Welcome to Gingerbread and Generosity 2025 – Houses of Hope!

We are so thrilled to launch this initiative in partnership with Bishops Appeal and (South American Mission Society (SAMS).

It is our hope that, by using the packs below, you will be able to host a Houses of Hope event where families and individuals are invited to learn about the two projects in South America whilst having fun together decorating gingerbread houses.

Here are just a few ways you might use this pack:

• Host a gingerbread decorating event – perfect for Messy Church or a post-service gathering with snacks and festive cheer. You can make it a donation-based event or charge a small fee to support Bishops’ Appeal.
• Use one of the included services—either our Advent-themed service or the “Jesus is the Light of the World” Christingle option. During the service, you can take up a collection and hand out family packs for at-home fun.

No matter how you choose to use this pack, we hope families will upload a photo of their gingerbread creations and enter our Houses of Hope competition, with a chance to win one of two £50/€50 One4All vouchers!

To download the pack you wish to use simply click on the relevant image below:

Watch the video below to learn more about how your support impacts children and families in South America.

You can also copy the link to show this video at your Church event. 

Click Image to download the pack

Fostering a sense of belonging and value is particularly important for Children and Young people. They are active members of the Church family and co-journeyers in faith, not a passive audience. So we hope that this pack will help inspire new connections and a greater sense of belonging and ownership, as well as helping to share the load.

Many Churches struggle to get people practically involved in the running of the Church, and in a lot of cases, it is left to the Wardens and Clergy to do most of the jobs. We hope to counter this trend by helping people rediscover the Church as a family where everyone has a valuable role.

Think through all the little jobs that happen before, during and after a service, choose ones which others can easily do and write them out clearly on the cards in our pack. Communicate to your congregation (all ages) a week before you start, that this is a great opportunity for everyone to get involved in the life of the church, regardless of age, experience, language or time in the church.

Use the template cards in the pack. Write clearly: The task; What they will need; Where they find the equipment they need; When in the service they carry out this task; Who to ask for help – and ideally include a photo, don’t assume everyone knows everyone else’s names!

Laminate and pin the cards to a board before people arrive, and encourage families and individuals to choose a card and task to do that week. Every week, they can choose a new task to try.

Two main reasons that put people off from helping out are fear of long-term commitment and uncertainty about tasks. We hope that this resource will encourage clarity about the tasks and give opportunities to try different things. In turn, this will not only help increase volunteering in the church across all ages, but crucially provide practical ways in which adults, young people & children can build connections with each other and foster a greater sense of belonging.

Yes, some days it might feel like it would be easier to just do it all yourself! But consider how much more connected people will feel when they take an active role, how the sense of belonging will grow, how conversations might blossom between people who wouldn’t ordinarily mix together, and how the rhythm of participation will increase until it becomes habit.

This resource was adapted with the kind permission of Rev.Mary Hawes who runs the original concept in their intergenerational services, regardless of whether or not they have children present. You can see a brief video of the idea in action below:

Click image to download pack

Creating a positive relationship with your local school is so very important, not only in helping children to understand what the Church is about, but also in forging positive connections within the local community. If done well, the relationship between School and Church can be an extremely fruitful and mutually blessing connection. However, it is the “doing it well” that can sometimes be the challenge.

So, to help, we – along with our colleagues in the Children’s Ministry Network – have developed a pack with ideas and guidelines to help you get started.

This guide suggests ways to build and strengthen the relationship between your church and local school(s) by hosting educational visits or services, and offers other suggestions of how to build meaningful connection between the Church and school. Our church buildings and people are a God-given resource and there are many opportunities to use these assets to meet the needs of visiting school groups. No two churches are alike, even within the same denomination. The aim of this guide is to be adaptable to whatever your situation and setting – take from it what fits.

Contents

• Getting started – Building a relationship with your local school
• Connecting with the school curriculum
• Drawing out the significance and meaning of things children will see
• Explaining worship practices in your church
• Other opportunities to use your building to engage with schools
• Conclusion and credits

Download the full pack by clicking any image above. 

If you are based in a rural parish, chances are you have some fantastic farming families in your congregation. Whilst we celebrate their hard work in our Harvest Festivals we wanted to find a way to engage all our children and help them see God in the farm’s everyday life no matter the time of year.

Whether it’s tractors, sheep, beef or tillage each session brings God’s word to life through games, discussions, crafts and food.

These sessions can be used in Sunday Clubs, Intergenerational Church Services, School lessons or Holiday Clubs – however you wish!

There’s Stock Judging, Machine Making and even Bull Building!

Click image to download flyer/poster. Can be printed as large A3 poster or as small as an A5 leaflet. 

Church is meant to be a family, of all ages, all backgrounds and all abilities, all fully participating in life, worship and growth. What happens may well be messy, not neatly coloured between the lines, and noisier than some might prefer…but it is full of life, expression, connection, sharing, learning from each other…family!

If this is something you genuinely want for your Church then it needs to be communicated and adopted by the whole congregation – especially those whose inner control freak might “tut” or “shush” instead of smiling and supporting families with children. Help them to see this welcome from a new perspective.

You may have something similar in your church, but to help families feel welcomed and Children accepted you can print this welcome flyer to give to families as they enter, or place them in the pews to help the congregation members also remember how impactful – both positively and negatively – their reactions to families with children can be.

Click on the image of the pot to download the pdf

It’s hard to escape the little fella and his pot of gold during St Patrick’s Day, but how can we turn the wee man into a helpful teaching tool ?! 

Well, we’ve had a go at least! Based on the verse Luke 12:34 

“Where your treasure there your heart will be also.” This resource uses the pot of gold and the coins to help teach about what is truly of value.

Asking the question what things are most important / special to you? It could be toys, sports, tv, devices, make up, animals etc. The children take a coin for each thing they love and write it down, then stick it on the pot of gold.

We can then explain that while these things are all good in their own way, Jesus taught us that God’s love is far more precious than anything on earth and that we should make sure we don’t allow the things of earth distract us from spending time with God. His love is a far greater treasure and lasts for eternity.

This is an intergenerational activity that can be used either in your home or at church as part of an intergenerational service.

Together you create each tier and read a section of the Easter story. Using the templates provided you make the boxes that separate each tier – each box has Bible verses and a question to fill in if you choose. At each stage you stop to reflect on what that section of the story means to you, and you pray together.

The bottom tier reflects on the garden of Gethsemane and we think about things that are difficult in life, things we want to pray for.

The middle tier reflects on the crucifixion – the sacrificial love of God.

The top tier reflects on the resurrection – new beginnings, things to rejoice and give thanks for.

All instructions and templates can be found in the PDF which you can download by clicking HERE

Click images at the bottom of the page to download the relevant pack.

Many people talk about Lent as a chore, a grey time of sacrifice and doing without, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Lent can be a time of simplicity, a time of drawing close to God, a journey of reflection.

To help us on this journey we have some footsteps you can use each week through Lent. Starting after pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) on Ash Wednesday, there will be a step available for each day – apart from Sundays.

Each day you can choose one of the following, a step of: Grace, Prayer, Giving, Love, Sacrifice or Change.

We encourage you to take as many steps as you are able to. Some of you will be able to take a step every day, and others you will just do one each week – we all walk at different paces.

You will see there is a big footprint and a small footprint. That is because we are walking together, adults and children – whoever you are doing this with – whether you are parents, carers, grandparents, aunties, uncles or close family friends. No matter what our age we are all equal on this journey of faith and can teach, encourage and inspire each other.

Together, talk about each step and what you might do. For example with the step of Grace, you would think about something you might need to say sorry for or someone you need to forgive.

Each person then chooses to either write down or draw a picture of what they will do.

You can either plan the week’s steps in one go on Sunday so you prepare the things you will do that week, or you can do them day by day as you are able, whichever is best for you.

You are invited to take Steps through Lent together. There are two parts to the resource:

1. Steps…The printer-friendly resource that you can use at home, in church or even at school.
2. Intergenerational talk & Messy Church ideas. This talk can be used as it is or you can adapt it to suit your needs. You can use the talk to introduce the “Steps through Lent” to your congregation. Encourage them to bring in their steps so you can lay them in a pathway to the alter or cross in your church or school. At the end of the talk we have some simple ideas for ways to use the talk in Messy Church.

Download the relevant pack by clicking on the pictures here:

Steps:                       Talk:

Using nature as part of loose parts play has really caught on over recent years and it can be a fantastic – not to mention very cheap! – way to engage children as you talk about Bible stories. Muddy Church, GodVenture. Messy Church and many others have ways in which you can use nature to encourage wondering discussions. You can do this all year round of course, but it can be a particularly great tool to use during big events like Christmas, Easter, Lent etc.

Here you can watch Lydia explaining a simple way to use the nature story board with children and adults of all ages:

Download the talk from Sermins4kids by clicking on the picture: