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A fun one-day kids’ program for outreach events, holidays and weekend camps
VD & CD-RO SD E UD
Contents About CEP Supadays........................................................................................................4 About this program: Come to My Party!........................................................................5 Program timetable............................................................................................................6 What’s on the CD-ROM and DVD?..................................................................................7 Getting started..................................................................................................................8 Recruiting a leadership team........................................................................................8 Dressing the set.........................................................................................................10 Registration numbers and group breakdowns............................................................13 Helpful hints for registrations.....................................................................................14 Helpful hints on advertising and promotion................................................................15 Reaching out to parents and carers............................................................................16 Program guide................................................................................................................17 Program aim..............................................................................................................17 Outcomes..................................................................................................................17 Key verses..................................................................................................................17 Supplies.....................................................................................................................18 Ice-breakers................................................................................................................18 Program starts.................................................................................................................21 Welcome...................................................................................................................21 Singing......................................................................................................................21 Big group time #1...........................................................................................................23 Puppet drama Part 1..................................................................................................23 Bible talk....................................................................................................................25 Puppet drama Part 2..................................................................................................31 Memory verse activity.................................................................................................32 Small group activity....................................................................................................34 Rotating activities...........................................................................................................36 Indoor party games....................................................................................................36 Outdoor party games.................................................................................................38 Craft..........................................................................................................................41 Indoor relay games.....................................................................................................44 Chill out time.............................................................................................................45 Multimedia party quiz................................................................................................46 Big group time #2...........................................................................................................47 Puppet drama Part 3..................................................................................................47
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About During the year, there are occasions when you, as the Children’s ministry coordinator, just need a one-day program for Infants and Primary school-aged children (5–12 years old). Such an occasion might be a ‘pupil-free’ day at the start of a school term when school teachers are doing staff development, or a one-off special event on a weekend where the adults are otherwise engaged. Perhaps you need a program for the children at a church weekend away or camp. CEP Supadays have been developed with these occasions in mind! If you are holding a one-off event during school holidays or on a pupil-free day, the children attending may be from the broader community and unfamiliar with Bible teaching (other than perhaps what they have learned in Special Religious Education classes at school). On such days, working parents may be looking for enjoyable and safe childcare options for their kids. For this reason, CEP Supadays are geared to cater for both churched and un-churched children. Remember that Supadays are also a good way to attract families to your year-round ministry activities. For un-churched families, coming onto church property and meeting church members via a Supadays is a non-threatening introduction to Christianity—a kind of try-before-you-buy program. Once kids have a taste of what it’s like to come to a church activity, they’ll be keen to have the same fun all year at one of your mid-week clubs or Sunday program. Families will feel comfortable coming to another event, including Easter and Christmas services, as an entry point to becoming a full member in God’s time.
Why use CEP Supadays material? Developing a program for even a single day’s event and implementing it can be a time-consuming job for Children’s ministry leaders or a daunting task for a lay-worker with other church and family commitments. It involves writing solid Bible-based teaching around a theme that’s appealing to children in Infants and Primary School, and then coming up with fun activities to fill out the program. At CEP, we’ve teamed up with experienced Children’s ministry workers in Sydney and Brisbane to come up with a series of Supadays programs that are super-easy to run! All the work is done for you, from the development of fun themes to reliable Bible teaching, memorable dramas, age-appropriate physical activities, craft and more. Our programs have been tried and tested by the authors and so you can be assured that the program works effectively and is culturally relevant. We’ve also included practical advice on how to approach scheduling, recruiting your team, registrations and arranging the children into age-appropriate groups. We even help you advertise and promote your Supadays. In this manual, you’ll find helpful hints on how to get your community involved as well as support materials that can be tailored with your church details. If this is the first CEP Supadays pack you have purchased, look out for our other titles. More will be added to the range each year so that you can run a different Supadays theme each time and keep the children coming back to your church. We pray that this resource will be a blessing to your church as you seek to make our Lord Jesus known. Julie Firmstone Series editor
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About this program: Come to My Party! Children love getting mail—especially when it’s a parcel, birthday card or invitation. There is something exciting about seeing a letter with your name written on the front and the mystery of what might be inside. Come to My Party! is based on Jesus’ parable of the Great Banquet from Luke 14:15–24 and utilises this theme of being invited to a party to share God’s invitation to each of us to come to his eternal party in heaven. The children will also learn that this exciting invitation is only made possible through Jesus; that he is ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ and that no-one can go to the Father except through him (John 14:6). This theme is supported by a variety of activities to reinforce the key message as well as entertain the children, some of whom may not have been to a church-run event before. The program consists of:
Big group time There are two sessions where all the children come together in one big group. The first Big group time includes singing, two visits from the Postman (a puppet drama in two parts), a Bible talk and a memory verse activity. The second session is much shorter, having one Bible talk, and one last visit from the Postman.
Rotating activities There are six different activities to be placed in separate locations around your church facilities. Each group will participate in these activities once in the day. So each activity area will house one group at a time in succession with a five-to-seven minute transition time (where one group leaves and the next one arrives). This time allows the Activity leader and helpers time to re-set equipment and clean up any mess from group to group. For Come to My Party!, the activities are as follows: 1. Indoor party games 2. Outdoor party games 3. Craft 4. Indoor relay games 5. Chill out time 6. Multimedia party quiz.
Movie time If your Supadays is being run on a school day, such as a pupil-free day, many parents will be geared up to collect their children at the usual end-of-school time. In Australia, this would be around 3:30 pm. Working parents are likely to collect their children at 5 pm. If your Supadays event is coinciding with a church-run event, there may be a point later in the day when the children return to their parents or participate in a whole-of-church or family activity. In both of these instances, you may not need a full day of activities. For this reason, we suggest screening a movie session with an appropriate G-rated DVD for the children. This will allow flexibility for children leaving at various times.
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Program timetable Following is a suggested timetable for your Supadays program: TIME
GROUP 1
GROUP 2
GROUP 3
GROUP 4
GROUP 5
GROUP 6
Before 8:30 am
Set up, preparation and team prayer time
8:30 am
Welcome and registration of children, ice-breakers and any outreach activities for parents
9:00 am
Program starts—Welcome, Singing and Big Group Time #1
9:50 am
Morning tea
10:10 am
Rotating Activities
10:10–10:40 am
Craft
Chill out time
Multimedia party quiz
Indoor relay games
Outdoor party games
Indoor relay games
10:45–11:15 am
Chill out time
Multimedia party quiz
Indoor party games
Outdoor party games
Indoor relay games
Craft
11:20–11:50 am
Multimedia party quiz
Indoor relay games
Outdoor party games
Indoor relay games
Craft
Chill out time
11:55–12:25 pm
Indoor relay games
Outdoor party games
Indoor relay games
Craft
Chill out time
Multimedia party quiz
12:30 pm
Lunch
1:15 pm
Big Group Time #2
2:15 pm
Rotating Activities
2:15–2:45 pm
Outdoor party games
Indoor relay games
Craft
Chill out time
Multimedia party quiz
Indoor relay games
2:50–3:20 pm
Indoor relay games
Craft
Chill out time
Multimedia party quiz
Indoor relay games
Outdoor party games
3:30 pm
Afternoon tea and Movie time
5:00 pm
Close
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Program guide Program aim The aim of the Supadays Come to My Party! is to teach the children about the invitation that God extends to each of us to be one of his people. Even though we are sinful and don’t deserve to have eternal life, we can have God’s forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And that means we can live a new life following him and look forward to the sure hope of eternal life with God at his great banquet.
Outcomes We want the children to understand that: • God wants all people to be saved • God invites everyone who trusts and believes to his eternal party in heaven • the only way we can have eternal life with God is through trusting in Jesus • accepting God’s invitation means turning from our old way of living and living a new life with him at the centre.
Key verses Luke 14:15–24 (CEV) After Jesus had finished speaking, one of the guests said, ‘The greatest blessing of all is to be at the banquet in God’s kingdom!’ Jesus told him: A man once gave a great banquet and invited a lot of guests. When the banquet was ready, he sent a servant to tell the guests, ‘Everything is ready! Please come’. One guest after another started making excuses. The first one said, ‘I bought some land, and I’ve got to look it over. Please excuse me’. Another guest said, ‘I bought five teams of oxen, and I need to try them out. Please excuse me’.
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Still another guest said, ‘I have just gotten married, and I can’t be there’. The servant told his master what happened, and the master became so angry that he said, ‘Go as fast as you can to every street and alley in town! Bring in everyone who is poor or crippled or blind or lame’. When the servant returned, he said, ‘Master, I’ve done what you told me, and there is still plenty of room for more people’. His master then told him, ‘Go out along the back roads and fence rows and make people come in, so that my house will be full. Not one of the guests I first invited will get even a bite of my food!’ John 14:6 (CEV) ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life!’ Jesus answered. ‘Without me, no-one can go to the Father.’
Supplies • • • • • • • • • •
Registration forms and records, name tags and sign in/sign out sheets Maps and timetables Bell to ring to signal the change of activities Materials for Ice-breakers. See below Your church’s audio-visual system, including a projector and screen, CD player or computer and microphones Come to My Party! CD-ROM Props for the Big Group Time #1 drama. See page 23 Materials for Rotating activities. See pages 36–46 Props for the Big Group Time #2. See page 47 DVD for Movie Time
Ice-breakers These games and activities are useful during registration time. For the children who arrive early there is something they can do while waiting for other children to arrive. These games can also be used as extra games in the afternoon if any parents are late in picking up their children.
Activity booklets You will need: • Activity booklets printed and stapled, one per child. See the Come to My Party! CD-ROM. • Pens and pencils • Tables and chairs • Ball and other equipment for games
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