How to use this pack ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Part 1: Why bother with mission? ............................................................................................................... 4 Part 2: Let’s see for ourselves ...................................................................................................................... 6 Part 3: Run to find the verses ....................................................................................................................... 7 Part 4: Your own Bible – you need it........................................................................................................... 8 Part 5: What script is that? ........................................................................................................................ 10 Part 6: Cracking the language barrier ....................................................................................................... 11 Resource pages ............................................................................................................................................ 12 Resources for Part 1: Why bother with mission? ........................................................................ 12 Resources for Part 3: Run to find the verses ................................................................................ 16 Resources for Part 5: What script is that? .................................................................................... 20 Resources for Part 6: Cracking the language barrier .................................................................. 25
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Wycliffe Bible Translators has a particular passion: to see the Bible available and understandable for anyone who wants to read it. We believe it’s transforming and life-changing – certainly something worth sharing. But we don’t believe that it’s only adults who can do that sharing… For a number of years, Hook Evangelical Church has been closely connected with work in Chad. They’ve been supporting a team by prayer and finance, and even visiting to encourage them in the work. The children get involved too; in 2005, the Sunday school raised the money for a muchneeded donkey to help with transport and drawing water from the well. When they heard that the donkey had met a sticky end (eaten by a hyena!) the Sunday school were devastated. But these are children with a mission: with the help of some kind cooks and donkey-shaped biscuits, the Sunday school raised enough money for a new donkey! What a difference one group of children can make to Bible translation!
This resource pack is designed to take you through a Sunday school session of just under an hour. All the activities can be used separately, and to make this easier, we’ve provided a short overview of each session right at the top of each page. This pack is designed for a group upwards of five children, with a mixture of ages between 5 and 13.
‘You may speak but a word to a child, and in that child there may be slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian Church in years to come.’ Charles Spurgeon
This session aims to help children to... See the need for mission. Identify differences of living at home or abroad. Become aware of the need for a Bible in your own language. Understand that different languages have different scripts. See that, when translating from one language to another, it’s not a word-for-word exchange.
Many more resources for inspiring children (and teens and adults) about the Bible and mission are available on the Wycliffe website, wycliffe.org.uk/children; if you get in touch with the children and mission team at Wycliffe, we can link you up with the latest materials. We may even be able to visit to tell children or adults about the work of Bible translation.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Cover photo: Marc Ewell / Wycliffe
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Type of activity: On-the-spot skit Preparation: You’ll need to read through the skit, thinking about which children might be suitable for the five roles below. You’ll also need to bring along a few props. You’ll also want to prepare a large sheet of paper or PowerPoint slide with the words on page 5 on it. Aim: To show the need for mission in its broadest sense, including poverty, lack of education and the need for Bible translation Time estimated: 10 minutes
For one of your characters: a bag with bottle of water and lunchbox, an
English Bible, a big photo with family, a big photo with house and car, a wallet.
Resource pages: 12, 13, 14 and 15
Large box Doll Book with blank pages (like a notebook) Make big copies of pages 12–15, either writing them out or printing them on large sheets of paper
Your sketch has five characters. Any of these can be played by any child (or adult) as long as they are comfortable reading – you don’t need to do any preparation with the children ahead of time.
One rich person, called Rich, who has clothes, plenty to eat and drink, can read and write, a Bible in their own language, has a house, money, family who looks after him. He’ll be holding on to the props listed above: the bag, Bible, photos and wallet.
A child without a home will sit in the large box. Give this child the ‘I have no home’ sign.
A hungry child will keep rubbing his tummy. Give this child the ‘I’m hungry’ sign.
A child without access to education is looking after baby sister (doll). This child will need the ‘I can’t go to school because I have to look after my baby sister’ sign.
A child without the Bible will be reading a book with white pages. Give this child the ‘I want to read the Bible, but there isn’t one that I can understand’ sign.
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Ask your 5 volunteers to come forward. Give each one their props, and explain to them what each is (ask the homeless child to sit in the box and the hungry child to rub their tummy). Line them up in front of everybody. Ask Rich to walk with big steps in front of the children. You narrate: ‘Can I introduce you to Rich? You know why he is rich? Look at him! He’s got clothes, he’s got food and drink. We can ask him if he can read and write. You can?! Wow. I reckon he’s probably got a nice house to live in as well. There’s a photo, you see. Oh, and they have a car as well. What about money? A wallet full of money too! And last but not least, look here is a photo of his family. He has a family who love him and look after him. Amazing. ‘Rich is going to meet some other children now. Here’s the first one. (Bring Rich to the child who is sitting in a box). ‘Can you tell us why you’re sitting in a box please? (Ask the child to read their sign loudly.) (Bring Rich to meet the child who keeps rubbing his tummy). ‘What’s up with you? Why do you keep rubbing your tummy? (Ask the child to read their sign loudly.) (Bring Rich to meet the child holding the doll.) (Bring Rich to meet the child with empty book). ‘Can you show us your book? What on earth are you doing with an empty book? (Ask the child to read their sign loudly.) Tell Rich to turn to the children. You say: ‘So, now Rich has two choices. Either, he can go home in his nice clothes with all his money and live like none of these children are there. Or, he does what Jesus would like him to do. He starts to help these other children. Let’s see, what does the Bible say about it? (flash up on big card or on screen):
What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on those who have nothing to wear, being available to your own families.
Ask the children:
Could Rich do that? How?
What would you suggest to Rich?
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Type of activity: Video and discussion Preparation: Download the video at http://goo.gl/ZsKd2 Learning aim: To understand what travelling to another country might entail Time estimated: 10 minutes
Watch the video and, while you’re watching, let the children know that you’ll be discussing some questions:
What can you remember about what the lady had to pack? Would you have chosen something else, if so, what would it be?
What do you see is different when you live in a poor country?
If possible, it would be great if you could either have those questions up on the wall or print them out on a piece of paper so the children can see them while they’re watching the video. It’d be good to give them a reminder of what the questions were you wanted them to think about.
Ask:
What can you remember about what the lady had to pack? Would you have chosen something else, if so, what would it be?
What do you see is different when you live in a poor country?
What answers can you come up with? Have a little discussion.
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Type of activity: Bible search Preparation: Print or write the four verses on sheets of coloured paper, cut them up and hide around the room. Learning aim: To see clearly the motivation from the Bible to share the good news of Jesus Time estimated: 10 minutes
Hide all the different pieces of card around the room before the children join you (or while they are focused on the video from part 2!). The verses are on pages 16–19. Split the children into four groups, and assign each a colour (if you don’t have enough children, decide in advance which verses you won’t use, and split the children into fewer groups).
This activity is particularly good when the children have been concentrating and listening for a little while. It gets them up and running, yet at the same time it exposes them to some Bible verses that inspire us to be involved in mission.
When you give them a sign, they need to get up and find all the pieces of card as quickly as possible, then in their group they have to make it into a sentence. When each group has their verse sorted, you can ask them to read it out aloud.
Resource pages: 16, 17, 18 and 19
When we are involved in mission, we’re doing what God would love us to do!
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Type of activity: Drama Preparation: you will need two large crates or boxes, all the Bibles you can find and, if possible, decorative African-style fabric. Learning aim: To show the Bible-abundance we have in the English speaking world and the need of the many language communities to have the Bible in their own language Time estimated: 7 minutes
Fill one box up with all the Bibles you can find in your house, including children’s Bibles, Bible stories, adult Bibles – in fact, all the versions you have. Keep the other box empty.
Hide both boxes, but keep them near enough to get them when you need them.
Ask one person to play ‘Nigerian brother/sister’ and if possible, give them an African cloth to wear. Make sure they know where to find their box (the empty one).
Ask the children: ‘I’d like all of you to close your eyes. Imagine you’re at home. Go through all the rooms there are. How many Bibles would you be able to find?’ Ask for a quick response.
Continue narrating: ‘When I had a look this morning in my home, I found some too. I’ve actually brought them here today. Let’s find them. (Walk to the place where you hid your box.) Oooh, it’s too heavy: can I have a volunteer to help me carry this, please? ‘Let’s count how many we’ve got in here. (Count the books out with the children [Ed: I got up to 17 at home!]) ‘Now, I’ve invited a visitor here as well. Can you come up brother/sister? (Ask your Nigerian actor to come up.) Here he is and he is from Nigeria. Fortunately, they also speak English in Nigeria so he can understand us. ‘Brother, did you see my box full of Bibles? I was wondering, if you had a box like this, how many Bibles would you have in your language that you would speak at home? (He goes to the place where his box is hidden and comes up with a sad face – it’s empty!) ‘What?! You have nothing? But that’s not fair! How can I have so many and he has not even got one?’ 8
Say to the children: ‘The good news is that there are many people around the world who think too that this is not fair. They go and translate the Bible with people who do not have one yet. They want everybody to know who Jesus is. How can our Nigerian brother know who Jesus is if he doesn’t even have a Bible?’ ‘You can all do something to help translation happen. You can pray for people who do not have a Bible yet. You can also pray for those people who go and often leave their own country to translate the Bible for others. It’s quite a hard thing to do you know.’
More ideas to support mission in your Sunday school:
Use the prayer cube acivity on our website to help children pray for mission workers: wycliffe.org.uk/ kidsonamission.
Raise money to support Bible translation or one of your church mission partners through your Sunday school.
Set a challenge to the children to learn more about another country or language. Ask them to find out three facts about a country that starts with the same letter as their name.
Discuss with the children what they could do as a mission worker.
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Type of activity: Sorting and discussion Preparation: Print off a copy of each of the Bible pages on the resource appendices, pages 20–24, (or multiple copies if you need to split your group into smaller groups). Write on sheets of paper ‘North Africa’, ‘Ethiopia’, ‘Nigeria’, ‘Bangladesh’ and ‘Russia’. If you have a map or globe to find the countries, that’s even better! Learning aim: To learn that there are different scripts used in languages around the world and to have a go at matching languages and countries. Time estimated: 5 minutes
This activity can stand on its own as well as in the whole Sunday school session. The scripts on the resource appendices at the back are ordered in this order in the pack (but don’t tell the children until the end!): North Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia.
Resource pages to print: 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24
In your groups, have a look at the names of the five places. Ask: Has anybody visited any of these places? If so, what can you tell us about it? Can you find the script that you think will go with each place? When you’re all done, compare with each other. What surprises you about what you’ve found?
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Type of activity: Quiz Preparation: You’ll need enough pens for each child and a print out of the worksheet on page 25. Learning aim: To show that translation isn’t a one-to-one word swap and to explore idioms and expressions. Time estimated: 10 minutes
Get to grips with the Tampulma language and the idioms it uses! The Tampulma people live in Northern Ghana and there are about 10,000 of them. They live in 25 different villages and each village is governed by a chief and his elders. There is more to language learning than learning to say strange sounding words. It’s not even enough to know the literal meaning of words. You need to find out how words are used. This activity gives you a go at some of the idioms the Tampulma people use. This activity is written by Ian and Claire Gray who worked in Ghana with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Make sure everyone has a pen. Give the handout (page 25) to the children. They’ll need about 10 minutes to work out the answers: 1c, 2b, 3c, 4b, 5b, 6a, 7d, 8d, 9d,10d. Then discuss the answers as a group. What have you noticed? Actually, all these idioms were used in the Tampulma New Testament. If you have enough time and the children would like to know more, here are some references you could look up and try to match to the idioms on the worksheet (NB. We don’t have an example for each idiom.): 1.
John 3:16
2.
Acts 4:13
3.
John 14:27
6.
Acts 13:6
7.
Colossians 1:5
9.
Mark 10:22
Resource page to print: page 25
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16 Group 1
17 Group 2
18 Group 3
19 Group 4
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Example 1
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Example 2
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Example 3
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Example 4
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Example 5
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a. He’s a magician b. He’s dishonest c. He’s evil d. He’s patriotic
a. I’m crying b. I’m angry c. I have faith d. I’ve got a cold
a. I’m single-minded b. I’m careful with money c. I have only one wife d. I have hope
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a. You have head lice b. You are uneducated c. You are spotty d. You are a chief
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a. I’m crying b. I’m angry c. I have faith d. I’ve got a cold
a. I’m crying b. I’m angry c. I have faith d. I’ve got a cold
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a. I’m cold hearted b. I’m happy 5 c. I’m angry d. I have peace
a. He pleaded with him b. He tripped over c. He betrayed him d. He gossiped about him
a. He was afraid b. He began to cry c. He got a fly in his eye d. Gloom spread over his face
a. Love him b. Examine him c. Encourage him d. Depend on him
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Worldwide there are more than 180 million people speaking around 2,000 languages who do not have access to the story of God’s love for his people – the story of the Bible – in the language they understand best, their ‘heart’ language. Wycliffe Bible Translators believe that the Bible is the best way for people to come to know and understand who God is. Our vision is that by working with churches, organisations and individuals from around the world, all people will have access to God’s word in a language they truly understand.
Wycliffe Bible Translators The Clare Charity Centre, Wycombe Road, Saunderton, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP14 4BF T: 0300 303 1111 E: askus@wycliffe.org Wycliffe UK Ltd. is a charity registered in England and Wales, number 251233, and a charity registered in Scotland, number SC039140.