He kept his focus.
I want to read from Hebrews 12v1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. " (NIV)
Did you hear that? "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus"? Just like Mark was so focussed in the target not letting anything distract him we also need to be focussed on our relationship with Jesus and not allow anything to get in the way of that.
Let's pray
Dear God, We're sorry for the times when we forget to put you first and are distracted by other things. Help us to be focussed on you and your plan for our lives. Help us to give you your rightful place as number one. In Jesus name, Amen.
If you plan to use this I'd love to know!
06 February 2009
LifeHouse - Everything
I first saw this being performed at the MAD weekend in Coleraine back in October and remember quite vividly how moved I was by it. So when one of the girls in the Girls Brigade suggested performing it for the display I was excited to hear that it had impacted her so much that she was still thinking about it almost 4 months later!
Here it is for you to watch -
Here it is for you to watch -
27 January 2009
Free Christian Children's Talk 4
It's been over a month since I posted here and I've felt bad about it, yet the longer I left writing a new post the more I felt it had to be something good. It's bizarre the effect blogging can have on you.
With our church being without a minister we have had lots of visiting ministers each Sunday which hasn't allowed me to do children's addresses during the service until recently and here's what I said:
"I have some pictures of different characters here that I want you to tell me who they are. Here's the first one....
...it's Wallace and Gromit. Great work, let's see the next one...
...it's Bill and Ben. A lot of the grown ups will remember watching them when they were young too! Who's next?
...it's Bob the Builder, excellent. And here's the last one...
(the children will probably not know this one, they didn't in my church and I didn't expect them to, so I said....) .... you don't know? Do any of the grown ups remember who this is? Yes, it's Morph. Morph was a little plasticine man who lived amongst the pens, pencils and paint brushes of an artist and he gets into all sorts of mischief, mostly caused by his friend Chas. Let's watch one of the cartoons...
(I had a DVD lined up to show but the guys on the screens couldn't sort it so next time I'll use one from YouTube)
Morph was a very popular character and he must still be today because do you know what I got for Christmas? I got a 'Make Your Own Morph' set. It came as a box with some blocks of plasticine and instructions on how to make him. Would you like to see how my Morph looks? Ok here he is...
..What do you think? Does he look like the real Morph? Well the instructions for making him were really easy looking but when it came to it there's a lot of detail and attention that has gone into making Morph. It took me a couple of hours to get him right! I really wanted him to be just right.
You know when God made us He thought very carefully about how you should look, how you would think, what you be good at and even who your family should be. He didn't stop there though, you see when I made my Morph I put a lot of care into making him, but since then he's sat on my desk at home not doing very much. God didn't just make us then leave us to get on with things, He wants to be a part of our whole lives, he wants to put even more care and attention into our lives, but for Him to do that we need to talk to him and allow Him to work in our lives.
We should tell Him what we’re thinking about, what we’re happy or sad about, what we’re worried about – anything, He wants to hear it all. He promises to always be there for us, listening to our prayers and helping us everyday."
If you're using this talk, please let me know.
Images found through a google search - sorry I can't be more specific. The only exception is the photo of my morph which is obviously my own
With our church being without a minister we have had lots of visiting ministers each Sunday which hasn't allowed me to do children's addresses during the service until recently and here's what I said:
"I have some pictures of different characters here that I want you to tell me who they are. Here's the first one....
...it's Wallace and Gromit. Great work, let's see the next one...
...it's Bill and Ben. A lot of the grown ups will remember watching them when they were young too! Who's next?
...it's Bob the Builder, excellent. And here's the last one...
(the children will probably not know this one, they didn't in my church and I didn't expect them to, so I said....) .... you don't know? Do any of the grown ups remember who this is? Yes, it's Morph. Morph was a little plasticine man who lived amongst the pens, pencils and paint brushes of an artist and he gets into all sorts of mischief, mostly caused by his friend Chas. Let's watch one of the cartoons...
(I had a DVD lined up to show but the guys on the screens couldn't sort it so next time I'll use one from YouTube)
Morph was a very popular character and he must still be today because do you know what I got for Christmas? I got a 'Make Your Own Morph' set. It came as a box with some blocks of plasticine and instructions on how to make him. Would you like to see how my Morph looks? Ok here he is...
..What do you think? Does he look like the real Morph? Well the instructions for making him were really easy looking but when it came to it there's a lot of detail and attention that has gone into making Morph. It took me a couple of hours to get him right! I really wanted him to be just right.
You know when God made us He thought very carefully about how you should look, how you would think, what you be good at and even who your family should be. He didn't stop there though, you see when I made my Morph I put a lot of care into making him, but since then he's sat on my desk at home not doing very much. God didn't just make us then leave us to get on with things, He wants to be a part of our whole lives, he wants to put even more care and attention into our lives, but for Him to do that we need to talk to him and allow Him to work in our lives.
We should tell Him what we’re thinking about, what we’re happy or sad about, what we’re worried about – anything, He wants to hear it all. He promises to always be there for us, listening to our prayers and helping us everyday."
If you're using this talk, please let me know.
Images found through a google search - sorry I can't be more specific. The only exception is the photo of my morph which is obviously my own
27 August 2008
The end of summer...
..... is now taken over with the Youth Ministry Summer School run by the Presbyterian, Methodist and Church of Ireland Youth departments in Ireland. This is the 3rd year of it's existence but it seems already to be "the norm" for me. So tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'll be leaving Rob and Stewie (and Boomer - my sister's hamster who we're looking after while she's on holiday) to look after themselves for a few days while I swot up on youth ministry once more.
This year Marv Penner and Kenda Creasy Dean will be the keynote speakers. I'm quite excited to hear from Marv about family ministry as that's part of my role in Bannside and something I really want to develop more. Mind you I'm also real excited about meeting with other people who love working with young people too.
I'll be back in a few days but I'm sure I'll be way too tired to post for a few days!
This year Marv Penner and Kenda Creasy Dean will be the keynote speakers. I'm quite excited to hear from Marv about family ministry as that's part of my role in Bannside and something I really want to develop more. Mind you I'm also real excited about meeting with other people who love working with young people too.
I'll be back in a few days but I'm sure I'll be way too tired to post for a few days!
20 May 2008
Free Youth Bible Study 2 - Clay Pot
As we're coming into the summer and the tone and speed of youth group slows down due to the warmer weather, exams, families going caravaning etc I decided to take an idea that Duffy Robbins had shared at summer school last August. He spoke about a youth worker (whose name escapes me but if anyone knows please fill me in!!!) who took a large clay pot and broke it into lots of pieces, gave a piece to each of the young people in his group to decorate then glued it all together again.
When I handed out the pieces they were rather confused but loved the idea of expressing themselves also once we'd finished decorating we got to play some rounders outside in the sun.
I took all the pieces home and spent all of the following week gluing it all back together again but it turned out real well -
The following week we had a relaxed casual Bible Study and used the pot as a prop.
Click here to download the Bible Study
If you're using this please get in touch. I'd love to know where and how it's being used - just because I'm curious.
When I handed out the pieces they were rather confused but loved the idea of expressing themselves also once we'd finished decorating we got to play some rounders outside in the sun.
I took all the pieces home and spent all of the following week gluing it all back together again but it turned out real well -
The following week we had a relaxed casual Bible Study and used the pot as a prop.
Click here to download the Bible Study
If you're using this please get in touch. I'd love to know where and how it's being used - just because I'm curious.
11 April 2008
Free Christian Children's Talk 3
It's been a while since i posted a children's talk so here's a copy of the very first children's talk I ever did! Looking at my notes it wouldn't mean anything to anyone else so I've rewrote it to make sense and also to sounds like how I actually said it.
Recipe
You will need to set up some things in advance:
2 tables - 1 with all the right quantities for the recipe, the other with either wrong quantities or wrong ingredients, along with bowls and spoons for mixing the ingredients together
Copy recipe to powerpoint and project on screen if you have them.
"I rushed out of the house and didn’t get breakfast….
I'm so hungry! You might have heard my tummy rumbling during the last hymn! Well I hope it's ok, but I'm going to need to eat some breakfast now. Can I have someone to help me make breakfast?"
Pick a volunteer who'll understand the recipe and be able to put everything together
Muesli
Add the following ingredients to a large bowl:
• 1 crushed up weetabix/wheat flakes
• 4 spoonfuls of oat flakes
• A handful of bran flakes
• A small glass full of banana chips
• A small glass of raisins
• A glass of milk
"OK right well let's see the recipe for first thing we need to put in the bowl is the weetabix, oh wait I have 2... well I'll add them both and make it extra weetabixy
Next some oat flakes.... oh wait i have some almond flakes, but I suppose they're kind of like oat flakes... they're both flaky right?
Next some bran flakes.... i only have 1 flake... well sure i have the extra weetabix in there to make up for less bran flakes."
Look at volunteer's bowl "Yours looks very different to mine, are you sure you're doing it right? Anyways next we need some banana chips.... I have a whole banana, same thing really.
Next a small glass of raisins... do you think jelly beans would work ok? That's all I have here. I'm sure it'll be fine.
And finally the milk, sure coconut milk will be great... it's a type of milk right?
OK I'm starving" Have a taste, pull faces to show it doesn't taste good
"That's horrible! It doesn't taste good at all!" Look at volunteer's muesli
"Well mine doesn’t look like yours! Let me have a taste of that!" Have a taste, pull face to show it's tasty
"How come yours is better than mine? We both were given the same recipe! Well I suppose I didn't follow the recipe properly, I used different ingredients and had more of some things and less of others. And when you're cooking it's good to follow the instructions. Mine would have tasted nicer if I had done what the recipe told me to do.
You know this reminds me of the Bible, because the Bible is like an instruction manual, it gives us guidance, it teaches us to live the way God wants us to and shows us how to be friends with God.
Sometimes we think it's best if we just do things our own way and ignore the advice and help that God gives us in the Bible. But God is so much smarter and wiser than we will ever be and he knows what is best for us.
In the Bible, Jesus gives us 2 very important instructions
To love God with all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind. That’s a lot of love.
And the second is to love each other the way we’d like people to show us love.
The whole Bible tells us how we can do that and how we can follow God better by living the way he wants us to. Because God is smarter and wiser, knows what's best for us and wants to be friends with us. The Bible really is a great book that we should try to read everyday."
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
Picture sourced from Diary of a Food Nobody
Recipe
You will need to set up some things in advance:
2 tables - 1 with all the right quantities for the recipe, the other with either wrong quantities or wrong ingredients, along with bowls and spoons for mixing the ingredients together
Copy recipe to powerpoint and project on screen if you have them.
"I rushed out of the house and didn’t get breakfast….
I'm so hungry! You might have heard my tummy rumbling during the last hymn! Well I hope it's ok, but I'm going to need to eat some breakfast now. Can I have someone to help me make breakfast?"
Pick a volunteer who'll understand the recipe and be able to put everything together
MuesliAdd the following ingredients to a large bowl:
• 1 crushed up weetabix/wheat flakes
• 4 spoonfuls of oat flakes
• A handful of bran flakes
• A small glass full of banana chips
• A small glass of raisins
• A glass of milk
"OK right well let's see the recipe for first thing we need to put in the bowl is the weetabix, oh wait I have 2... well I'll add them both and make it extra weetabixy
Next some oat flakes.... oh wait i have some almond flakes, but I suppose they're kind of like oat flakes... they're both flaky right?
Next some bran flakes.... i only have 1 flake... well sure i have the extra weetabix in there to make up for less bran flakes."
Look at volunteer's bowl "Yours looks very different to mine, are you sure you're doing it right? Anyways next we need some banana chips.... I have a whole banana, same thing really.
Next a small glass of raisins... do you think jelly beans would work ok? That's all I have here. I'm sure it'll be fine.
And finally the milk, sure coconut milk will be great... it's a type of milk right?
OK I'm starving" Have a taste, pull faces to show it doesn't taste good
"That's horrible! It doesn't taste good at all!" Look at volunteer's muesli
"Well mine doesn’t look like yours! Let me have a taste of that!" Have a taste, pull face to show it's tasty
"How come yours is better than mine? We both were given the same recipe! Well I suppose I didn't follow the recipe properly, I used different ingredients and had more of some things and less of others. And when you're cooking it's good to follow the instructions. Mine would have tasted nicer if I had done what the recipe told me to do.
You know this reminds me of the Bible, because the Bible is like an instruction manual, it gives us guidance, it teaches us to live the way God wants us to and shows us how to be friends with God.
Sometimes we think it's best if we just do things our own way and ignore the advice and help that God gives us in the Bible. But God is so much smarter and wiser than we will ever be and he knows what is best for us.
In the Bible, Jesus gives us 2 very important instructions
To love God with all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind. That’s a lot of love.
And the second is to love each other the way we’d like people to show us love.
The whole Bible tells us how we can do that and how we can follow God better by living the way he wants us to. Because God is smarter and wiser, knows what's best for us and wants to be friends with us. The Bible really is a great book that we should try to read everyday."
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
Picture sourced from Diary of a Food Nobody
27 March 2008
What's happening in the blogosphere 1
I feel really bad. I feel like I've been neglecting this blog lately while Ruth's Kitchen Experiments gets loads of attention! I haven't forgotten this blog, just that I've noticed myself thinking about food, recipes and in particular food blog events pretty much all the time! Yes I need out more, but when I do go out I end up going into a butchers, greengrocers, tesco, sainsburys or somewhere food related.
Anyways, while I ponder what I'm going to write about for my next post I want to share some links to posts by other bloggers that I found rather interesting or something like that:
1. Maggie Dawn - Retouching Beauty
2. Why you should become vegetarian - YUCK!
3. Grannymar's Thursday Special - My next life
4. Tim Schmoyer defines the question about the 20 somethings dropout from church
5. Alan in Belfast shares a story about paying congestion charges
6. Marko asks for some help with his upcoming book: Youth Ministry 3.0
Anyways, while I ponder what I'm going to write about for my next post I want to share some links to posts by other bloggers that I found rather interesting or something like that:
1. Maggie Dawn - Retouching Beauty2. Why you should become vegetarian - YUCK!
3. Grannymar's Thursday Special - My next life
4. Tim Schmoyer defines the question about the 20 somethings dropout from church
5. Alan in Belfast shares a story about paying congestion charges
6. Marko asks for some help with his upcoming book: Youth Ministry 3.0
06 March 2008
Uses of salt
Marko has posted about how there are over 14,000 uses for salt and it already has me thinking about a million different youth and children's talks... maybe it would be useful to others out there?
Video tips
Josh Griffin has posted some great links on how to use and source videos for youth work, and well I suppose anything really.
A lot of these sites I use, but some I was unaware of, so hope it's of use to others too.
A lot of these sites I use, but some I was unaware of, so hope it's of use to others too.
27 February 2008
Resource review: Cecil the Lost Sheep
This morning for an assembly at a Special School I used a book that I had seen all over the place but not read until a few days ago. It is part of a series of books called the "Lost Sheep" series wrote by Andrew McDonough based on stories and ideas Jesus taught us. Cecil the Lost Sheep is the first in the series and is a bargain at £2.99!!! Initially I thought these were just bed time books for little kids, and yes they are aimed at little kids and would be definitely be fantastic bedtime reading, but it made me not worry too much about the book seeing as I don't have any kiddies to read to. Then I spotted a huge version of the book one day when I was visiting the Youth and Children's offices at PCI that is used for telling the story to larger groups to allow them so see the pictures and words, so it lead me to thinking it was an ideal book for an assembly or children's address. When I got my hands on the book (when it was so kindly donated to our new church library), I read through it and loved the way it was written, the illustrations and loved how it told the story of the Lost Sheep in a way that kids will understand and relate to. Even better still, from the point of view of someone who gives talks to children rather often, inside the back cover is a little bubble giving an little intro and conclusion to bookend (no pun intended) telling the story to a group and also gives a simple biblical meaning to the story. I can't wait to see the other books in the series! I'm going to have to keep them on hold for an "emergency talk" sometime.
03 February 2008
Free Christian Children's Talk 2
I had seen these images in various places recently and saved them for a children's address idea I had.
These photos are from and art collection called "God's Eye View" depicting biblical stories as seen from above (think Google Earth). The project, God’s Eye View, was produced by Sydney-based creative team The Glue Society, commissioned by Eric Romano of Pulse Art, New York, for its Miami art fair.
The children's address went as follows (again for children aged 3-8/9):
I've a few photos to show you, but before I do I want to explain a wee bit about them. They are pictures taken of earth from satellites, which are big machines that float around earth and help people to talk to each other from different sides of the planet, but they also take photos and gather other information too. The photos I'm going to show you are taken from satellites so it's the earth seen from above, but they have also been changed a little using a computer to look like Bible stories. Let's have a look and see if you can guess which ones.
(Let them have guesses) It's the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve in the picture lying beside each other (if you look carefully). You can see the lovely green trees and the water and even some birds flying!
(Let them have guesses) It's Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat, you can see it in the middle on a little piece of land and the water is all around but it won't be for long, because we know the water went down.
(Let them have guesses) We can see a lot of water and it's split in the middle and if you look carefully we can see lots of people walking through the gap in the middle. It's the story of Moses parting the Red Sea.
(Let them have guesses) This picture shows how Jesus died, on the cross with 2 other men on 2 other crosses. We can also see people standing around the cross, people like his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and John among others.
This group of pictures are from an art collection called "God's Eye View" and a lot of people think that God is far away and just looks down on us from up in heaven, that he isn't really involved in our lives or the world, but the Bible says differently:
You are all around me, in front and in back, and have put your hand on me.
Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there.
If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me.
With your right hand you would hold me. (Psalm 139 v 5, 7-10)
God isn't far away, he is everywhere, he's with us at home, at school, in the park, when we're playing with friends, at Church and Sunday School.
And he wants to be involved in our lives too. Remember the passage said God has put his hand on us and is holding us with his right hand? God wants to guide us and be with us, but we have to remember to trust God to guide us and know that he only wants what is right for us.
I got these images from someone's blog but there are bigger versions on Creative Review
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
These photos are from and art collection called "God's Eye View" depicting biblical stories as seen from above (think Google Earth). The project, God’s Eye View, was produced by Sydney-based creative team The Glue Society, commissioned by Eric Romano of Pulse Art, New York, for its Miami art fair.
The children's address went as follows (again for children aged 3-8/9):
I've a few photos to show you, but before I do I want to explain a wee bit about them. They are pictures taken of earth from satellites, which are big machines that float around earth and help people to talk to each other from different sides of the planet, but they also take photos and gather other information too. The photos I'm going to show you are taken from satellites so it's the earth seen from above, but they have also been changed a little using a computer to look like Bible stories. Let's have a look and see if you can guess which ones.
(Let them have guesses) It's the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve in the picture lying beside each other (if you look carefully). You can see the lovely green trees and the water and even some birds flying!
(Let them have guesses) It's Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat, you can see it in the middle on a little piece of land and the water is all around but it won't be for long, because we know the water went down.
(Let them have guesses) We can see a lot of water and it's split in the middle and if you look carefully we can see lots of people walking through the gap in the middle. It's the story of Moses parting the Red Sea.
(Let them have guesses) This picture shows how Jesus died, on the cross with 2 other men on 2 other crosses. We can also see people standing around the cross, people like his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and John among others.
This group of pictures are from an art collection called "God's Eye View" and a lot of people think that God is far away and just looks down on us from up in heaven, that he isn't really involved in our lives or the world, but the Bible says differently:
You are all around me, in front and in back, and have put your hand on me.
Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there.
If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me.
With your right hand you would hold me. (Psalm 139 v 5, 7-10)
God isn't far away, he is everywhere, he's with us at home, at school, in the park, when we're playing with friends, at Church and Sunday School.
And he wants to be involved in our lives too. Remember the passage said God has put his hand on us and is holding us with his right hand? God wants to guide us and be with us, but we have to remember to trust God to guide us and know that he only wants what is right for us.
I got these images from someone's blog but there are bigger versions on Creative Review
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
25 January 2008
Free Christian Children's Talk 1
Very often I have to do what's called a "children's address" in our church service, I've used similar talks in school assemblies and in some of our children's groups. So seeing as I'm starting to share some of my youth resources I may as well share some of these too.
This one was inspired by my recent visits to the dentist.
I have to apologise for the way it's written, it always feels weird to write like that but it's vaguely what I would have said. It's also aimed at children between the ages of 3-8/9.
Well I have some pictures to show you this morning and i want you to tell me who is in each of them.
Who's this? A policeman, and he's catching a robber. Policemen work very hard doing all sorts of things but the main thing that they do is work to get rid of crime.
Who's this? A doctor and the doctor has to do lots of training and works very hard to help us get rid of bugs when we're sick or pain when we're hurt.
Who's in this picture? The dentist and in this picture he's pulling a tooth! Ouch! The dentist gets rid of pain in our teeth and fixes what's wrong with our mouths.
What's happening in this picture? A fireman is rescuing someone from a fire, what else does the fireman do? He puts out fires, he takes away fire that can harm us.
Who's in this picture? The bin man! He comes and collects all the rubbish and the recycling to take it away for us.
This is someone you might see at school, who's this person? The caretaker. He works hard to clean up the school and get rid of dirt and mess so the school is clean.
This is the last photo, it's a bit hard because we don't really have these people in our country, but lots of other countries might need them. Let them have a guess at who this might be. It's an exterminator, he goes into houses and other buildings when little bugs or mice or other little creatures move in that shouldn't be there and he gets rid of them.
The bible says: But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (NCV)
All these people have jobs where they get rid of something and all those things they get rid of are all things that are bad for us: crime, sickness and pain, sore teeth, fire, rubbish, dirt, bugs and mice....
Jesus did something very special when he came to Earth, he loved us so much that he died on the cross so that he would take the blame for all the bad things we do. And he did all that so that we could be friends with him and go to heaven to be with him. Jesus takes away the bad things so we can have a great promise of heaven.
But he doesn't just take away the bad things and forgive us as soon as we do them, we have to pray and ask for forgiveness so that can happen.
Let's close our eyes and talk to God.
Dear God, thank you for Jesus, thank you that you love us so much that you sent him to die on the cross for us. Please forgive us for the bad things we have done, help us to choose the right thing in future. In Jesus name, Amen.
Pictures sourced from Google image searches
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
This one was inspired by my recent visits to the dentist.
I have to apologise for the way it's written, it always feels weird to write like that but it's vaguely what I would have said. It's also aimed at children between the ages of 3-8/9.
Well I have some pictures to show you this morning and i want you to tell me who is in each of them.
Who's this? A policeman, and he's catching a robber. Policemen work very hard doing all sorts of things but the main thing that they do is work to get rid of crime.
Who's this? A doctor and the doctor has to do lots of training and works very hard to help us get rid of bugs when we're sick or pain when we're hurt.
Who's in this picture? The dentist and in this picture he's pulling a tooth! Ouch! The dentist gets rid of pain in our teeth and fixes what's wrong with our mouths.
What's happening in this picture? A fireman is rescuing someone from a fire, what else does the fireman do? He puts out fires, he takes away fire that can harm us.
Who's in this picture? The bin man! He comes and collects all the rubbish and the recycling to take it away for us.
This is someone you might see at school, who's this person? The caretaker. He works hard to clean up the school and get rid of dirt and mess so the school is clean.
This is the last photo, it's a bit hard because we don't really have these people in our country, but lots of other countries might need them. Let them have a guess at who this might be. It's an exterminator, he goes into houses and other buildings when little bugs or mice or other little creatures move in that shouldn't be there and he gets rid of them.
The bible says: But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (NCV)
All these people have jobs where they get rid of something and all those things they get rid of are all things that are bad for us: crime, sickness and pain, sore teeth, fire, rubbish, dirt, bugs and mice....
Jesus did something very special when he came to Earth, he loved us so much that he died on the cross so that he would take the blame for all the bad things we do. And he did all that so that we could be friends with him and go to heaven to be with him. Jesus takes away the bad things so we can have a great promise of heaven.
But he doesn't just take away the bad things and forgive us as soon as we do them, we have to pray and ask for forgiveness so that can happen.
Let's close our eyes and talk to God.
Dear God, thank you for Jesus, thank you that you love us so much that you sent him to die on the cross for us. Please forgive us for the bad things we have done, help us to choose the right thing in future. In Jesus name, Amen.
Pictures sourced from Google image searches
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
19 January 2008
Free Youth Bible Study 1
I've decided it's high time I share some of the resources and things I have or use or write in my work so here's the first installment available for free download for use by anyone. But if you do use it please let me have some feedback on it.It's a Bible study that I wrote and used with our 11-18 group in October on the story of David and Bathsheba which kicked off a series on "Famous Bible characters, Lesser known stories". (Files in pdf format)
David & Bathsheba Study - Leader's notes
David & Bathsheba Study - Handout
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