Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

Here is a new reflective colouring sheet which focusses on Psalm 27:1- one of most favourite Bible verses: The Lord is my light and the one who saves me. So why should I fear anyone? Here are some ideas: Use the time you spend colouring to... Talk about:  What/ who is the strongest thing/ person you know? Why is light important and useful? How can God/ people be like light for others? What does it mean for someone to save us? How do you think God saves us? What makes you afraid? What helps you when you are afraid? Have you ever asked God to help you? Pray As you colour, pray for people who are afraid and ask God to help them and save them.  Children might want to ask God to help them with specific fears. To print off the colouring sheet  click here .

The other week we managed to come by a second hand IKEA children's rug for a very reasonable price and it seemed perfect for using for some hands on intercessions! This idea works well with all ages and can be a stand alone prayer station, revisited over period of time, or used as a focus in a group or an all age service. You will need: hearts, figures/ people (I used foam shapes but playmobil or lego figures would work well too), toy cars, wooden blocks (or duplo), a town play mat (we used this one ) Place a car on one of the roads- pray for traffic, safety, drivers, pedestrians Place a block on the map and pray for a building, workplace or home that you know. Place a figure on the map and pray for a person in this community Place a heart on the map and pray for situations in the community that need God’s help Have fun!

Over the next 4 weeks or so, the whole church (adults and children) is looking at and learning about various aspects of Holy Communion: what it is, why we do it, signs, symbols, stories and liturgy.  At the end of the series, we will have a special celebration where I will preside at communion for the first time and one of our children will take her first communion.  It is actually quite exciting to all be learning together! We have set up a 'treasure chest' for children to role play with during the service, using an old box we found in an antique shop.  This is what we put inside... Handkerchiefs in the 4 liturgical colours (plus extra white ones for children to use as purificatory to wipe the cup with), wooden crosses and doves. A felt book of church symbols (see a future post on this!) Some metal cups and plates found for a bargain price in a charity shop, some wooden bread, hearts, battery operated candles and a globe ball. We pu...