Children and Families - Scripture Union NZ

Bibleworld Museum and Discovery Centre Andrew Ramsbottom was in Rotorua recently so he headed along with his boys to check out the Bibleworld Museum and Discovery Centre. Bibleworld is packed full of models, hands on activities and over 70 ancient artifacts. Andrew and the boys spent most of their time dressing up in centurion outfits!  Bibleworld is excited announce the installation of an exciting new model. This hand crafted model has been over a year in the making, and enables guests to explore the city of Jerusalem as it was at the time when Jesus walked its streets, teaching and healing. This unique model is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.  They would be grateful if you could help spread the word about Bibleworld among your contacts. And for the remainder of 2015, they are offering FREE ENTRY to Bibleworld. Opening Hours:  Friday 11-3pm  Saturday and Sunday 1-3pm  (Guided tours and out of hours booki...

When I popped into the local church to visit their children’s programme, the big hall was almost empty. A small group were gathered over in the corner. They looked like they were having fun - they were playing a game and it was loud and energetic. But there didn’t seem to be very many children. Where was everyone? The sad news is that small groups like this one are a common sight in many churches on Sundays. SUNZ has been conducting some research about churches and children and the research shows that in New Zealand, a typical Sunday programme for children will have 20 children or less in its primary aged programme.   There are exceptions of course. There are a few stand-out big churches. But most churches, most of the time, have less than 20 children. [i] That’s sad especially when you think about the number of children in New Zealand. We have over 750000 children [ii] and only around 10% of them will be found in church on a Sunday. These are sobering...

Children's Ministry Survey 2015 We conducted a Children's Ministry Survey in 2014, in which we investigated what is happening in children’s ministry across Aotearoa, New Zealand. We gathered responses from a cross section of churches around the country, different regions, different sizes and different denominations. We are making these findings freely available. You can download a free ebook here on our website: www.sunz.org.nz Or for hard copies contact our Wellington office on   0508 423 836 or way2go@sunz.org.nz We will be following this up with more indepth analysis of the survey over the coming months. Keep your eyes out on this blog for these articles. A great way to do this is to subscribe to the blog. That way you will be notified when a new article is posted. To do this fill in your details on the right hand side of the blog. 

“The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a parochial school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples, over which the teacher had written a sign that said, “Take only ONE. God is watching.” Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of warm chocolate chip cookies. And over this plate, a child had written a note: “Take all you want. God is watching the apples.”   Sandy Eisenberg Sasso. Theology is a daunting kind of a word. It conjures up university lectures and large dust covered books filled with long words. But theology is the study of God. And we do theology all the time.   We do theology every time we talk about God .  Every time we ask, ‘I wonder what that means?’ when we open the Bible. Every time we ask 'Why?' Every time we witness miracle or mystery. Theology is not reserved for those with bookshelves filled with NT Wright and Hebrew textbooks.We are theologians, and our children a...

WAY2GO Children's Ministry Conferences 2015 ...we have lift off!  Cheryl Harray and Jill Kayser from Kidsfriendly We had a great day in Invercargill on Saturday, sharing with children's ministry workers from all around the Invercargill and Southern region. Jill Kayser, this year's keynote speaker is exploring faith formation - raising BOLD disciples for Christ. Our workshops are packed with practical and inspirational ideas, and the food is great too! Check out Scripture Union's facebook page for more of the action. We would love to see you at our Wellington (23 May) or Auckland (6 June) conference.  Register today at www.sunz.org.nz

I have just created a quick game to play with my Bible in School's class tomorrow. It's a simple fishing game, ideal for my Year 1-2 class. I like to start my lesson with a bit of an activity to get the kids up and moving. This isn't always easy in a classroom with 30 children,  but it is worth it. You will need: Print out the sheet of fish ( use this image below or click here to email me and I will send you the file). Cut up the sheet so you have enough fish for 2 or 3 per child in your class. I found these images on Open Clipart, a free clipart site. Click here to check it out.    How to play the game: When you first arrive at your class hide the fish all around the classroom.  At the beginning of the lesson tell the children we are going fishing!  They need to go fishing around the classroom.  They can only find one fish at a time and bring it up to the front and blue tack it onto the whiteboard (or a sheet of paper with a net drawn on...

This is a craft I created for my Bible in Schools class. They are 6 year olds, so I needed something quick and simple. It is easy and it looks very effective. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out! To make this craft you will need: A simple template of an Easter egg card. Here are two designs to choose from: 'Happy Easter - Ngā mihi o Te Aranga' 'Jesus is alive - Happy Easter' Print double sided, on the short edge.   - You will need one sheet per child. If you have young children you will need to cut out the Easter egg shape on the front, otherwise let the children do it. - You need strips of different coloured paper and ribbon. I also include some strips with 'Jesus is alive!' printed on them. You could handwrite these, or invite the children to.  Work on about 8 strips per child. - Each child needs a glue stick. All the children need to do is cover the egg shape with glue and lay their strips across it so no white spaces ...