Ideas for primary school visits to a Salvation Army church

SCHOOL VISITS TO THE SALVATION ARMY Ideas and suggestions for primary school visits to a Salvation Army church Curriculum links Religious Education • What can we learn from visiting a church?

• Visiting a place of worship • Worship and community

Aims • To learn abo ut the worship , work and belie fs of The Salvation Arm y.

• To find out w hat a Salvation Army church is like and how it is used.

Resources Downloadable • WHAT IS THE SALVATION ARMY? PowerPoint presentation • VISITING A SALVATIONARMY CHURCH Pupil workbook • Uniform timeline activity Other resources (order or loan from Schools Unit, THQ): • What is The Salvation Army? A1 Wall chart • Ultimate Church Visit DVD • Display boards and picture trail cards (loan see website for details) • Ultimate Church Visit Community bookmark

You will also need: • A selection of Salvation Army uniforms • Post it notes (optional) • A Bible

For advice or help with any of the resources mentioned, phone or email the Schools & Colleges Unit, Monday to Friday 8.30am 5.00pm (details below).

Welcome session and starter activities It’s always a good idea to have a short session to welcome pupils to your church, introduce any leaders and important information, and allow pupils to share their first impressions and what they already know about The Salvation Army. Here are two ideas choose one or include both.

The Salvation Army is...? (5 mins) Begin by asking pupils about their first impressions of this church. Is it what they expected? Ask them to say one word which describes their impression of the place. Next, challenge pupils to complete the sentence ‘The Salvation Army is...’ (you could display the sentence on a large card or PowerPoint slide).

Encourage pupils to discuss their ideas with a partner first (give approximately one minute for this) and then ask them to share their answers with the rest of the class. Stress that at this stage, it doesn’t matter if their answers are right or not, in fact wrong answers can be just as helpful as right ones! Finally, summarise their ideas and clarify that The Salvation Army is a Christian church as well as a charity.

What is The Salvation Army? (5 mins) Display the ‘What is The Salvation Army?’ A1 wall chart or PowerPoint presentation and ask pupils to guess what they think each picture shows about The Salvation Army, before giving a brief explanation of each one. (You may need to cover up the text on the wall chart with post it notes). This activity will give pupils a good idea of what The Salvation Army is and the kind of work we do.

The Salvation Army (UK & Ireland Territory) Schools & Colleges Unit Tel: 020 7367 4706 Fax: 020 7367 4728 Email: schools@salvationarmy.org.uk

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/schools

Registered Charity No. 214779 and in Scotland SC009359

Aims Always share the aims and objectives of the visit with the pupils. They need to know what they will be expected to learn during the visit. You can do this right at the beginning, or after the starter activity if you think it might give too much away!

Language Try to be careful about the language you use, especially in the welcome session. Many pupils may be completely unfamiliar with church language and religious concepts, let alone Salvation Army language!

For example, rather than saying ‘I am the corps officer’ you could say ‘I am the minister or leader of this church’. If you want to add an explanation about the different terms we sometimes use in The Salvation Army (eg corps, officer) it’s a good idea to have cards or PowerPoint slides showing the words.

Main teaching and activities Divide the class(es) into three groups and give each group a name. There are three main sessions which the groups will experience in turn, spending 20 25 minutes on each one. Sessions 1 and 2 allow pupils to work independently and can be supported by a teacher, helper or other adult who is not does not necessesarily need to be member of The Salvation Army. Session 3 should be led by a member(s) of the Salvation Army team (eg officer/children’s worker) and provides an opporutnity for valuable interaction and discussion with the pupils.

1. Visiting a Salvation Army church workbook Download and copy enough workbooks for each pupil. Depending on the age and ability of the pupils, they could complete the workbook on their own, in pairs or in small groups with a teacher or leader.

2. Display boards Set up the display boards in one area of your main worship hall (or in a separate room or foyer, providing you have enough leaders or teachers to accompany the pupils). Divide the group into smaller groups of two or three and share out the picture trail cards so that each group has atleast 3 or 4 cards.

Pupils complete the activities on the cards by finding the relevant picture, discussing the question and finding out a fact. When they have finished they could swap their cards with another group. Allow 5 10 minutes at the end of this session for pupils to share what they have learnt and also talk about which pictures they liked best and why.

3. The Salvation Army today Worship and music (8 mins) • Begin by asking pupils to think of a person or group they really like or admire (eg footballer/football team, popstar, actor etc). Ask them how they show that they like that person or group (eg by wearing a football shirt, going to a match or pop concert, reading about them, buying a CD etc). Explain that in a similar way, members of The Salvation Army love and admire God. We worship him through the things we do, such as going to church and helping others, and by the things we wear. There are special objects and symbols which help us to worship which you may have seen in our church.

• Show pupils the Worship in The Salvation Army DVD clip and, following the clip, ask them to tell you what different things the people were doing. Did anything surprise them about the different kinds of worship in The Salvation Army? How was it the same as other churches or places of worship they have visited or learnt about? How is it different?! You may also want to talk about the kind of worship in your own corps and allow pupils to try out some of the musical instruments you use.

The Salvation Army (UK & Ireland Territory) Schools & Colleges Unit Tel: 020 7367 4706 Fax: 020 7367 4728 Email: schools@salvationarmy.org.uk

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/schools

Registered Charity No. 214779 and in Scotland SC009359

Uniform (8 mins) The Salvation Army is not a military army, but we use lots of military names for things (eg our members are called soldiers) and we are organised a bit like an army. It might seem a little bit strange but it helps us to remember and to show others that our mission is very important. We really believe that we are fighting a kind of battle against wrong things in the world, and our mission is to share God’s salvation with others. When The Salvation Army first started almost 150 years ago people were really excited about being part of an ‘army’ which was fighting poverty and inviting people to follow God, and they decided they wanted to wear a uniform. So the leaders designed one for everyone to wear.

• If there’s time, pupils could complete the Uniform timeline activity to help them see how the Salvation Army uniform has changed over the years.

• Allow pupils to try on some different Salvation Army uniforms. Ask pupils why they think many members of The Salvation Army wear a uniform (ask them about other people who wear uniforms or special clothes eg police, school pupils etc). For members of The Salvation Army, wearing a uniform is a way of showing others that they are a Christian. It also shows that they are serious about their promise to follow God, to tell others about his love and to help anyone who is need. You could give examples of times when wearing a uniform is particularly important, eg helping in an emergency.

Community (8 mins) • Show the Every day DVD clip. Challenge pupils to remember all the different people helped by The Salvation Army (optional activity).

• Design your own ‘Week in the life of...’ presentation about the community work which happens in your church. Include pictures and/or objects which represent different aspects of your work to make the presentation interesting and memorable.

• Ask the pupils why they think The Salvation Army does a lot to help people in need. Read Matthew 25:35 40 (use a contemporary version of the Bible or The Message paraphrase) to explain why The Salvation Army helps others. You could also read James 2:14 17. Explain that one of The Salvation Army’s mottos is ‘Belief in Action’ and that when its members show love to other people by helping them, even people who are considered by the world to be unimportant and worth nothing, they are showing how much they love God and are following Jesus’ example.

• Discuss ways in which pupils could help others in their community, their school and at home. Pupils could fill in the bookmark and take it with them as a reminder.

Plenary Gather all the pupils back together and, depending on the time available, use one of the following activities: • Ask pupils to say one new thing they have learnt about The Salvation Army, without repeating some thing another pupil has said.

• Give each pupil a post it note and ask them to write down one (or more) new thing they have learnt and stick it on a board or wall at the front. These can then be read out by the leader, or a teacher or pupil. This will allow every pupil to participate and is a great way to see how much pupils have learnt.

Follow up ideas • Offer to go into the school to do an assembly, lesson (or part of a lesson) on another aspect of The Salvation Army (eg history, international work, homelessness) or another topic.

• Talk to the teacher about inviting pupils to take part in a special service (eg Education Sunday, Christmas Carol Service).

The Salvation Army (UK & Ireland Territory) Schools & Colleges Unit Tel: 020 7367 4706 Fax: 020 7367 4728 Email: schools@salvationarmy.org.uk

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/schools

Registered Charity No. 214779 and in Scotland SC009359