Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

Over the past year or so, we have been holding a monthly Muddy Church session for all ages. Muddy Church is an amazing idea and you can find out more (with all sorts of brilliant resources) here. We have adapted the format to suit our congregation and the session is usually a wander through the park with a focus for wondering and exploring, linked to a Bible verse or story. We then finish, after 45 mins- 1 hour, at the cafe for a drink or an ice-cream! We have all ages participating and our usual crowd varies in age from 3-70s. It's great if you want to do something intergenerational! Our most recent session used a verse from Psalm 91 and looked at the theme of God's protection, or what we could find that was 'safe and sound.' Here is a printable version of the sheet we used on our wander: And here are some of the things we found! A Conker hidden in the cleft of a tree Something 'strong' supporting a tree and keeping the branch upright A snail's hiding pl...

I have a bit of a weakness for glow in the dark things. I ended up buying 100 glow in the dark baby Jesus figures before Christmas and I still haven't figured out what to do with them, but the day will come! My new favourite thing, though, is glow in the dark tape.  It has a lot of potential!  I got some quite cheaply online  and have used it for a craft to help children explore the concept of God being with them in the darkness and hard times.  This craft would work well with stories about God's protection and presence e.g. Daniel and the lions' den, Moses and the Red Sea, Paul and Silas in jail. You will need: Paper (any colour), scissors, glow in the dark tape, marker pens Get children to cut up the tape and stick it on the paper in any design they fancy.  They can then, if they want to, decorate the tape with marker pens/ write verses about God's presence and protection. Useful verses might include: Psalm 16:1  Protect me, God, because I d...

Last week's Messy Church was based around the story of baby Moses being left in a basket in the river by his mother. What we focussed on was the theme of safety: thanking God for those who keep us safe and asking God to keep others safe.  Here is the prayer activity we ended with. It was so easy but felt so significant! You will need: cupcake cases, mini pom poms (it really helps if you put one pom pom in each cake case before you start), a long box filled with water (or several boxes if you have lots of people). Talk about people who keep us safe, just like Moses' mum tried to keep him safe from the Egyptians and then safe on the water. Are there any times when God has kept you safe? Who do you know who needs help to stay safe at the moment? (We had lots of suggestions e.g. homeless people, people who were going to have an operation, people who were going on a journey). Invite everyone to take cake case with a pom pom in it and think about someone who keeps them ...

Next week our younger children will be exploring Psalm 121 and thinking about God's help and protection.  They really enjoy doing anything related to food, so here is an activity I have planned for them.  As it's about God's protection it would work equally well with any story that has that theme: Daniel in the Lion's Den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Jesus calms the storm...  You will need: undecorated cupcakes, a knife or spoon, small sweets e.g. Skittles, fondant icing, rolling pin, circular cookie cutters. Cut a hole in the top of a cupcake with a spoon or a knife. Fill the hole with sweets. Roll out some fondant icing and cut out a circle of it that is big enough to cover the top of your cupcake. Cover the cupcake with the fondant and decorate it (maybe with the initial letter of your name). The sweets will be hidden under the icing and protected by it. Bite into the cake to reveal the protected sweets! Talk about:  Link the ...

This is a really effective and fun way to help children to think about God being with them, guiding and helping them, even when they can't see Him.  Be warned that it might get a bit messy! You will need: Paper plates or sheets of paper, cupcake wrappers, paint, bar magnets, magnetic metal objects e.g. safety pins, hooks, paper clips, small cookie cutters, brings, allen keys (i have many of these thanks to IKEA!)   Squirt some paint into the cupcake liners and put a metal item in each colour.  Put the paint covered item on the plate and put the bar magnet underneath the plate.  Move the magnet around and this will move the object and paint around on top!  Create some artwork! Think About:   Times you have felt God's presence, even though you can't see Him When have you known that God is with you and is helping you? What would you like God to help you with? Pray: Choose an object to represent a person you know.  Put ...

This is a great visual illustration for thinking about God's protection and can easily be used in a school assembly. You will need: An orange, a deep, clear container, water.  Also useful are items such as sun cream, a bike helmet and a hi-vis jacket I used the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace but any story involving God's protection is good- Daniel in the Lions' Den, for example. Tell the story and get the children to participate with sound effects and actions if possible! Next bring out your 'protection' items and talk about what we do and wear to keep us safe in the sun, on the road etc.  What about people who help us to feel safe?  Talk about God keeping the characters in the story safe and speak about times in your life when you ask God to keep you safe. Put an orange in the container of water and watch it bob along the surface.  Then peel off the skin and watch it sink.  The peel is what protects the orange and stop...

I'm exploring ways of looking creatively at the themes of Psalm 23 and one thing that always strikes me is that God the Shepherd leads us whatever is happening in our lives- whether it is calm and still or dangerous and scary.  I wanted to help children to think about God being with us to guide us, even when we're not sure where we're going, and a marble maze seemed a perfect idea to illustrate it.  Even though the path is tricky, there is someone guiding the marble to its destination.   You will need: a cardboard box, card (thin enough to fold), sellotape, scissors, a marble.  Fold small pieces of card so that you can sellotape a 'bottom' to the floor of the cardboard box and have the other part of the fold standing up as a 'wall.' Arrange the folded pieces of card to make a maze pathway for the marble to roll along (be sure to include some dead ends!).  Write 'S' where the marble should start its journey and 'E' where the maze sho...

Here is a prayer activity that older children could do independently to help them think about trusting in God for their strength.  It could be used especially if you were exploring stories that involve the sea or storms (e.g the calming of the storm, Paul's shipwreck in Acts 27)! You will need: long and shorter strips of paper, semi circles of paper, hole punch, glue, string, a washing line God as our anchor Anchors keep ships steady in stormy seas.  They are strong and stop them from floating away from the safe harbour. Think about times when you feel afraid.  Who do you rely on to keep you strong, safe and where you need to be? Take a longer and a shorter piece of paper and glue them together to make a cross shape.  The cross reminds us that we can ask Jesus to help us to be strong and to be with us when times are hard and scary. Stick a semi circle on the bottom of the cross and write your name inside it.  Hang the anchor on the line as a sign ...

Here's a really simple prayer idea we've used with our 3-5s, focussing on the idea of God keeping us safe.  It would especially fit with a story such as Jesus calming the storm where the idea of Jesus providing safety in scary times is illustrated. After telling the story, talk about the things that worry or scare us.  Who would we turn to to help us?  Discuss people like family and friends and even the police!  Then talk about how, like in the story, we can ask God to keep us safe when we are afraid. Get a piece of string and let each child choose a bead to represent themselves.  You could use any beads but heart beads to represent how God loves us, or letter beads so children can choose their initial if they want to are useful! Each child can thread their bead onto the string.  Point out to the children that it would be really easy for the beads to fall off the string if we don't tie a knot in it.  Tie the strings together in a knot and ...