The Magazine

A normal day that involves Walk through the Bible: Old Testament Mini begins with an hour of recapping over the stories for the session and the eight actions and phrases for that day that help the children to engage with the big story of the Bible and making it memorable.

It used to take a lot longer to practice when I first trained as a presenter but it all seems to come so much more naturally now.

I’m sure I must look a little odd when people walk past my window where I’m practising: talking to myself and flapping my arms about and putting on as many voices as possible for the different biblical characters in the stories where I play the part instead of the children (they play a lot of them when I’m in the class).

Once practised I grab lunch – although I often don’t eat much as I’m excited to share today’s session with Year 5–6s. Donning my Raise Kids Work T-shirt, I’m off to check my van to make sure I have all the props and costumes. Some days it involves a pomegranate and a cardboard box to represent Noah’s Ark, other days it’s a half-size ark of the covenant and a flame light to represent the burning bush.

Arriving at the school I struggle to get through the reception carrying so much stuff in one go – one day I’ll learn to remember a trolley – but not today!

I arrive at the classroom to a sea of expectant faces. I set up the costumes and props at the front and quickly find the powerpoint for that week. I begin by recapping over the previous week and check to see if they can remember all the phrases.

A quick mapping out of the room helps them visualise where in the world all the stories take place. I highlight places like the Sea of Galilee, Israel, Babylonia, the Mediterranean Sea and my personal favourite – “Ur” in the Persian Gulf.

In just under an hour we go through key stories from the Old Testament. In the Moses lesson we cover from his birth to his death! The children are so excited in this class, as one of their classmates has the last name Moses! They beg me to make him Moses and another to be Joshua as he has the same name too.

During the session we keep breaking to recap over the actions and phrases learnt so far. We pause to enable the children to think about their favourite part of the story or how they would feel to be in the shoes of the main characters.

At the end of the lesson one child comes up to me and says, “I’m really enjoying these lessons!” I pack up and head out of the school ready for a sit down and a cup of tea, happy to know 30 children are learning about God’s incredible story!

Raise Kids work is committed to raising up dynamic children’s ministry in churches and schools in East Anglia. See the related links below for more information, or to get in contact with Andy.