Children and Families - Scripture Union NZ

**This is episode one of a serial story, leading right up to Easter. This story is written to share as a family or with your church community. You can find the rest of the story by clicking on the 'Easter' ta b above. You will find the pi ctures to be downloaded, as well as a little Easter booklet to print and share .  ____________________________ Step with me back in time, over 2000 years back. Look around you. The land is dotted with olive trees, their silvery foliage swaying with the gentle breeze. It's warm, not too hot. The full on blaze of summer hasn't arrived yet, but the harshness of winter is fading.  The fields are tinged with green, with the olive trees providing shade for weary travellers. You sit down on one of the many rocks scattered all over the fields. They are everywhere! And sh epherds have used them to create walls and holding pens for animals, and the structure of their simple houses.  The journey towards Easter is just beginning. 

This page is the right spot to find all the resources for series one, books 1-5.  Click on the links below to access our dropbox folders, with all the resources you need. Crafts, waiata (songs), karakia (prayers), story telling ideas and great suggestions for how to set up your room with stations.  Start with the 'Read First' book, as this gives you some important details into how the programme works and some of the thinking behind it. Click here to download it. The programmes: T here is a programme for each book. You will find the programme file, as well as lots of additional material to go w ith it.    Click on the link s below to access th ese programmes:   Book #1 - Te Powhiri - The Welcome Book #2 - Te Pahi the Adventurer Book #3 - Ruatara and the new Beginning Book #4 - Patuone the Peacemaker Book #5 - Elizabeth Colenso the Teacher

An All Age Palm Sunday Service Use your imagination to enter into the story of Palm Sunday.  This service is a great way to encourage your whole church to enter into the event of Palm Sunday. It begins by setting the scene as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, providing helpful background details. It also includes: - Role Play: imagine you are one of the people in the crowd that day. Why have you come to see Jesus? - Waving of palm branches and laying coats along the front of the church.  - Bible readings  - A reflection activity using rocks, based on this verse:   “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”  This All Age service is designed so that people can be as involved as they want to be. It provides depth as well as interaction, seeking to bring to life the story in a creative way. You can download the file for FREE by clicking here. Feel free to adapt it to fit your church context. I would love to hear how it goes.