Child in the midst

In our world, where justice is supposed to be dispassionate and unbiased, where we are to be rewarded and punished according to our deserving, a Christian community of faith is called to an alternative way of seeing life and an alternative identity. We are called to be a community that displays a biased passion for the outsider, the stranger, and the estranged and gives people what they need, not what they deserve.

John H Westerhoff in `Living the Faith Community’ (p. 78)

• Someone like Sam
• The best book to read?
• Real Life, Real Children, Real Church
• Manifesto for Children
• Takeover Day 2009
• Off the Bookshelf

Someone like Sam

Based on a book called The Godmother, Someone like Sam develops the story to explore the themes of love, identity, relationship, strength, vocation and more. The pack contains a set of full-colour pictures with conversation starters on the back of each one. The accompanying CD has 12 downloadable sessions for use with children and adults in churches which explore baptism, belonging to the faith community, vocation and more! The pictures and full story text are on the CD, so they could be projected if you wanted to use the material with a large group or as part of an all-age service. There are also lesson plans for use with KS1, Year 3 & Year 6 linking in with RE, PSHE and SEAL. A very versatile, imaginative resource.

The best book to read?

According to this article from The Independent, Bible knowledge in Britain is decreasing, even though most people own a Bible! How Bible literate are the children in your group? Here are some resources which are designed to help children and families read and think about a small part of the Bible each day:

Snapshots from Scripture Union

TOPZ from CWR

XTB from The Good Book Company

Must Know Bible Stories from Scripture Union

Real Life, Real Children, Real Church

The European Conference of Christian Educators (ECCE) is held every three years, bringing together people from denominations across Europe to share experiences and good practice in nurturing children’s faith. If you’re interested in attending the 2010 Conference (which will be held in Paris) all the details are on the ECCE website.

Manifesto for Children

The Children’s Society continues to develop its work based on the findings of the Good Childhood Inquiry. The latest is to publish a Manifesto for Children which calls on all the political parties to make a clear commitment to improving children’s lives in any new administration they form. Click on the link to read more and view a copy of the document.

Takeover Day 2009

Takeover Day is an initiative of the Children’s Commissioner for England. The idea is to invite children into workplaces and organisations to `takeover’ for a day – and those who been involved in the past two years have found it an eye-opening and beneficial experience. The official date for this year is Friday 6th November, so why not invite children to `takeover’ one of your church services or activities that weekend?

Off the Bookshelf

The All Age Service Annual

Scripture Union has just published the third volume of their All Age Service Annual. Divided into two sections, it has a series of 52 `service starters’, designed to use when children are with the whole church community before going to groups and 15 fully worked out all-age services. The service-starter themes fit with SU’s LIGHT curriculum.

The All Age Service Annual

Pub. SU ISBN: 978 1 84427 381 2 £11.99

Teaching Godly Play

Teaching Godly Play – The Sunday Morning Handbook was my first introduction to the theory and practicalities behind Godly Play. Jerome Berryman has now completely revised and expanded it to provide an essential handbook for people who have perhaps only experienced taster or introductory sessions of Godly Play. Starting with an introduction `Why Play?’ It goes on to look at each section of a Godly Play session, giving practical, adaptable advice. It finishes with two chapters exploring the how both children and leaders can grow spiritually through Godly Play. I’m enjoying the chance to revisit these basics (though I’m not over-keen on some of the line drawings!).

Teaching Godly Play

By Jerome W. Berryman

Pub. Morehouse Education Resources ISBN: 978-1-60674-048-4 £16.81

The Book of Books

Trevor Dennis retells the story of the Bible for adults and children to read together. Each of the 12 chapters contains stories woven together and told to fire the imagination. Introductions link the chapters showing the sweep of Scripture and the thread of God through it all.

The Book of Books

By Trevor Dennis

Pub. Lion ISBN: 9-780745-969121 £9.99

Support for Parents

How churches can support parents in raising children who love Jesus from Children’s Ministry

“It is imperative that we understand God’s expectations of how children should be nurtured. The local church is crucial in the process but a child’s family is central. Gaining a proper perspective on the partnership between parent and church in the mutual effort to raise God-loving and God-fearing children is paramount.” George Barna (Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions)

Raising children who grow up loving Jesus and wanting to serve God is a goal of most churches and many parents. Several denominations and organisations that produce resources to support ministries are working together to try and improve the materials that are available for churches to encourage and equip parents and for family use at home. Help us understand what is needed by taking part in our survey.

I’m also delighted that George Barna will be one of the key speakers, addressing this issue, at the Children’s Ministry and Family Ministry conference next January. Bookings will open in August – more on that in the next email in two weeks.

September is a popular time for churches to offer parenting courses. The Family Time courses: Parenting Children and Parenting Teenagers are ideal for outreach to families that you are in contact with through toddler groups, Messy Church, similar fresh expressions or just to advertise in your locality. Revolutionary Parenting is a course for families that want to explore how to build a solid foundation of faith in their children. “

Good Childhood Manifesto

The Children’s Society has issued a Manifesto for a Good Childhood in which they are identifying three key areas that political parties ought to put at the centre of children’s well-being.

You can download the six page document here.

Child in the midst

A theology of childhood and salvation is not constructed, line by line, from propositions. It rests on the works of God on the soil of Palestine. It is not a metaphor in the midst of them, but a flesh and blood child that stuns the disciples inro silence. Jesus does not identify himself with the image of the child but with the real child.

John Pridmore in Through the Eyes of a Child (p.193)

This week

• Play Altars
• Take This!
• St Nicholas’ Day
• Harvest Ideas
• Hands up!
• Children and Parents
• Off the Bookshelf

Play Altars
Maria Montessori knew that children needed to be able to play in order to learn. As part of her original Montessori Classroom she had a children’s chapel – with child-sized altar, lectern and pews. Here’s an American blogger who has a Play Altar in her Children’s Church. An idea worth considering?

Take This!
Take This! is a monthly puzzle sheet written and produced by the children of Hexham Abbey for distribution to children across the country. They have created a special Year of the Child 2009 edition. If you’d like to get hold of copies for your church or school, all the details are here.

St Nicholas’ Day
Sunday 6th December is St Nicholas’ Day – the patron saint of children! On that day the 2009 Godly Play Lecture will be given by John Pridmore in Newcastle Cathedral. But if you can’t get to that, why not keep that Sunday as a Year of the Child 2009 celebration in your church. There will be ideas and resources for services on the Year of the Child 2009 website.

Harvest Ideas
To help you with your planning for the autumn, here are some websites which are offering Harvest resources to use with children:

Must-Have Gifts
Download the catalogue and ask your group to choose what they would like to be able to give as a gift this Harvest. They’ll have to think practically about how the money can be raised – but that might produce some very innovative ideas!!!

World Vision
World Vision’s theme for 2009 is Food not Famine.

Christian Aid
Christian Aid are focussing on the drought in India.

Tear Fund
Tear Fund’s Make life flow resources are focussing on drought-stricken countries.

USPG
USPG’s focus is the Amazon Rainforest.

Water Aid
Water Aid has a range of materials for nursery, primary and secondary schools.

MRDF
The resources from the Methodist Relief and Development Fund focus on India.

CMS
CMS is focussing on Nepal

Together for a Season – Volume 3
And if you just want worship ideas without a hint of fund-raising, Together for a Season volume 3 has a whole section on Celebrating God’s Providence, including a Harvest Eucharist, a Rogatiotide walk and a Pagaent of the Seasons!

Hands Up!
For a good news read, take a look at the Evangelical Alliance’s report Young People Matter. 14 – 17 year olds spend an average of 4 hours a month volunteering, and if they are actively involved in a faith community they are likely to do much more. Teenagers are usually portrayed negatively in the press, so it’s good to read a corrective view!

Children and Parents
Last week I was at the excellent Changing Childhood Conference, hosted by the Diocese of Chichester, Chichester University and the Children’s Society. One of the key note speakers was Marcia Bunge, editor of The Child in Christian Thought and The Child in the Bible. One of her talks was about the relationship between parent and child, and the best family practices which help a child grow in the Christian faith. I’ve tracked down an on-line version of her handout if you’d like to see what she said. There’s a fuller version in the first chapter of The Vocation of the Child.

Off the Bookshelf

Lion Publishing
The latest Lion Hudson Publishing catalogue is now available online, featuring the books for children to be published this autumn. There are lots of new titles, and several reprints of old favourites, including The Three Trees and The Very Worried Sparrow.

The Lion Hudson Catalogue

A Youth Toolkit

The Children’s Society has produced ‘The Good Childhood® Youth Toolkit’ to help churches develop and implement their youth work ministry and help make childhood better for children and young people in their community.

Information included on the CD:

• Starting out – how to set up and manage a youth activity
• Sample guidance documents – safe practice and procedures
• for use in church
• Youth worker recruitment and employment –
• how to budget, advertise, recruit, and employ youth workers
• Volunteers – recruiting and supporting them
• Youth club resources – templates to assist in the day-to-day
• running of a youth group
• Session planning ideas – top tips for working with young people

The Good Childhood Youth Toolkit is a FREE resource, although a voluntary contribution of £4.99 would be appreciated. There are even free upgrades and additional resources once you register with them.

To order a copy of your interactive CD, call The Children’s Society on 0845 300 1128. To find out more information and leave your contact details visit http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/church

The Children’s Society is a leading children’s charity, driven by Christian values and committed to making childhood better for all children in the UK. By listening to and working with young people, you can help make a good childhood a reality in your community.

More information in the form of a pdf flyer can be downloaded here.

A Good Childhood

The Board of Education for Canterbury and Rochester Diocese came together today to deliver a conference on the Good Childhood Inquiry, which was published earlier this year. The book is available from Penguin Publishers and lots of resources to help schools, churches and practitioners use the material from The Children’s Society. It was an informative day for all with a wide representations from churches, schools and local government.

For those who attended today I have uploaded the three PowerPoint presentations for you. You can download them by right clicking and choosing ‘Save Target as’. You will need PowerPoint to access them.

CantRoch1

CantRoch2

CantRoch3

Child in the midst

• Listening to the Child
• Children’s Ministry in England
• Global children
• Childhood and Nature
• DCSF
• Off the Bookshelf

Listening to the Child

The Center for Children and Theology is an American site which focuses on the work of Sofia Cavaletti and the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Its BlogSpot records children’s responses to the stories they have heard. Take a look to be reminded again of the depth of a child’s spiritual life.

Children’s Ministry in England

A few weeks ago the Church Times devoted two pages to exploring the range of activities that are happening for children in Anglican churches. You can read the article here.

Global Children

Love it or loathe it, Facebook can lead you down some interesting roads of inquiry. I’m grateful to David Pritchard for pointing me in the direction of this article which focuses on children and theology in a global context.

Childhood and Nature

Genesis 1, Psalm 8, Psalm 104 – just three places in which the wonders of God’s world are extolled in scripture. But according to this report, children are having fewer chances to play outside and enjoy nature. Take advantage of the summer (and sun??) to let your children’s groups enjoy the natural world, and not just be cooped up inside! National Play Day might be a suitable time to get out and about!

DCSF

The latest Government reshuffle has produced a few changes in the Ministerial Team at the Department for Children, School and Families. Ed Balls MP remains Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, now with Dawn Primarolo as Minister for State for Children, Young People and Families and Baroness Delyth Morgan remaining Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families. You can see the whole line up (including their role descriptions!) on the DCSF website

Off the Bookshelf

THE LION BOOK OF PRAYERS TO READ AND KNOW

This is a lovely book which doesn’t stray into the `twee’ territory that children’s prayer books often do! Each section opens with a simple `why we pray this way’ spread, using biblical insights, and then leads into a selection of prayers, from praise through saying sorry, to blessings. Just right for using with under 7s.

The Lion Book of Prayers to Read and Know

By Sophie Piper

Pub. LionHudson ISBN: 978-0-7459-6147-7 £7.99

Child in the midst

…to all adults whether you have or have not children of your own: All children are our children. So, paraphrasing the words of Jesus: Let the children come to you. Bless them…not with things but with what is holy in you. And if you feel you’ve lost your sense of the sacred, then do yourself a favour: Walk with a child.

Gerard Pottebaum in To Walk With A Child

• Every Child Matters
• One body, many parts
• Inspired by God?
• Family Matters
• Changing Childhood
• Theology of children
• De Bono and the Bible
• Blogging Down Under
• Off the Bookshelf

Every Child Matters

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has revamped its DCFS Website. Now everything you might possibly want to know about government policy on children and young people can be accessed from one site!

One body, many parts

In many churches, it feels as though children do not have a genuine place – but Scripture teaches us that the body of Christ is not complete unless all the parts are present. Lucy Moore from BRF has written a reflective story to help children explore and think about the place they have in the body of Christ. It might be interesting to use it with the wider church community as well!

Inspired by God?

How do you understand the phrase `Inspired by God’ when applied to the Bible? Martyn Payne has written a thought provoking article exploring the idea, which might prove a useful discussion starter for your children’s leaders.

Family Matters

How can we help support families in the task of nurturing their children’s faith? Scripture Union have made a series of workshop ideas and articles freely available on their website to help do just that.

Changing Childhood

Chichester Diocese, in conjunction with Chichester University and the Children’s Society, are holding a Conference to mark Year of the Child 2009. Called Changing Childhood, it explores the relationship of children with church, society and culture. The draft programme is now published, so if you’re free 2 – 4th July, why not consider going along?

Theology of children

My thanks go to an Australian colleague for the next few articles. The first is a blog which links to seven theologians and their thoughts on the theology of the child. It’s a really useful site – EXCEPT all the theologians are male. Where are the women – Mercer, Yust, Nye, Richards, Miller-McLemore, Bunge? Anyone up for the challenge of creating a parallel site?

De Bono and the Bible

You may be familiar with Edward De Bono’s idea of Thinking Hats – a way of exploring ideas from several different angles. (If not, there’s a summary sheet here with the sort of questions that might be used.) This blog suggests using the technique to open up Bible exploration with older children.

Blogging Down Under

And this link to Don Stott’s blog offers a chance to explore some of the things that he’s used in his 30+ years of ministry with children.

Off the Bookshelf

TOGETHER FOR A SEASON – FEASTS AND FESTIVALS

From its opening essay on Living the Liturgy Together to the host of ideas for celebrating Harvest, Remembrance, Saints Days and Creation, Together for a Season offers exciting new possibilities for bringing all ages together in worship. A free CD-Rom offers the texts of services, illustrations, templates and colour photographs to inspire worship.

Together for a Season – Feasts and Festivals

Ed. Gill Ambrose

Pub. Church House Publishing ISBN: 978-0-7151-4064-2 £24.50

A CHILD SEES GOD

Most children hear Bible stories retold from Bible Story books, usually embellished or sanitised. So what might happen if they were read the story from the biblical text itself? Howard Worsley asked families with children of differing ages to do just that and to record the discussions that followed. Although I was frustrated by the brevity of the recorded discussions and author’s comments, it was fascinating to see familiar texts through the eyes of a child. Hopefully this book will encourage more people to offer children `the real thing’ alongside the `written for children’ versions.

A Child Sees God

By Howard Worsley

Pub. Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN: 978-1-84310-972-3 £14.99

Good Childhood Conference

Rochester and Canterbury Dioceses are hosting a special one day conference at the Ramada Hotel in Maidstone on the Good Childhood Inquiry.

This day is for local authority workers, clergy and all youth and children’s workers in the voluntary sector.

You can download the flyer here.

The crammer’s prayer

The Church of England website has uploaded lots of useful resources for school assemblies where young people are taking exams this summer. I have pulled out quite a few things, but you can see the whole page here.

Loving Lord, I pray:

for the will to do my best each day – exams or not;
to know myself, celebrating what I can do and working at what I need to;
using every part of each day well;
learning from the past in shaping my tomorrow, keeping at the heart of each day a belief that I am valued with the purpose to become the me you want me to be.

Let me learn well: reaching for my ambition; understanding what is important and believing in who I am and can be.

God of all time, we are in the midst of stressful times. Give us grace to see that it is the making of our success, the making of our characters, the making of our selves. We thank you for the gift of all that we are and all that we have the potential to be. Fill us with your spirit that we may grow into those people who are not afraid to try and not afraid to fail. And, loving God of all your people, give us grace to celebrate with all our classmates, families and friends, that as they fail or succeed, they are living, they are trying and they are growing into your perfect love, which casts out all fear.
Amen.

These two prayers are adapted from prayers available on the Collective Worship resource produced by the Culham Institute in association with the National Society.

Wayne Dixon, a schools worker for Scripture Union in Berkshire, has developed a presentation and related tips focused on his ‘Three P’s for Exams’:

Pray – For help, discipline, determination and peace

Prepare – Draw up a suitable revision timetable and stick to it

Perform – Break up revision periods. Learn the appropriate formulae

You can read the talk and find out much more on Wayne’s ‘Exam Attack’ website.

There is a wealth of practical advice on dealing with revision and exams available on the web, which you could find helpful in addition to material and guidance offered by your school or college. The BBC’s Bitesize series is one of the most well-known.

Resources for schools and youth groups

The Church of England has teamed up with the Culham Institute to offer a fresh set of ideas for collective worship (assemblies) dealing with preparing for exams, that could easily be tailored for Christian youth groups or Christian Union meetings.

Each collective worship reflection includes examples of famous people whose lives have reflected something of the theme, a Bible reference to use as a further illustration of encouragement, and links to further information. Read an overview here.

The individual reflections can be accessed by clicking on the titles below:

•Do your best; don’t give up

•If exams are hard for you, think of what you are good at doing too. Build on the whole ‘you’.

•What you do now is important; remember it’s one stage of life

•If you’ve got regrets for not working harder – learn from it

•If there’s too much to remember, focus on what’s important

Other Christian resources to help plan large or small group sessions can be found on Scripture Union’s website, arranged by age group and level of church background.

Teachers and others involved in leading collective worship in schools may also find the exam preparation assembly plan available on the Teachernet website a useful template.

Finally, here are two prayers for teachers thinking about the pressures on their class at this time:

I don’t suppose you have time for this, Lord, but I am nervous. Not for myself, but for my class. Today they have that test, Lord; the one that seems to determine their future. They have worked hard; so have I! They deserve to do well. It should not be a problem, but… well, you know this lot, Lord. They can forget things that normally they know, like their names and the date!

O Lord, they are in there, and there is nothing I can do but worry.
Keep them calm, Lord.
Keep them focused.
Let them do their best.
At this moment they really need your help.
Amen.

Lord, this is a key day, for my students and my school.
They need your help, and during the day we may all get so tied up in what we are doing that we forget to ask again.
So be with them, Lord, support and guide.
You are all-seeing and all-knowing.
Today, Lord, help us to show them your peace.
Today, Lord, be the calm in their hearts.
Amen.

These prayers are adapted from Pocket Prayers for Teachers, David W Lankshear, National Society/Church House Publishing, 2002