Children's Ministry - ΠΑΙΔΙΑ Praise
The Anglican Church of Paphos - Children’s Activities
Easter Celebrations
On the Sunday before Easter, we met to celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. The church was decorated with big palm branches and, after we had sung some songs and listened to a story, we decided to make our own palm fronds, so that we could act out the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, with all his friends lining the streets, waving palm branches, as Jesus passed by.
If you had suddenly come into the church, you might have been very surprised to see one of our helpers, acting as the donkey complete with ears and tail, and ‘Jesus’ on his back, leading a palm-waving procession around the church, while we sang the song ‘We have a king who rides a donkey and his name is Jesus!’
We were all given small crosses, made out of palm leaves, which the Chaplain blessed, and he told us that in countries where there are no palms, people celebrate with olive branches or evergreens like fir trees. We were able to take our crosses home with us to remind us all that happened to Jesus on Good Friday.
Since the Greek Orthodox Church and the Western Church all celebrated Easter at the same time this year, we did not meet on Easter Day itself, but during the holiday we were able to hold our annual ‘egg-hunt’ and picnic in Pykni Forest.
We hunted for nearly two hundred bright red ‘eggs’ which were really egg-shaped stones and then, after we had played some games, we were so hungry that we had to have our picnic, before playing some more games and also painting some hard-boiled eggs with really funny faces. At the end of our time together, we each had a chocolate Easter egg, kindly donated by our Chaplain.
The children will be participating in the Church Flower Festival this year by decorating large musical notes, to go with the ‘Songs of Praise’ theme, and also depicting the song, ‘One more step along the world I go’ by making flower arrangements in a variety of shoes!
Our activities are fun and varied and we look forward to our next Service, which will be on Pentecost Sunday 23rd May. If you would like to join us, you would be more than welcome.
Pentecost Celebrations
On Pentecost Sunday we met to celebrate the Birthday of the Church, when the Holy Spirit came to the first disciples in Jerusalem. The name, Pentecost, tells us that this happened fifty days after Easter, when Jesus had gone back into heaven. Another name for Pentecost is Whit Sunday, because in earlier years people always used to dress in white on this special day.
After some action songs, we heard the story of how the Holy Spirit arrived, to turn the frightened, cowardly disciples into strong, confident people, willing to go out into the streets to tell everyone about all that Jesus had done. Because some of the signs of the Holy Spirit are flames, wind and a dove, we wore orange, red and yellow ‘flame’ headbands and used ribbons to show the power of the wind.
Later we made mobiles in the shape of ‘windmills’ and ‘doves’ to take home, to remind us of the Holy Spirit, who can help people today, just as much as he did two thousand years ago.
At the end of the afternoon, we all sang ‘Happy Birthday to the Church’ before sharing a big chocolate birthday cake!
During the summer holidays, we shall be holding a series of Workshops on a variety of Bible themes, the next two being on Thursday 29th July and Thursday 26th August, from 10 a.m. – 12.30 p.m. at St. Stephen’s Church in Tala. At each Workshop we shall cover all sorts of activities from painting, singing, drama, craftwork etc. If you would like to join us, you would be more than welcome.
Our Director of Music at the Church is also hoping to start a Children’s Choir, so we should be pleased to hear of anyone who is interested.
The Anglican Church of Paphos Second Summer Workshop for Children
Some of the children in the ship before it is 'wrecked on Malta'
At the end of July, we held our second Summer Workshop. At this, we looked at the three Saints who are connected to our three churches here in Paphos. The three Saints are St. Luke, St. Paul and St. Stephen; and all have connections with each other. They are to be found in the New Testament section of the Bible.
We started our morning with some very popular songs – all of which had actions – the children don't fall asleep with the actions to these songs! One of the songs, which many knew, was "When the saints go marching in….."
We then had stories from the Bible about, firstly St. Stephen, then St. Luke and finally St. Paul, when he was journeying to Rome and was shipwrecked on the island of Malta. This was to be the theme for our play which usually ends the morning.
The Bible account of the stoning of Stephen tells us that a man stood by watching his death – and this was Paul, before he became a Christian.
Another man that we believe was not a Christian when he started writing, first his Gospel and then the Acts of the Apostles, was the Greek doctor called Luke. All three called on God and received His power to do His work.
As Saints usually have some sort of emblems, we thought it a good idea to create shields for each Saint, which was our main activity of the morning, both painting and collage work. That, along with little models of the boat that Paul was in, when it was wrecked on Malta, kept the children happy until refreshment time.
That then was the signal for those taking part in the play to get changed into their costumes and rehearse their lines. The play was a great success – especially the shipwreck on Malta and the destroying of Paul's boat.
Our September Service, which will be held on 26th September at St. Stephen's church in Tala, at 4.00pm will be on the theme of 'Harvest Thanksgiving'. We will welcome children of all ages, together with their parents.
Third Summer Workshop for Children
Some of the children painting and ‘munching’ biscuits at the third Workshop.
At the end of August, we held our third Summer Workshop on the subject of Gideon – a person, the children learned, who was just like any of them. Gideon was just an ordinary man whom God chose for a special task, even though he did not think he could do it and wondered if it was actually God talking to him. Gideon tested God three times and in the end did as he was told – unlike so many of us! The story was a good example of how God is always true to His word.
We started our morning – as usual - with some very popular songs – all of which had actions, and we all tried to out-do each other with the actions! The song that had been particularly chosen for the morning was “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing that He cannot do!”
We then had stories from the Bible: firstly how Gideon was asked by an angel from God to do His will, then secondly how Gideon tested God, and finally how he was to pick his soldiers for his army, to fight the enemy.
We had good fun then, painting and creating a collage of scenes from the various stories – resulting in beautiful pictures. Apart from their hands, most of the children stayed fairly clean! There were a lot of little things for them to take home, to continue their activities there. This resulted in the morning whizzing by and we only had just enough time for the children to stage their play – an essential part of any Workshop. Some of the adults felt it was perhaps not a sensible thing for all the children to make trumpets to blow during the end of the play!
Then it was, sadly, time to go home and the children took with them invitation cards to colour and invite their friends to come and see just what a lot of fun can be had, learning about God with each other.
Children Understanding Harvest Sharing
 The theme of our Harvest Thanksgiving this year was “Thanking and Sharing’, so we came together to thank God for all the good things that He gives us and to remember those people that don’t have as much as we do. We know that Harvest is a time of receiving good things and many of us are fortunate to receive great gifts from God all through the year.
We heard the Bible story of the little boy who was willing to share his small lunch of five loaves and two fish with a great crowd of people. After Jesus had thanked God for the food, He broke it into pieces and, to everyone’s amazement, there was enough to feed five thousand people!
Children preparing fruit to share
As we wanted to think about ‘sharing’ with those who are not so fortunate, we were told about the children of Dabaso School in Kenya, who have very, very little and yet they are happy and care for each other. We decided that it would be a good idea to start a ‘Dabaso Jar’. Over the next few months, this would be filled with coins, which could come possibly through doing odd jobs at home or from some pocket money. Then, in January, the money will be taken to the school in Kenya, to help to buy more Bibles, or seeds for the children to grow in their new garden, or anything else that would best meet the children’s needs there.
Last year we collected pens and pencils and sent them to Dabaso School, because so many children there do not have anything to write with. These pens were looked on as prize possessions, while we just take such things for granted!
To continue our theme of ‘Harvest Sharing’, we had each brought a piece of fruit to the Service, to share with everyone there – a much more healthy option than the biscuits we usually have! The fruit was cut into portions and blessed, while we remembered the hungry people in the world, and then we enjoyed sharing it with each other.
We also had time to decorate some ‘Harvest Plates’ which we were able to take home with us, to remind us of all the good things that we have.
So, as always, we had a busy, but enjoyable time together, and we look forward to our next Children’s Service, which will be at 4.00pm on Sunday 28th November at
St. Stephen’s Church in Tala. We hope to see you there. For further details of any of our children’s activities, please contact Brenda and Colin on 26815384 or Lynda on 26815347.
The Anglican Church of Paphos - Children's Activities
Bible Sunday
On the fourth Sunday in October we celebrated Bible Sunday, by looking at some of the different versions of the Bible that we have, from children's ones with lots of pictures to a very old one, dated 1726, which we had great difficulty in reading at all!
Our service started with our usual action songs and then we did something very different, which was to bless some cushions, which we had brought to church with us that day. The idea was that the cushions, which we shall bring to church for every service, would remind us that we were in God's house, not a museum, school or theatre. They would also help us to remember that Church isn't really a building, but a way of living our lives in the presence of a God who loves us all very deeply.
We learnt that the Bible is made up of 66 different books, which together form a kind of library, with stories, poems, letters, history and law books, as well as the most important Gospels, which tell us all about Jesus, when he lived on the earth.
We then decided to go on a Bible Book Hunt to see if we could find the 'spines' of the 66 books, which had been hidden all round the church. When we found them, we stuck them onto a large piece of card, which was designed to look like two bookshelves, one for the 39 books of the Old Testament and one for the 27 books of the New Testament. We managed to find them all, except for the book of Joel in the Old Testament, but he was found later, hiding under the altar!
When all the 'books' were in the right place, we could tell by the colours, which ones were story books, poems etc. and we realised that there were 8 different kinds of books altogether in our Bible Library, which is now up on the wall for everyone at church to see.
Our future plans are for a Christmas Nativity presentation, which we hope that everyone at St. Stephen's Church can enjoy this year. For further details of any of our children's activities, please contact Brenda and Colin on 26815384 or Lynda on 26815347. We look forward to hearing from you.
Advent Sunday
On the last Sunday in November we celebrated Advent Sunday, by holding a Christingle Service for the children and their parents. This is a popular service, which we hold every year about this time, because it celebrates the Light of Christ coming into the world – not just 2000 years ago – but in our time as well.
This year we told the story of the very first Christingle as a little play, pretending we were back in a small town in Germany in 1747, where the Bishop taught the children about Jesus, by using an orange, a candle and one or two other things – but let us explain!
The Christingle starts off with an orange, representing God's world, into which we put four cocktail sticks, to remind us of the four seasons. Since every season brings us good things to eat, as further gifts from God, we covered the cocktail sticks in fruits and sweets, which we tested for their goodness as we went along!
Into the top of the orange went a candle, with a little piece of silver paper underneath to catch the wax. Finally a red band was placed round the widest part of the orange, to show how the love of God stretches right around the world, to include everyone, everywhere.
Then it was time to turn off the church lights and light the candles instead, so that their flames would brighten the darkness and remind us of Jesus, coming into our dark world at the first Christmas, to show people a better way to live. While the candles were alight, we said our prayers, to thank God for sending Jesus to us.
We also noticed that the silver paper, underneath the candle, helped to reflect its light and spread it further. This made us think that, as we learn more about Jesus and come to love Him more, so we can begin to tell others about His love for everyone, and make the world a brighter place.
Our first service of the New Year will be on Sunday 23rd January at 4pm at St. Stephen's Church in Tala and all children are most welcome. For further details of any of our children's activities, please contact Brenda and Colin on 26815384 or Lynda on 26815347. We look forward to hearing from you.
Children's Nativity Play
On Sunday 19th December the children of the Παιδι? Praise group held a Nativity Play with a difference in St. Stephen's Church in Tala. They took over the normal Morning Worship 'slot' and so all the usual congregation were there, along with a lot of visitors.
The Service started with the lighting of the fourth candle on the Advent wreath, to remind everyone that, being the fourth Sunday of Advent, we were thinking particularly of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The children then took over the Service and started by singing 'Hosanna Rock', at which time they invited the congregation to watch their actions, as they would be called on to join in at the end of the Service. We then had the traditional Nativity Story told by four characters that were there at the time – the donkey on which Mary rode to Bethlehem, then came the mouse who just happened to live in the stable where Jesus was born. After that came the story that a little shepherd boy told, of visiting the stable after being given a fright by some angels, who told the shepherds to go and see the baby Jesus. Lastly, one of the camels which one of the Wise Men rode on, told his story as to what he saw through the open door of the stable.
While all these tales were being told, a tableau unfolded in front of everybody with children dressed in lovely clothes and acting out the readers' stories.
All of these narratives were interspersed with well-known carols and ended with prayers, again led by the children. Then came the time for the congregation to join with the children in singing 'Hosanna Rock' – which they did with gusto and even got most of the actions right!
The play ended with all the children wishing everybody there 'A Very Happy Christmas!'
We congratulate all of the children on learning their words and acting so well, helping many people in the church to be caught up in the wonder of that first Christmas, when God chose to become man, in the simplest but most profound of ways. May we never lose sight of the true reason for celebrating at Christmas time.
As we move through the New Year, we look forward to learning more about the life of Jesus, in our forthcoming Children's Services. For further details of all or any of our children's work, please contact Brenda and Colin on 26815384 or Lynda on 26815347. We look forward to welcoming as many children and parents as possible!
Treasure Hunt – Where is the treasure in a church?
The children turned up for the Treasure Hunt – not sure exactly what they were about to do. The thought in most people’s minds was that ‘treasure’ was something worth a lot of money – however everybody soon discovered that this was not the case and that ‘treasure’ was really a collection of any precious things. One even said that her granny had given her a cuddle and called her a ‘treasure’.
The Service started with songs and prayers and then all were given sheets with 25 questions on them. Then it was a case of going round and round the Church trying to sort out and work out the clues and questions on the papers. Good fun was had by all working out the answers. Then even more laughter was heard as we went through the answers. Some of the adults there [children of ‘certain ages’] also did the quiz and all managed to get them ‘mostly’ right!
All then realised that ‘treasure’ was not something you could put a price on and that real treasure was those things we store in Heaven. The children also understood that this is where real treasure is, because there it does not rust – or perish – or get worn out – or develop holes.
At the end we all collected golden coins! Well, almost golden coins, just chocolate coins which we all enjoyed. While we were given the ‘coins’ we tried to work out just what our ‘Memory Verse’ meant and all thought that it was just right – it was
“In Jesus lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”
There was also some information from our Director of Music asking if any children would be interested in joining a children’s choir. It had been a fun time and we all look forward to our next meeting on Sunday 27th March when we will think about Mothering Sunday and its meaning.
For further details of all, or any, of our children’s work, please contact Brenda and Colin on 26815384 or Lynda on 26815347. We look forward to welcoming as many children and parents as possible!
Due to lack of support our Children's Services and Workshops are suspended until further notice. |
