Sunday School session

Transcription

1 Rugby World Cup 2015 Sunday School session Aim: to explore the importance of working together as a team as a church family; to think about the different talents we have and the roles we can play. Bible: 1 Corinthians 12:12 31 When Paul wrote his letters to the church in Corinth, it was clear that they were struggling for unity and direction. It seems that they were not serving each other, but rather they were doing things that hurt other members of the church. Paul takes the time to explain to them the way a church should be one that cares for its members, one that values each and every member, one that dwells with love at its centre. But what does this mean for a children s group? Well, we should be encouraging children to take their full part in the body of Christ, and we should be advocates for them in our wider church community. Children are as much of a part of a church community as any other group and should be able to take full part. In this session, we ll be helping children discover this, as well as discover what skills and gifts they might have to contribute to the body of Christ. From the ideas below, choose your Bible activity first. Then select introductory and response activities to fit the Bible activity, as well as your group s preferred learning styles and the resources you have available. Try to do one from each section, but if time is short, go straight to the Bible. Introductory activities 1.Play Touch or Tag rugby You will need: volunteers to teach the group to play touch or Tag rugby, suitable rugby ball. If you have rugby players in your congregation, invite them to your session to teach the children to play touch or tag rugby. This is a non-contact version of the game, the basics of which can be found in the ''How to play touch and tag rugby'' document within the resources for ''COMMUNITY''. Having a go at this game is a good way of helping children see the kind of teamwork involved in rugby, or any other team sport, and the importance of working together towards a shared goal. Afterwards, quiz the rugby players about why they play, what position they play and how they support the others in the team.

2 2. Rugby teamwork You will need: video clips of rugby players in action, a couple of willing rugby players (optional) Before the session, search the internet for video clips of passages of play in rugby which show great teamwork. The best tries are often great team tries, and it might be worth looking for those. Show the clips and chat about how the players played well together. Ask the group what makes good teamwork. If you ve invited some rugby players to come to your group, they could talk you through the clips. Then quiz the rugby players about why they play, what position they play and how they support the others in the team. 3. Mousetrap You will need: Mousetrap game Use this activity if you have a smaller group and/or no rugby players in your congregation! Play Mousetrap together, and as you play, point out how all the bits of the mechanism fit together. Ask the children what might happen if one of the pieces was missing? Comment that it s the same in sport, particularly in team games. All the players play their own part and all fit together to make a team. Ask the children if they play any team games what part do they play in the team? Bible activities 1 Staggered reading You will need: Bibles (or 1 Corinthians 12:12 31 printed on paper), paper and felt-tip pens, large sheet of paper and Give out the Bibles or copies of the Bible passage. Read verses to the children and ask them to draw what is happening in these verses. They might draw a foot with a face, saying they re not a hand. Or an ear walking away because they re not an eye. Have fun with the drawings, and as you work, ask the children these questions: What could we do if we were just an eye or an ear? I wonder what this means. I wonder what you think about these verses of the Bible. Go on to read verses Think back to the game that you played or video that you watched in the first part of your session. Ask the children what might have happened if some members of the rugby team said to the others that they weren t needed, or if parts of the Mousetrap game were

3 missing. Would the team/game work? Comment that even the player who seems the most unimportant is vital to the team (or that even the smallest piece of the Mousetrap is still very important), just as every bit of our body is important to the way we work. Finally, read verses and ask the children to underline all the different jobs that are mentioned. Say that the church is often called the body of Christ and that s what Paul, who wrote this letter, is talking about. Think of as many different roles in the church as you can and write or draw them on your large sheet of paper. Include all the roles that the children underlined too. Choose one of the jobs and ask what would happen if everyone in the church decided to do that one job! Choose another role and ask what might happen if no one did that job. By now, the children should get the idea of what Paul is talking about. Chat together about the importance of all the roles, including roles that the children play. Value and affirm the children in the roles that they play in the church. 2 Interviews You will need: pieces of A4 paper with church roles written on (eg vicar, cleaner, pianist, children s worker, tea maker), Bibles (or 1 Corinthians 12:12 31 printed on paper), volunteers willing to come to your group and talk about their role in church (ask people with a variety of roles to come along) Before the session prepare your list of roles within a church and write each one on a sheet of A4 paper. Spread them out in front of the children and ask them to put them into an order of importance. Is one more important than another? Try to get consensus among your group, and allow they re all as important as each other as a response too. Then go on to ask if you could get rid of one of these jobs and the church still function. Once you have made your decision on both questions, read 1 Corinthians 12:12 31 together. Go back to your decisions on the importance of roles. Do the children want to change their minds after reading the passage? (You may need to explain that the church is sometimes called the body of Christ as we do Jesus work.) Invite your volunteers to come and talk with the children. Ask them to explain what they do in the church to the children and then encourage the children to ask any questions. If the children don t ask it themselves, ask the volunteers what they think would happen if they didn t do their job, or if everyone in the church tried to their job (and only their job).

4 Help the children think about the fact that, just as the body needs all its bits to function, so the church does too. And we all have our roles to play. If any of the children express a wish to get involved in any roles in church, make sure you can make the arrangements for that to happen, if appropriate. When we re talking about bodies needing parts to function properly, we need to be sensitive to those who might have some additional physical needs. Be considerate and inclusive in your language. WATCH: Chris Elder talks on Teamwork and Gifts at There are many other different topics spoken about on the engagemediahub. Check it out to find more. Response activities 1 Finding your gifts You will need: long sheets of paper (lining paper is ideal), felt-tip pens Chat together about the different gifts we have. If you have rugby players still with you, ask them what their skills are in rugby tackling, kicking, catching, running? Give each child a long sheet of paper (slightly longer than they are tall). In pairs or small groups encourage them to draw round each other on the paper, and then to write their names on the top of their outline. Spread the outlines around the room. Ask everyone to wander round and write in people s outlines the things that they are good at, and the skill that they have. You might like to play some music as they do so. By the end, make sure that everyone has things written inside their outline. (As an alternative to the long lining paper you could use a flipchart or even an A3 sheet of paper and ask the child to draw round their hand or foot and write their name clearly on it). Once everyone has written all that they want, guide the children back to their own outline and give them some time to read the comments. If you ve got a small group, do this all together, if you have more children, split into smaller groups with a leader with each one. Chat together about the things written on the outlines. Try to draw out what gifts each child has and how that might fit into the body of Christ the church. Finally, point out that we re all different. Just as rugby teams are made up of players with different jobs, so the church is too. Pray together, asking God to help the children develop and use these gifts.

5 2 Thanks and please You will need: two colours of Post-it notes, pens or pencils Read verses 24b 26 to the children again. Explain that, because you are all part of the body of Christ, you should celebrate everyone s successes and pray/care for those people who are hurting. Share out the Post-it notes and pens/pencils. Ask the children to write things they want to say thank you to God for on one colour of Post-it, and the names of those people or countries /world situations they d like to pray for on the other colour. Spend some time writing down these prayer requests and then stick all the Post-its to the floor or a wall. Encourage the children to pick one of the Post-its in turn and prayer for it, either out loud or in their head. Give everyone in the group a turn and then pray a general prayer for all the things written down both thanks and please. Encourage the children to take one Post-it home to pray about. Assure the group that you and the other leaders will pray for the remaining requests. 3 Make a team You will need: large sheet of green paper, rugby shirts cut out of the same colour paper, felt-tip pens Give out the paper rugby shirts and felt-tip pens. Encourage the children to personalise their rugby shirt. As you work, chat about the Bible passage you read and what the children thought. Answer any question they have (or promise to find out an answer if you don t know) and emphasise that as a church, you re like a team, all working to tell people about Jesus, look after those in your community, become more like Jesus and teach each other about him. Once you ve all finished your shirts, place them in rugby formation on the green sheet of paper (the rugby field). Let the children choose where they want to play. Comment that you re all different (the decoration of the shirts) but that you all play for the same team (your shirts are all the same basic colour). Pray together, asking God to help you all play your part in God s team.

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