Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

In light of current events in Ukraine, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have asked that Sunday 27th February is used as a day of prayer for peace. Here is a reflective colouring sheet if you like to pray with colour. One version is the image only and the second version is a sheet with the Archbishops' prayer for peace copied at the bottom.  For the colouring sheet on its own, click here . For the colouring sheet with the Archbishops' prayer for Peace in Ukraine, click here.  

With Valentines day approaching,I've seen a lot of crafts on Pinterest recently related to love and hearts.  For some reason, it made me think about those people who find this time of year difficult because they have lost someone or feel broken- hearted for some reason.  I came up with this prayer idea to help children to think of those who need to know God's love in a healing way.  It would also work well when looking at the beatitudes- especially 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted' (Matthew 5:4).  It could even be adapted for 'Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God' (Matthew 5:8)! You will need: Sticky backed plastic (contact paper), a large roll of wallpaper backing or other paper, small cut up pieces of coloured paper.  Cut out a big heart shape from a piece of backing paper.  Cover the heart with sticky backed plastic (contact paper), sticky side down. Turn the paper sticky side up.  Children can take...

Today our 5-11s explored the beatitudes.  Click here for our  beatitudes resources ! After exploring each statement, we gave the children access to the junk box!  In the box there's a random selection of plastic cups, card, paper, foil, lolly sticks and just about anything we could get our hands on and cram in!  The children used anything they wanted to make something that reflected an element of what they's learned.  Leaders were on hand to help but the children had no problems coming up with their own ideas!    Here's what they came up with...  Chains to represent the persecuted people God would care for  Scales to represent those who seek righteousness  A dove's head (he didn't manage to make the whole bird in the time allowed!) to represent the peacemakers.  A shining cross because 'when we forgive people it's like God's light shining out, like Jesus on the cross'  A shining heart for when we t...

Periodically, as a response to the teaching, we use word clouds to help the children reflect.  I can't get enough of them because I love the colours! Here is a Beatitudes word cloud, made from pasting the Bible verses into the creator.  Children can use the heart space to write or draw how they feel about what they have learned or what the remember most/ liked most.  The words can be used as prompts to help them if they want. For a printable version (two word clouds to a page) click  here .

Having sorted out the language I want to use to explain the Beatitudes (click  here  to go the Beatitudes cards), I've now got around to sorting out some more ideas for Sunday. To link with the cards for each saying, I've got some props.  They don't exactly match the cards, but close enough! An inflatable swimming ring to symbolise relying on God's help (poor in spirit) A comforting cuddly toy (mourning) A gift bag (humble- people who think of others before themselves etc) Scales (made of a coat hanger and yoghurt pots as I didn't have the real thing! (righteousness and justice) Cross (mercy and forgiveness) Heart (pure in heart) Dove (peacemakers) Rope (persecuted) I've made some more cards for a prayer activity to get the children thinking about how they can live more in the spirit of the Beatitudes.   After some time thinking and listening to God, the children can choose one of the cards and hang it onto a 'tree' constructed of tw...

I had a bit of a panic this week when I realised that I would be teaching the Beatitudes this Sunday.  How do I explain 'humble', 'meek', 'righteousness' and 'merciful' to 5-7s without spending the whole session doing it?  Even the simplest Bible translations used words they weren't going to understand easily! So I decided to make some colourful cards in child friendly language to explain what each statement meant.  I included some symbols that might help explain because a lot of the children are like me and find pictures very helpful!  I intend to use these symbols in real life form during the lesson.  None of the explanations or symbols are perfect but hopefully they will help!    An inflatable swimming ring to symbolise relying on God's help (poor in spirit) A sad face (mourning) A gift (humble- people who think of others before themselves etc) Scales (righteousness and justice) Cross (mercy and forgiveness) Heart (pure in hear...