Martin Guptill did it. Should we?

By Annette Osborne -

If you are a cricket fan you will already know there is a World Cup going on. You will already know that over the weekend Martin Guptill hit a cricket ball out of the park, literally. Someone had to go outside to retrieve it.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I place pressure on myself to 'knock it out of the park'. When I get the opportunity to run an All Age service (to have all ages worshiping together) I feel the need to make it AMAZING!  I am sure I am not alone in this.  The opportunity doesn't come around that often, and high expectations abound. It is something different, so to win over those who aren't sure 'different' is good, it needs to be AMAZING!

That's why this article by Beth Barnett made such sense to me.  As we approach Easter, we often have more opportunities to have all ages worshiping together. So, I recommend you read this article. It's one of the best, and it is packed with practical and thought provoking suggestions. 

Here's the link:
 http://www.premierchildrenswork.com/Past-Issues/2014/December-2014-January-2015/All-age-Worship



 "The large-scale, super-sensational family worship events of the past need to be shelved. Multi-sensory, multiple intelligence, multi-modal, multi-vocal gatherings don’t have to be complicated, huge extravaganzas. Think of the iconic pot-luck supper. Everyone brings what they can. There is plenty. It’s a little quirky, but we learn about each other’s culture and ways of doing life."

 Beth Barnett is a child theology author and children’s and families ministry resource writer. She lives in Victoria, Australia.



Resist the pressure to have to 'knock it out of the park'! 

 




Annette Osborne is one of the Auckland members of the Children and Families team. She is in the middle of helping to plan an All Age service for Palm Sunday. Does anyone have a donkey?

Comments

  1. Annette Osborne26 March 2015 at 10:17

    It's great to see all the conversation this article has sparked on facebook. The issue of how to have all ages worshiping together is obviously something people are seeing as very important. If anyone has good resources or articles to share on this topic then we would love you to let us know so we can share them on the blog.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12. Jesus has his first visitors.

By Annette Osborne -
Image
When a new baby is born, everyone wants to visit. People bring gifts and they take photographs. When Jesus was a baby some of the first visitors to meet him were these young guys who looked after sheep for a living. Some of them stayed in the fields to make sure the sheep we re okay, and a group of them travellled into Bethlehem to find this baby that the angels told them about.  This is a photograph of a painting of the shepherds. In this photograph the shepherd is an older man. Can you see how he carries the little lamb safe on his shoulders? They would have been a bit smelly. They lived out in the fields, with sheep for company. No showers, no soap and probably no change of clothes. But that doesn’t matter to God. You see, the Christmas story is full of people who weren’t famous or grea t leaders or seen as important. That’s what make it so amazing. God sent angels to tell the shepherds about the saviour of the world. Not Herod, not Augustus. Shepherds.  Do you think t
Read more

The Three Kings by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

By Annette Osborne -
Image
What a beautiful poem to read this Christmas, (despite the fact we don't know that there were three wise kings, nor do we know their names). This would make a great addition to an All-Age service, or as part of a church service during Advent. Find someone in your congregation with a great reading voice. You might even like to have them sit in a comfy arm chair with a lamp for light.  For extra drama, soak a little frankincense or myrrh oil onto cotton-wool balls and pass these out before you read the poem. Let people smell the spice of the wise kings gifts, as they listen to the poem, and take home the cotton-wool ball as a reminder.  The Three Kings  By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  Three Kings came riding from far away, Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar; Three Wise Men out of the East were they, And they travelled by night and they slept by day, For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star. And when they came to Jerusalem, Herod the Great, who had heard this thing, Se
Read more

Waitangi Day

By Annette Osborne -
Image
Te Kawenata o Waitangi (the Covenant of Waitangi) The Treaty of Waitangi  signed 6 Feb 1840 “Te Kawenata o Waitangi is the name Māori gave to the Treaty of Waitangi. It means, the ‘Covenant of Waitangi’, and reflects the influence of the gospel on New Zealand history. The signing of the Treaty was not simply a contract but a covenant, in the Biblical sense of the word.” (Mark Grace, The Gospel and the Treaty of Waitangi, 2014) Waitangi Day is a great opportunity to reflect on our history as a nation, but also the part that Christians played in this historic event. Here are some ideas you might like to use in your Sunday School or children’s programme or together with all ages in your church services. Click on the links below to view and download free resources. We are keen to add to this col lection, so if you have an idea or activity we would love you to share it w ith us. Email: annette.o@sunz.o rg.nz A few main points:  Click here for a brief overview of the Tre
Read more