Out of the Box Worship is a brand new pattern for classroom worship in Key Stage 1.

Are you trying to think of what to do for that Harvest Thanksgiving rapidly approaching? Well, here are a few ideas from Barnabas to get you started...

Bristol and Swindon LAs have revised their guidance for Collective Worship. The new guidance should improve Ofsted outcomes in this field and can be downloaded here.

An inclusive All-age Easter talk involving children and young people...

• Buy some plastic Easter Eggs - the kind that open so that you can put things inside. Easily available from PoundShops.
• Read the Holy Week/Easter story with the children/young people. Ask them what they want to say about it to the congregation.
• Then ask them what objects/symbols might help them say/show their ideas.
• Source or make these with the children and put one inside each egg. (Remember which is inside each colour and the order you want them to appear.) Decide together what needs to be said about the object/symbol.
• On Easter morning, have less confident children opening the eggs and showing the object/symbol and the more confident ones saying something about it. If the church is large, you might want to substitute boxes for the eggs so that the objects can be larger!
• Finish by having all the children saying, 'He is Risen' - and the congregation responding 'Alleluia'. (You could do this two or three times getting louder each time.)

Our Resource Centre has lots of ideas for exploring and sharing what Easter is about. Why not come and see us to get some inspiration and practical things you can use?

mission and evangelism  |  pastoral  |  liturgy 

group courses  |  personal study

Bible study  |  meditations and devotions

theology and philosophy  |  interfaith

festivals  |  music  |  art  |  digital media

Saints and lives of discipleship  |  church history

worship  |  prayer  |  spirituality and mysticism

The Diocesan vision emphasises creating new communities and initiatives where Christ is central. St Augustine saw Christ’s role in the Trinity as ‘understanding’ - triangulating memory  (the Father) and will (the Holy Spirit). The Centre’s first aim is to promote and equip a better understanding of the Christian faith.

Just as Christ is ‘understanding’, He is also humanity. The Resource Centre intends to be more than a physical place with materials of spiritual value - it’s also about people and the Centre can be a network.

Maybe you’d benefit in your role or at your church from professional advice or training from Diocesan staff. Perhaps you have a need, or something to offer, or are looking for ways to ‘put your faith to work’. The Centre may be able to point you in the right direction. Get in touch!

This worship idea is a reflection based on Psalm 46 - "Be still and know that I am God."

It was first presented at the Next Generation conference in October 2011. You can use this video file or Powerpoint presentation to try it yourself.

Thanks to Mary Hawes for spotting this gem of a blog entry by Carolyn C. Brown… you can see the original here.

The final Harry Potter movie comes out the middle of July. There will be lots of hype – mild understatement! Many older children and Potter fans of all ages who have already read the books and seen the other movies will be rereading and reviewing them looking forward to this final installment. Some will attend the movie dressed in costume. In short, it is a big deal.

Father’s Day is not easy! It is a secular day that came into being around 50 years ago – and the cynics would say it’s simply another card and gift buying occasion. But it does feature prominently in family life – and is a good opportunity for churches to invite people along for a special service.

These two Powerpoints present the Lord's Prayer, one traditional and the other a modern twist of Jesus’s words in Luke 11:1-4. A great visual tool for brightening up all-age worship or concluding an assembly in school.