Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

During the Coronavirus crisis, while churches have been closed, I have been part of a project to help families in our diocese worship at home. Each week we produce a video with a short service including sorry and thank you prayers, a story and a creative prayer activity that people at home can easily join in with. For this Sunday we're looking at the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac and how God provides what he needs. Click here to see the video. Click here to download the words to the simple liturgy if you'd like to join in the words. Click here to access a set of resources to accompany the story, written by a collection of children's ministry bloggers, hosted  by Kate at Jesus Without Language. Enjoy worshipping together!

This is a fun activity we will be doing with our children on Sunday when they look at the story surrounding the birth of Isaac.  Food crafts always go down well but this one is also a reminder of what God has earlier said to Abraham. Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!" Genesis 15:5 You will need: plain biscuits (Rich Tea or Digestive are good), icing sugar, water, star shaped sprinkles, Jelly Babies Make some thick icing out of the icing sugar and water and spread some of it over a biscuit. Sprinkle on some stars and then place a Jelly Baby on top. Talk about: What is your favourite part of the story? Who is your favourite character? How would you have felt if you were Isaac's parents? What is a promise? What does it feel like the someone keeps their promise? Do you wonder anything about this story? Pray Thank God...

This is a simple but fun craft with a real ‘awe’ factor when the children see the curds and whey separating.   The fact that something solid is made from the liquid helps children to reflect on the fact that God’s promises to Abraham are solid and firm and that Abraham can trust God to do as he says.  This activity is linked to the story of Abraham in Genesis 15, where God tells Abraham: “Look at the sky. See the many stars. There are so many you cannot count them. Your family will be like that.” You will need: 250 ml milk, 3 tablespoons vinegar, a sieve, a spoon, a bowl, kitchen roll, cookie cutter stars (or other cutters if you would like children to choose!), food colouring if you want to make coloured stars! Heat up the milk until it is hot but not boiling and pour it into a bowl.   Add the vinegar to the hot milk and start stirring.   Very quickly, the milk will separate into solids (curds) and liquid (whey).   ...

One of the best bargains I've recently bought is my pop up two man tent- reduced to £15!  When I'd spent an hour figuring out how to collapse it again I was sorted! The children absolutely love the tent so, when we had a story when we could legitimately use it we did! We told the story of God calling Abraham out from the place he lived and sending him on a journey.  Of course, Abraham had to live in a tent!  After we'd walked, run, hopped and jumped round the room, we popped out the tent and got inside. Next we got the stars out on the floor of the tent and talked about God promising Abraham that he would have children as many as the stars in the sky... Then we told of the three men visiting Abraham, sharing food and telling him that next year he would have a son even though he was very old... We all practised laughing which was fun! Then we got the baby doll out and celebrated because Sarah and Abraham had had a child even though they were ve...

Last week we went into school to do a SEALS assembly about changes based on the story of Abraham being called by God to leave his homeland and journey to a distant land (Genesis 12). We started with a game... We got 10 yellow ball pool balls, 5 red and 5 blue  and shared them out as follows into 3 baskets spaced out across the front of the hall: Left basket: 5 yellow balls, middle basket 5 red and 5 blue balls, right basket 5 yellow balls. 2 volunteers stood by the left hand and right hand baskets.  When I shouted 'go', they had to change their balls one by one until the left basket had 5 red balls and the right basket had 5 blue balls.  The first to change all of their balls was the winner.  All of the children in the hall were cheering on their favourites and from this game we introduced the idea of 'change'. We then talked about God calling Abraham to leave everything behind to journey to an unknown place (mirroring what would happen after the summer w...