Our church has been exploring our new vision which is centred on sharing God’s love with each other and with the community. We have been looking specifically at the verse “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 We’ve been thinking about how Jesus shows love and what we can learn from that about how to love each other.

Once a month we have a ‘fluid’ style church where there are different activities based on a theme and people can choose what to do. This was one of our activities this month for children and adults. It provided plenty of space for chatting about what love means and how we see Jesus showing love all the way through the New Testament. Using the bookmark makes sure that there is a reminder of Jesus’ love every time you are reading!

To download the instruction sheet, click here.

Over the last few months we have been exploring creation by trying out some ‘Muddy Church’ activities. If you haven’t come across Muddy Church yet, I highly recommend their excellent website, where there are loads of resources you can adapt to your circumstances. Muddy Church is a great way to get outside with people of all ages to explore God’s creation. Here’s a glimpse at what we got up to on our most recent walk through the local park with a mixture of ages from toddlers to people in their 70s. Click here for the resource sheet that we made up for this particular session.

We used this Illustration to tell the story of the Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27) at Cafe Church- a new intergenerational service that we’ve started since restrictions eased a little bit. One of the Cafe church team came up with the idea and set up the following display. I was a bit dubious to begin with because I couldn’t see how it was going to work- but I didn’t know the hidden secret!

Both structures look exactly the same. We read the story from a simple translation of the bible and, when we got to the part about the wind blowing, the team member waved a hairdryer at the structure on the right hand side. The ‘wind’ blew the cups down. When we got to the structure on the left hand side, however, the structure didn’t budge at all. I couldn’t figure out why not, because nothing was stuck down. It was only when I lifted one of the cups up and looked inside that I saw the answer…

Each cup in the second structure was half filled with craft concrete. This gave the cups a really sturdy weight that was immovable in the path of the hairdryer and gave a nod to building a structure on ‘rock.’

You will need: 20 paper cups, craft concrete, hairdryer

Make up the craft concrete according to package directions and half fill 10 of the paper cups. Wait for the concrete to dry. Stack the empty cups in one pyramid and the concrete filled cups in another pyramid and use your hairdryer to help tell the story!

If you are stuck for ideas this Christmas, here are a few from around the internet…

Carol service ideas and talks

Carol service quiet bags: activities to keep younger children engaged during the service

Talk (using different sweets) for a family carol service

M and Ms talk for a family carol service

No rehearsal Nativity for younger children (songs to nursery rhyme tunes)

Advent

Make an Advent calendar

How to do faith at home for Christmas

24 Things to do in Advent (printable book)

Advent Prayer Bags

Crafts and activities

Angel wrapping paper

Fuzzy Felt Nativity

Nativity word search

Printable Nativity stick puppets

Printable Nativity Character Prayer Cards