Skip to main content

I am the true Vine (John 15:1-11): Balloon vine prayers!

My friend Mary did her first all age service this week and came up with a great ideas for responding to John 15:1-11 in prayer!

 You will need: Lots of balloons, stickers, pens, string, a very long ribbon, grapes still in the bunch.
Show the children the bunch of grapes and link this to the teaching that Jesus is the true vine and we are like the branches growing off the vine.  If we keep his commandments and love others then we will grow much fruit (have God's love and joy!).  Taste the grapes and talk about how sweet they are.  This sweetness reflects the sweetness and joy of what growing in Jesus' vine is like.

 Speak about how it can sometimes be hard to do what we know God would want and that some people don't even know who Jesus is or that they can be part of the vine too.

 Encourage the children to pray for help when they are finding it hard to do what God wants and for people to find out about Jesus.  Get them to write or draw their prayers on a sticker and then stick the sticker to a balloon.  Depending on how many people you have, people might want to do more than one balloon- you will need lots!
Gather a few balloons together into a bunch and tie them with string.  Tie this bunch onto the longer ribbon.  Eventually you will have a ribbon (vine) with lots of balloon (grape) bunches growing from it.  We chose a gold ribbon to be our vine to represent how special Jesus is.

 Hold the ribbon up and give the prayers to God, thanking Him that He is the gardener who loves us and helps us to produce fruit.  We then tied the 'vine' to the organ loft so that it could stay as a symbol of what we'd been learning!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Button Prayers

If you are looking for an active, kinaesthetic, way of praying in a small group or even with the whole congregation, then this might be for you! You will need: A collection of buttons of different shapes, sizes and colours- at least one button for each person praying. Give everyone a button. Feel the hardness of the button and think about people who are going through hard times.  Ask God to help them. Buttons are used to fasten clothes together.  Ask God to bring together people who have fallen out and moved apart from each other.  Pray that He will bring peace. Look at your button and see how many holes it has.  Think of that number of things you would like to say thank you to God for and say Thank you prayers. Look at the colour of the button and say thank you to God for something that is that colour  Find someone who has the same colour button as you.  You might want to make a small group of people with the...
1 comment
Read more

Trusting God: The Amazing Water Glass Trick!

I used this idea in an assembly yesterday, focussing on people we trust and what it means to trust God.   This would work really well if you are exploring miracle stories or stories about trust.  Suitable verses to use with it might be:  Joshua 1:9: Remember, I commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid, because the  Lord  your God will be with you wherever you go.” Psalm 56: 3  When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. John 14: 1  Jesus said, “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me  I have to admit that this trick is not an original idea.  I found the trick in this book:  Simple Science Object Talks by Heno Head Jnr  and would definitely recommend getting cold of a copy if you can! You will need: A glass of water (about half- 2/3 filled) and an index card. This is what you do: place the index card over the top of the glass, making sure that the whole of the rim is covered by it, and press...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Power of Prayer: Skittles Experiment!

This experiment with skittles is colourful, easy and makes a great statement about what we are asking God to do when we pray.  In essence, prayers are a way of joining with God and asking him to have an effect on the world and situations around us. We pray because we believe that our prayers, through God's power, will make a difference to the world.  In this activity, colour is released from the sweets into the surrounding water, creating a colourful picture, symbolic of how the prayers we raise to God are a way of us joining with Him to release the kingdom here on earth and have an impact. You will need: A bag of skittles, a plate, hot water (not hot enough to scald, but hot enough to make the colour run!) Arrange the skittles in the plate Pour some hot water onto the plate to cover its surface.  Pour it carefully so that the skittles stay in place.  Wait and the skittles will gradually release their colour Try an alternative... Cover the s...
Post a Comment
Read more