Previous Weeks
Sunday 19th July
This is our final week, looking together at the Book of Acts. As usual, there’s a video to watch together - with opportunities to pray, to worship and to laugh! (The videos are made by our friends at Spring Harvest). Plus, there are some ‘Springboard suggestions’. These are all suggestions for parents, to act as a springboard into ‘doing faith at home’ throughout the week. There’ll be ideas to chat about, things to do or play together, suggestions of how to bless others and reach out.
Springboard
Acts 12 & 16 - Angels & Earthquakes
Two amazing stories from the Bible about God breaking his followers out of prison, have a read Acts 12 and Acts 16
One of the key themes running through the bible is that of being set free. When Jesus begins his ministry he stands up in the temple and says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
So setting the wrongly imprisoned free is central to Jesus’ ministry. Here we have two examples of this happening in the physical world. But Jesus also came to set us free from anything that holds us back emotionally such as fear or worry.
Build a tower together. This might be made of blocks, cushions, toys or rubbish. When you have built the tower talk about the things that frighten or worry you, but how Jesus came to set us free. Then knock the tower down as a symbol of God setting us free.
Worship
When Paul and Silas were stuck in prison - they sang. Have a look at these amazing songs about Jesus setting us free
We would love to hear your stories of how you’re meeting with God as a family - if you’ve got any stories or pictures or photos or encouragements or answers to prayer or anything you sense God is saying, that you’re happy to share, do let Kathryn know, either on WhatsApp or via email at kathryn.harlow@stpaulsirelandwood.org
Previous weeks can be found here
Sunday 12th July
For the next few weeks, as families, we’re going to spend some time together working our way through the book of Acts, particularly Chapters 1-12. (The sermons in our online Sunday gatherings will all be from Acts 10 over this time). Each week there’ll be a video to watch together - with opportunities to pray, to worship and to laugh! (The videos are made by our friends at Spring Harvest). Plus, each week there'll be some ‘Springboard suggestions’. These are all suggestions for parents, to act as a springboard into ‘doing faith at home’ throughout the week. There’ll be ideas to chat about, things to do or play together, suggestions of how to bless others and reach out.
(You’ll need a tea towel for your head! And a torch or fairy lights or a night light)
Springboard
You can read about this week’s stories of “Get up and Glow” in the Bible, In Acts 8 and 9.
If you’ve not done the “listening to God” prayer from the video, give that a try together. Spend some time ‘chatting to God’ and ‘catching from Him’. Parents can suggest things to talk to God about. E.g. “Tell God about your favourite place to go; tell God what you love to do there; ask God what he enjoys doing with you” If you’ve not done ‘chat and catch’ as a family before and/or haven’t done the Parenting for Faith Course, do check out this helpful link on exploring ‘chat and catch’ at home: https://parentingforfaith.org/101
Do some junk modelling together. Raid the recycling bin and transform some rubbish into something new. In our story, God transformed Saul’s life and then sent him out to glow, full of the Holy Spirit. As you make and build, chat to God as a family about the change and transformation you’d like to see in yourself, in your family, in our world.
One of our families has had great fun using their recycling to build a marble run! What could your recycling be transformed into?
Make a plan of how and where and you could “get up and glow”. Ask God who he’d like you to serve or bless this week - make some space to ‘catch’ from God and listen to what he’s saying and showing each of you. Make a plan together as a family.
Worship
We would love to hear your stories of how you’re meeting with God as a family - if you’ve got any stories or pictures or photos or encouragements or answers to prayer or anything you sense God is saying, that you’re happy to share, do let Kathryn know, either on WhatsApp or via email at kathryn.harlow@stpaulsirelandwood.org
Sunday 5th July
For the next few weeks, as families, we’re going to spend some time together working our way through the book of Acts, particularly Chapters 1-12. (The sermons in our online Sunday gatherings will all be from Acts 10 over this time). Each week there’ll be a video to watch together - with opportunities to pray, to worship and to laugh! (The videos are made by our friends at Spring Harvest). Plus, each week there'll be some ‘Springboard suggestions’. These are all suggestions for parents to act as a springboard into ‘doing faith at home’ throughout the week. There’ll be ideas to chat about, things to do or play together, suggestions of how to bless others and reach out.
You’ll need a torch this week (you could always use your mobile phone if you don’t have an actual torch) and you’ll all need a tea towel for your heads for the theme song!
Springboard
You can read about this week’s stories of “Passing on the Glow” in the Bible, In Acts 3 and Acts 5:12-16. Or you can watch the story of Acts 3 here
As a family, try some shadow play or some shadow STEM activities.
You’ll need a bright torch or lamp (or if it ever stops raining and the sun is shining you could do this outside!). There are loads of ideas here for playing with shadows. Pick one or two that your family would most enjoy. Can you try and jump into each others’ shadows? As you play and experiment with shadows, chat about Acts 5:15. Peter was so good at “passing on the glow” of the Holy Spirit. I wonder why people wanted to be caught in his shadow? How can you and your family “pass on the glow”?
If you haven’t already done the torch prayers from the video, why don’t you give that a try? Grab a torch and get everyone in your house together. Shine the torch at the first person and pray together for that person. Tell God out loud what you love and appreciate about that person and their character, the ways they serve and love and bless your family and the ways in which you see the glow of the holy spirit in them. Make sure everyone who wants to gets a turn at being in the glow of the torch and being prayed for.
Acts 1:8 says “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” Over the next few weeks, let’s all try to learn that verse together. A song often helps us to remember, so if you’d like a song to help, you could try the one next to this. You might like to write out the verse and stick it on your fridge. If you’ve got a printer at home, here’s a colouring sheet to print off the verse:
We would love to hear your stories of how you’re meeting with God as a family - if you’ve got any stories or pictures or photos or encouragements or answers to prayer or anything you sense God is saying, that you’re happy to share, do let Kathryn know, either on WhatsApp or via email at kathryn.harlow@stpaulsirelandwood.org
Previous weeks can be found here