FACE 20

A world mission resource for all-age church events

www.bmsworldmission.org/face

Easter chubby bunny

You will need: : marshmallows, two copies of a simple version of the Easter story

How to use FACE The main theme explored in this issue is Easter. It is suitable to use in an all-age event with the aim of exploring Easter and the new life that Jesus brought through his death and resurrection over 2,000 years ago and still does today! Pages 1, 2 and 3 contain information to include when all ages are together in a service.

Page 4 contains additional information for adults, children and young people to explore the issue further. It includes references to downloadable information from www.bmsworldmission.org/face

Bible verses explored • John 11: 25-26 • John 3: 16 • John 10: 10 • Matthew 25: 25-30 • Mark 15 • Mark 14-16

Ideas for songs • Freely, freely Carol Owens © 1972 Bud John Songs/EMI Christian Music Publishing

• Rejoice, rejoice Graham Kendrick © 1983 Kingsway Thankyou Music

• Lord I lift your name on high

Ask your congregation for two volunteers who can read. Give them each a simple version of the Easter story. Ask them to start reading it aloud at the same time to the congregation for all to hear the wonderful story of Easter! However, after each sentence give each of them a marshmallow that they have to put in their mouth and keep it there whilst they keep reading. It should quickly get to the point where they are unable to tell the story/ people hear the story.

Ask your congregation what things can get in the way of the true meaning of Easter at this time of year?

E-Bunny A skit to show how many people miss out on the true meaning of Easter You will need: E-Bunny skit – (© 2011, Sharon Kay Chatwell. www.SundaySchool-Center.com) downloaded from www.bmsworldmission.org/face Follow this by asking your congregation to read John 3: 16 aloud, together and end by saying “AMEN”.

Rick Founds © 1989 Maranatha! Music

• Thine be the glory Edmond Budry © 1925 World Student Christian Federation

• I really want to worship you my Lord Noel Richards© 1985 Kingsway Thankyou Music

Read John 11: 2526 and explain that it is very important that this powerful message is not lost amongst all the sweets and chocolates as it still has the power to set people free from sin and death.

© Janet Beasley (JLB Creatives)

An activity to show how the story of Easter can be distorted when we focus on sweets instead of our Saviour

The great gif t of Easter is hope – C h hope tha ristian t makes u have con fidence in s God, in his ult imate triu mph, and in h is goodn ess and love, wh ich noth ing can shake.

Basil C H ume

© rutty

©Ian Britton

Issue 20: Easter

ion rrect resu life e h T tion s my give nd direc y t a n g rtu i nin mea the oppo matter o and ver n stances. art o to st y circum tm tt wha rt Fla Robe

Let every man and wom count him an self immorta l. Let him catch the revelatio n of Jesus in his resurr ection.

Let him say “Christ is not merely, risen,” b ut “I shall rise ”.

Phillips Brooks

1

Eggciting Easter

Do not abando n yourse despair lves to the Eas . We are te and ha r people llelujah is our son g.

An activity to teach your congregation about why eggs are a symbol of Easter

Pope Jo hn Pau l II

You will need: one unwrapped Easter egg, PowerPoint of ‘Eggceptional quiz’ downloaded from www.bmsworldmission.org/face Do the egg quiz with your church so your congregation understands more about why eggs are used as symbols at this time of year.

(Hold up Easter egg) Ask people what is needed to make an egg like the one you are holding up. Hopefully someone will say ‘a mould’ – if they don’t, explain that a mould is needed to make the shape of the egg. Explain that in life many people have been forced into moulds that shape them – told they are poor, not clever, ill, naughty, cant sing, successful, unloved, sporty, pretty. Some of these moulds are good but many are bad and stop people living as freely as the individuals that God intended them to be.

Ask a child to come up and take the egg – ask them to share the egg with some of their friends but they are not allowed to break it.

Ask if this is possible?

Explain that the egg needs to be broken in order to share the goodness of the chocolate, just as we need to “crack open” the Easter story and share it with others so they get to share in the goodness and hope and promise of new life that Christ has given us.

God sent his only son to break the mould and free people from sickness, injustice, hunger, feeling unloved etc and every other thing that may trap us. Jesus said in John 10: 10 “…I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”.

out pells re s r e t Eas y, the ra . t e beau of new lif y t u bea

ordon SDG

Jesus broke the mould! He mixed with people in society that were ignored and seen as bad, he healed on the Sabbath and he rose from the

© vanherdehaage

dead! Ask the volunteer to break the egg into lots of pieces so the gift of chocolate can be shared around.

Ask your congregation to think out two things: • How they can break away from the moulds that they have been set in and be free to be the people God intended them to be.

• How we should break the mould as Christians as Jesus did and share the good news of his resurrection with others.

The Real Easter Egg The Real Easter Egg is very different from most of the Easter eggs that people will be getting this year. It has broken the mould! It doesn’t just offer chocolate but the meaning of Easter on the box, which reads:

The real meaning of Easter

Easter is all about cute bunnies, fluffy chicks and eating too much chocolate, right? Well, not quite. We happen to think it’s a bit more meaningful than that.

That’s because billions of people all over the world believe that Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, then rose again three days later… on Easter Sunday.

Actually, many believe that chocolate eggs represent the boulder that sealed his tomb. And with eggs being thought of as a symbol of hope and new life, the custom grew where people exchanged gifts of chocolate at Easter.

So now you know.

Just think… when you give someone The Real Easter Egg you’re not just giving them a delicious chocolate treat, you’re giving them something much more meaningful.

To buy your own Real Easter eggs go to www.realeasteregg.co.uk

2

An is wh d this a prom t he has ised us etern al lif – e.

1 Joh n 2: 25

Change someone’s life An activity to help BMS World Mission bring new life to more poor and vulnerable people around the world You will need: two cardboard boxes, a wrapped bar of chocolate, BMS stories downloaded from www.bmsworldmission.org/face Before the service prepare three different people, of different ages, to read out a BMS story for this point of the service.

Explain that each of these stories can encourage us that Jesus is still bringing new life to people today, over 2,000 years after e …I am th nd his resurrection, through a n o ti resurrec e one BMS and its supporters.

Th

the life. s in me lieve who be en though ev , e will liv oever and wh ; ie d y in me the g in believ lives by ver die... will ne 25-26 John 11:

After each story, ask your congregation how new life/hope is being brought to people?

Ask for a volunteer from the congregation. Ask them to put the cardboard boxes on their hands. Now ask them to try and unwrap the chocolate and eat it. After they have struggled for a while, ask the congregation: if the person has to keep the boxes on their hands, how the person would be able to eat this gift of food?

The answer is if someone else helps them. BMS and its supporters are helping people all over the world who cannot help themselves at this time – take the boxes off the volunteers hands and pass the boxes around. Ask your congregation to put in any loose change that they have that they wouldn’t miss, but could make a real difference to people all over the world who are struggling at this time.

Ask the children to look around their houses this week and collect any change they find and with their parents’ permission bring it to church next week

so that it can be given to the work of BMS. Ask a young person in your congregation to read Matthew 25: 25-30 and lead your congregation in a prayer to thank God for the BMS workers who serve others who do not know about the hope and promise of new life that comes from knowing Christ.

Throwing away our sin You will need: a laptop to play the video http://bit.ly/x1Ud0Z Ask your congregation to cup their hands and whisper into their hands all the sins of the past or present that weigh them down. Play the YouTube clip as they do this so no one can hear. Ask them to take this time as they keep their hands cupped, to say sorry to God for their sins and thank him for sending his son Jesus to die on the cross for their sins – no matter how big or small.

When the video is done say the following prayer aloud.

Before you start reading it explain that at the end of the prayer you will say “in Jesus name I pray” and invite everyone to shout as loud as they can “Amen”. When they shout this, tell them to throw their hands up in the air as a sign that Christ’s death and resurrection has released them from their sins.

Heavenly Father, I know that I have done things that are wrong. I have not followed your commandments and I have done things that have separated me from you. I am truly sorry for what I have done. Please forgive me. Thank you for sending d so d o G For e worl your only son to die for me that I e h t on loved gave his at may be forgiven and given a new life h ,t he in you. Send your Holy Spirit to help that only Son in him and believes t have me obey you and do your will for u hb ever the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I who ot peris fe. li ln pray – AMEN! shal eternal

Sermon suggestion Consider using this version of the Easter story told in a simple way for children, based on Mark 15 from http://bit.ly/xIIQGj After the video ask them:

What do you find amazing about the Easter story?

Is this story still relevant today? How?

How could you say no?

A time of reflection You will need: lyric sheets printed out from http://bit.ly/zkmX9e and a laptop to play http://bit.ly/zZBpj3 Give each member of your congregation a copy of the lyrics and ask people to read them as you play the song from here, focus on an image of the cross or close their eyes as they listen to the song.

3: 16 John

3

Explore further in groups ALL AGESIN SMALL GROUPS

Practical action

A cross can be a very arresting image – so why not see if you can put one up in a prominent location in your community (you will need to seek the correct permissions for this) to remind the wider community of the Easter story? What about in the middle of a roundabout, in a shop window, on some local farmland or at a bus stop/train station?

During Holy Week you could leave the cross quite bare – maybe simply a crown of thorns resting on the top of it – then on Easter Day you can transform your cross and decorate it with colourful ribbons/flowers etc and really go to town with making this dark, depressing, rugged cross a thing of beauty and celebration. You may even want to do your Easter service outside by this cross so more people in the community may join in and see you celebrating.

CHILDREN

Egg-plosive message! activity to teach your group about the great 10 Ansurprise of Easter ou will need: a children’s Bible, eggs (hollowed Y out), small pieces of paper, coloured pens Carefully poke two holes in an egg, one at each end, and blow out the contents (make enough of these for your group beforehand).

After it has dried inside, take a lot of 1/4 inch wide slips of paper © themonnie and write on them phrases such as, “Jesus loves you”, “Jesus died for you”, “Jesus lives” and so on.

Thread the slips of paper into the egg. You can get lots of them inside.

Ask the children what they think of at Easter. Many will say, chocolate, eggs and some will make the right connection and say Jesus.

Read the Easter story in Mark chapters 14-16 from a childen’s Bible.

Hold the egg and talk about how the egg is an Easter symbol as it reminds us of new life as Jesus rose from the dead so that we too could have new life. Then say “If anyone loves Jesus, put your hand up and I’ll smash this egg on my head”. The children’s faces will be a mixture of horror and glee! Imagine their surprise when you do it and the egg contains, not a raw egg, but messages that tell the Easter story – what a surprise.

Explain that no one expected Jesus to rise from the dead – but this wonderful surprise brought a great message of hope and love that still needs to be told today. Help the children make their own eggs full of Easter messages that they can take home and keep and remember the messages that they hold. If time, they can carefully decorate the outside of their eggs with the coloured pens.

YOUNG PEOPLE

Freely given, freely give An activity to give to others as we have been given to by Christ

Take some time as a group to think about those in your church who have struggled this year through illness or death of a loved one. Think about what you could make/take them as a group to show them God’s love in a difficult time – cookies, cakes, a CD compilation of worship music? Ask your church secretary to give you their names and addresses and go round to visit them with the gifts that you have made to remind them that they are loved and special and you wanted to give them some hope this Easter time. Maybe include an encouraging/uplifting scripture in the package that you give them. Some can be found here:

www.inspirational-bible-verses.com/ encouraging-bible-verses.html

BMS World Mission PO Box 49, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 8XA

Tel: 01235 517700 Email: mail@bmsworldmission.org www.bmsworldmission.org

Contributors: Sally Buchan, Rebekah Swanson Editor: Sally Buchan

Baptist Missionary Society: registered as a charity in England & Wales (number 233782) and in Scotland (number SC037767)

03/12