Category: Family Faith

Advent Hope Plants

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Traditionally the 4 weeks of Advent each have a particular theme: hope, peace, joy and love.

As Advent begins this years we want to put some hope out there into the community and to encourage people to engage with the theme by thinking about what their hopes for the future are. This is a great activity for families to do together to encourage their local communities.

We’ve wrapped up some individual Tulip and Daffodil bulbs, attached a label to them and are going to leave them on the tables set up in each of our villages where people can give and take food items. This is the text printed on the reverse side of the label if you’d like to make your own:

What do you hope for?

What are your dreams for the future?

Where do you see hope in the world around you?

Plant this bulb in the ground and, as it starts to grow, may you see hope growing in your life.

Plant me NOW & look for the shoots of HOPE

in the Spring. Find a sunny, well-drained spot

where you will see me and dig a hole deep

enough to just cover me with soil. I need to be

pointed side up, my roots are in the flatter area.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. With God all things are possible.” Mark 10:27

Prayers for peace

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Here is a very visual and watchable way to help children to pray for peace and the bringing together of communities. You can also use things you are very likely to have a home, which is always a welcome bonus!

You will need: Kitchen roll, water, 2 cups, food colouring

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Take 2 cups and fill them about 2/3 full with water. Into each cup, mix a different food colouring so that each cup’s water is a different colour. Try to get as strong a colour as possible.

Cut a strip of kitchen roll as long as a sheet of the roll and about 5cm wide.

Talk about divisions in communities we know or live in. What causes such divisions? Who or what helps to heal divisions and bring people together. Think about one of the names for Jesus which is ‘Prince of Peace.’ What does that mean? How can we help to bring about peace?

Think of a situation where there is division e.g. in a war. Put the paper towel as a bridge between the two cups, with each end of the towel in on of the cups. Pray that God will help to heal the divisions and bring people together in peace, as you watch the coloured water ‘climb’ up the towel, meet in the middle of the towel and combine to form a new colour (e.g. red in one cup and yellow in the other will lead to an eventual combination of orange in the middle). Try different colours for different situations and watch your peace prayers bring about new colours!

Rainbow Prayers

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Rainbows have been such an important symbol during the Coronavirus crisis of how we are coming together as a community and supporting each other. Here is a prayer activity that children can easily do with their families at home.

You will need: items in the different colours of the rainbow- red, yellow, orange, green, blue, indigo and violet. You might want to make it a challenge to find one or two items of each colour inside or outside the house or you might use a product that has lots of the same things in all colours e.g. Lego

Ue the items to pray:

  • Choose a colour, hold that colour item and thank God for as many things as you can think of that are that colour too.
  • pray for people that each colour reminds you of
  • Allocate types of prayer to different colours- choose a colour and pray that prayer e.g.

red- people who are ill

orange- people who need to be brave

yellow-thanks for things that make us happy

green- the environment

blue- people who are sad

indigo- people who take care of us

violet- questions you would like to ask God

  • draw rainbows and ask God to bless people in your community. Give the pictures to neighbours or hang then in your windows

Take Home Prayer Activity: Coin Prayers

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Its often really useful to have a prayer activity to send home with children so that they can spend time during the week connecting with God.  This is an easy activity to put together and send out and works really well if prayed with someone else, taking it in turns to toss the coin.  It might help to practice the activity with the children before they take it home, so that they can get right on with praying!

You will need: Enough real or plastic coins for each child, a print out of the prayer activity for each child (click here to print out a sheet with the activity x6 per page).

Psalm 23: Cups Running Over Craft

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This craft was incredibly popular at our most recent Messy Church and is a great way to help children tithing about the image in Psalm 23 of God’s provision and an overflowing cup.

You will need: Clear plastic cups, white vinegar, food colouring, bicarbonate of soda

img_3019 Put some vinegar in a cup (about 1/3 full) and add some food colouring to it.  Add a heaped teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to the vinegar and watch the liquid bubble up and then overflow.

Talk: Ask children- where do you need help most in your life? Who helps you and gives you the things you need? Who makes you feel special and like you belong? How do they do that? Have you ever asked God to hep you with things you need?

Pray: Ask children to think of an area of their life where they would like God to help them. Pray as you add the bicarbonate of soda that he will bless that area!