Archive for Children
The ongoing adventures of ALF!
Posted by: | CommentsALF Has been interesting in the last couple of weeks. The group Dynamics has changed as some of the older children have moved up and are now closing in on being teenager’s. So the average age has dropped. This has made the material we have been using not the most suitable. We did, however, get to the end of ALF 1 by recapping in a mighty craft exercise!
The vision was to create something that showed a snapshot of God’s plan with 4 – 9 year olds! Not the easiest task in the world but as you can see we had a remarkable outcome:
The photo shows, from left to right: Creation, God’s Promise, Birth (Star), Death & Resurrection. This took out kids 2 sessions to complete. And they were all really pleased with the out come.
Watch this space for further updates on the future of ALF at RCC.
Thumb Prints
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Originally uploaded by rochfordcc
Last Sunday we looked at the fact that God has made each of us unique. We showed this by creating a thumb print from each of our hands and looking at the lines. Sometimes you think there are similarities in the patterns but it was never the same.
This has followed from last weeks ALF that looked at Gods Creation.
A Prayer Diary for ALF
Posted by: | CommentsAs you now are aware we are using the ALF material with your young people. If you are not sure what ALF is then please click here.
I thought that it would be a good idea to give a look forward to each session when it is happening and what the session is about. That way you can be praying specifically for our children. If you have any questions just post a comment.
Session 2 – Who is God? (2) Starting 27th Jan
Aim of the session:
To help the children to understand that God is involved in people’s lives and that He has a plan to mend His relationship with the world.
Introduction:
Many children may come from home situations where God is seldom mentioned. They may have very little God awareness and do not imagine that God would want to be involved in their lives.
This session will help them to see that they could involve God in their lives if they realised that He was there and wants to know them. He loves them!
Session 3 – Who is Jesus? (1) Starting 10th Feb
Aim of the session:
To help the children understand that Jesus is God with us and that He was a king who was very different from every other king – He came to repair our relationship with God.
Introduction:
We now begin to look more closely at Jesus. In sessions 1 + 2 the children learned that God made us and that even though we often do things wrong God has a plan to mend His relationship with us. It is through Jesus that this is done.
In this session the children will be encouraged to think about how special Jesus is and then in session 4 to learn how He mends our relationship with God.
Session 4 – Who is Jesus? (2) Starting 16th March
Aim of the session:
To help the children to see that Jesus is God’s rescue plan and that, only because He died on a cross and was raised from the dead, people can have a friendship with God.
Introduction:
We now begin to look more closely at Jesus. In sessions 1 + 2 the children learned that God made us and that even though we often do things wrong God has a plan to mend His relationship with us.In session 3 children learned that Jesus was ‘God become a man’.
In this session the children will be encouraged to recognise that Jesus did something incredible, something that nobody else could have done – repaired the broken relationship with God.
Session 5 – Who am I? (1) Starting 30th March
Aim of the session:
To show the group, through the life of Paul, that God changes people. Also that by building our lives on God and His word we can have a secure foundation.
Introduction:
Although Jesus lived a long time ago he is not just a historical figure. What He did all those years ago was really important because it changed people lives. Paul was changed by Jesus and aftrewards was used by Jesus to change the lives of many people all over the world. Jesus still changes lives today.
Session 6 – Who am I? (2) On 13th April
Aim of the session:
To help children discover how the story of God’s rescue plan relates to them and to give them an opportunity to respond.
Introduction:
Children have spent the past 5 sessions thinking about God, Jesus and themselves. In this final session there is an opportunity for them to decide to follow Jesus themselves.
The ALF (About Life and Faith) World
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Originally uploaded by rochfordcc
On Sunday, many of you may have noticed me walking through the church with the world on my shoulders. Well quite literally i did!
As per my previous post we have started the ALF project with our children and in our second week we continued our theme of “Who is God”. Children today may not have seriously thought about where we come from. If we begin to help them to think about following Jesus we have to begin at the very beginning and encourage them to consider that life is not an accident but a gift.
Creating this world was to help them by giving a visual reminder of this weeks memory point: “God Made us for a purpose”.
ALF – About Life & Faith. New Childrens work focus
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Over the coming year we are going to be all using some material for the under 11’s called ALF.
What is ALF?
Well ALF is a character in the DVD that the Children will be watching and an acronym for About Life and Faith. It is a six session discovery course for children and is the first part of our journey with our children this year
ALF – About Life & Faith
ALF, About Life & Faith, is a discovery course for children aged 7 – 11.
ALF focuses on discovery, enabling leaders to share the Gospel with children who may never have heard the Good News before. Through DVD, games, craft and fun activities the children will look at:
• Who is God?
• Who is Jesus?
• Who am I?
ALF helps children to understand the Gospel and gives them an opportunity to respond!
ALF 2
ALF 2 focuses on discipleship, helping children to take the first steps in following Jesus. Through DVD, games, craft and fun activities the children will look at:
• Getting Started
• Living for God
• Kingdom Living
ALF 2 helps children to know what it means to follow Jesus.
Each session will be broken into 2 parts. The first part I will do during the Children’s Church morning and will include the DVD section (I have this set up already for the worship, so makes sense to do this part then). The following week will be the concluding part of the session and will include, games, illustrations and crafts on the subject you are looking at, and will include a Memory Card to give at the end for each child.
