Download your Summer Newsletter by Clicking the image above. 

A simple page to print and give to families to help encourage prayer through the summer holidays, whatever the weather! Download your copy HERE 

Immerse yourself in all 5 sections exploring God’s kindness and our own call to kindness towards ourselves and towards others.

Take a look section by section here:

Learning Kindness COI-Childrens-Ministry-SUMMER-Newsletter-sec-1

Preparing the Soil COI-Childrens-Ministry-SUMMER-Newsletter-sec-2

Sowing Seeds of Kindness COI-Childrens-Ministry-SUMMER-Newsletter-sec-3

Nurturing Kindness COI-Childrens-Ministry-SUMMER-Newsletter-sec-4 (1)

Spreading Kindness COI-Childrens-Ministry-SUMMER-Newsletter-sec-5

Action Words:

Jesus: touch each palm with the middle finger of the other hand

Miracle: say WOW whilst putting your hands up to your face in amazement.

Crowds: loud whispers

Disciples: shake hands

Hungry: groan and rub tummy

Food: pretend to eat and say nom nom nom

Little boy: aaaawww

Loaves and fish: hold up 5 fingers and then 2 fingers

Thanks: place fingers to mouth (fingers closed palms facing in) and then raise them upwards

Story:

Jesus spoke to his disciples and said ‘we have been so busy caring for the crowds of people, let’s go to an ‘out of the way’ place to rest.

So Jesus and his disciples got into a boat and sailed away from the towns to an out of the way place.

But the crowds heard where they were going and followed them!

When Jesus saw the crowds and saw their need, he had compassion and he taught them and spent the day healing them. Many miracles were performed.

It came to evening and the disciples said to Jesus, teacher it is late and the crowds are getting hungry. Send them away to the villages for food. But Jesus replied feed the hungry yourself.

The disciples were shocked! How could we feed such a huge hungry crowd? It’d take a whole year of working to pay for all the food.

Then Jesus asked them, well what food do we have? And they showed him the lunch that a little boy had given to share around. There were 5 loaves and 2 fish. How can we possibly feed over 5000 people with only 5 loaves and 2 fish from a little boy’s lunchbox?!

But Jesus gratefully took the food, gave thanks to God and told the disciples to start handing it out to the crowd. They were amazed when everyone ate their fill of food and they collected leftovers. It was a miracle!

When telling a Bible story it is important to read the story from the Bible first so that you get the entire background, context and information before looking at it from a Children’s Bible.  Then it is recommended that you pick one point that you want the children to go away understanding and build your Sunday Club programme around that one point.  When choosing how to tell a story decide between an Action Story, Story Book Time, Circle Time, Godly Play, Mystery Story Bag/Box method or a repetition story.

Where possible use illustrations, either props or actions or drama or pictures so the children can understand what you are saying through more than your words.  Sermons4kids have a page of illustration sketches for different Bible Stories some of which have enough pictures for a powerpoint of slides to accompany a story.  See here for more details: http://www.sermons4kids.com/henry_martin.htm

All Age Worship:  This can be done with the whole congregation and/or with the Sunday Club.  We have taken it from http://www.barnabasinschools.org.uk/the-sounds-of-holy-week/

Children Finding Faith

How can we help children know God? Bridger looks at the ways in which children develop physically, mentally and emotionally, and shows how these insights can help us share the gospel more effectively with children.

Every Child a Chance to Choose: The Challenge of Children’s Evangelism
Penny Frank (CPAS / Children’s Ministry)

How do we give all children the opportunity to discover Jesus and to respond to Him? Why has the number of children attending church in this country dropped dramatically over the last 40 years? Penny Frank looks at critical issues for children’s ministry today.

Mission-shaped Children: Moving Towards a Child-centered Church
Margaret Withers (Church House publishing)

A book that explores how the dramatic cultural, social and economic trends of recent years have impacted on children’s lives and how this affects the Church; Written in an engaging style, “Mission-shaped Children” contains many real life case studies, practical examples and questions for discussion.

Postmodern Children’s Ministry: Ministry to Children in the 21st Century Church
Ivy Beckwith

This practical, thought-provoking book presents a new paradigm for children’s ministry in the emerging 21st century and explores how churches are currently putting that vision into practice. Advocating the need to regard children as full participants in their faith communities, the book provides strategies for building intergenerational community where children feel they belong and have the opportunity to serve.

Learning Styles
Marlene LeFever (Kingsway)

LeFever looks at how people (not just children) learn and how we can most effectively reach them as deliverers of the Gospel. There is no right way or wrong way, but this valuable resource. This is the book for anyone who wants to discover more about how they think and learn, and how to best communicate with others of all learning styles. It is clear, well set out and easy to follow.

Working with Under 5s: Pretty Much Everything You Need to Know About….
Judith Wigley (S.U) ( Also titles working with 5-7 and 8-10)

A brilliant book for all busy children’s workers. It’s jam-packed with very practical information in a highly accessible, easy-to-read format, plus photocopiable pages. Part 1 helps adults step inside the world of the child and understand their spiritual and physical development. Part 2 contains all the practical advice; planning and running programmes, using the Bible, prayer, worship and lots more.

Messy Church
Lucy Moore

“Messy Church” aims to create the opportunity for people to have fun together and enjoy the experience of being part of the extended church family through a range of craft activities, storytelling, worship and simple homemade meals. Based on two-hour sessions for people of all ages, for each session the book includes: Bible reference and background, recipes for the meal, ten theme-related craft activities with suggested ‘talk about’ ideas, and an outline for the concluding act of worship.

Messy Church 2
Lucy Moore

“Messy Church 2” explores the importance of discipleship, faith development and training for leadership. The material includes insights into the theology of the sacred in the ordinary and ideas for practical ways to promote a sense of fellowship and community. Moving Messy Church on through quality worship, reflective storytelling, creative crafts and prayers, recipes and easy-to-learn songs. It explores the implications of being church, rather than a children’s club, including child protection issues.

All-age Worship [Paperback]
Lucy Moore

This is not a resource book but a ‘big picture’ look at ‘all-age worship’ – what it means, and how it works. It challenges the idea that worship needs to be segregated by age in order to ‘work’. It includes examples of all-age worship service outlines. It is suitable for church leaders, especially those nervous about doing ‘all-age’! It is also useful to those involved with children’s ministry, and those training for church ministry; theological college tutors in the area of worship and pastoral care.

Special Children Special Needs
Simon Bass (Church House Publishing)

This book gives information on how to integrate children with disabilities and special needs into your church’s worship and children’s programmes and activities. Among other things, it provides advice on: inclusive language; supporting families; practical issues and specific special needs.

Light
Scripture Union
www.scriptureunion.org.uk (need to register or buy )

Bible-based learning resources for children, young people and adults.
Light is ideal for use with junior church on Sundays, in midweek Christian groups, at youth clubs and with children’s prayer groups.
Bubbles 5yrs and under, Splash 5-8 , Xstream 8-11, the grid 11-14 and
substance 11-18

Roots
(Church of England)

www.rootsontheweb.com (need to register or buy)

Common Lectionary based resource, offering a subscription service for dated material. Resources are structured around the lectionary.

Living Stones – Complete Resource Book Year A (B and C)

Living Stones has ideas, outlines, intercessions, photocopiable worksheets, mini-dramas and much more. Separate books are available for each age group all of which contain photocopiable worksheets: Pebbles (infants), Rocks (6-10) and Boulders (11-14).

Urban Saints
www.energize.uk.net (need to register)

A stream of adaptable, creative, biblically-based meeting plans for 5-7s, 7–10s, 11–14s and 15-18s. Create your own lesson plans from different themes.

Child Evangelism Fellowship
www.cefbritain.org
Loads of Biblical teaching materials and resources. American in design and influence.

Go Teach
www.goteach.org.uk

Teaching material for beginners 3-4yr, primaries 5-7yr, juniors 8-11yr and young teens 12-14yr. Each book contains the material to teach 15 Bible lessons plus ideas for a family service.

TNT Ministries
www.tntministries.org.uk

An extensive range of Sunday School material covering 18 months to 14 years of age