Finding materials that can be used within settings where people may struggle to read, don't know the Bible and find it hard to concentrate can be hard work for us as leaders - never mind the congregation. We want to share what works and give recommendations for materials. If you have some resources you could share, please send them to Stuart Gregg (remove the extra text from the 'To' line).
Additionally the talks and materials from the last two UPA forums are available for, where we could record them !
Being creative at Easter can be very rewarding and very draining. There are resources available, some suggestions are;
Plan a Christian Passover meal, inviting the community. You can use scense from the Miracle Maker and the Prince of Egypt to introduce the events. Then do foot washing, with every one having their own feet washed and then washing someone elses (tea tree oil in the water keeps it fresh !). This Publisher file has a suggested order, with some responses.
Lump in the Nooma series is very applicable to Good Friday. You can preview it at http://www.nooma.com/Shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=272 and can be bought at http://www.standrewsbookshop.co.uk/product/35223.htm.
Worship House Media has some files that can be used to communicate the Easter message;
http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/index.cfm?hndl=details&tab=MM&id=4482
http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/index.cfm?hndl=details&tab=MM&id=4806
http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/index.cfm?hndl=details&tab=MM&id=27
Iota Media also make video resources. Witness goes through the week before Easter as if they were being reported in the present day. http://www.iotadvd.co.uk/witness.htm.
Deal or No Deal
Deal or no deal makes a great introduction to a Christmas talk. At the end of the show people are asked if they want to swap what they have in their box for another one. Jesus swapped earth for heaven, giving his life to death so that we can swap our death to life. Play a game of deal or no deal, with the prize being squares of chocolate.
Boxes can be ordered from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Buy-Boxes-Online and painted red. Use the boxes with labels inside to play the game and then have four spare boxes labelled 'Heaven', 'Earth', 'Death' and 'Life'.
This video file (120Mb) gives you the opening title sequence, edited from Noel Edmonds saying 'Deal or no Deal'. This file (2.5Mb) contains the graphics for the labels and sound effects. It's worth watching a few shows to get the idea of how it is played and how the audience is involved in the game.
The end to the game and talk is pretty obvious, Jesus offers you life now, deal or no deal ?
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Chris Stebbing sent in these powerpoints to use in 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' themed Chritmas talk. God offers us more than a million pounds !
Mary and Martha
An all age service that is based on the story of Mary and Martha with the theme 'Make Time for Jesus - Especially at Christmas'. This file contains the service order, drama, sound effects, powerpoint for the talk. Click here for a video clip from 'The Miracle Maker' to the show the story of Mary and Martha (it is large). Click here for the opening titles of 'Ready, Steady, Cook' that are also used.
Old Befana
This story from the Lion Storyteller's Christmas Book (page 38 in the hardback version) can be used during Christmas. It tells the story of Befana who meets the Wise Men but decline a chance to go with them and meet Jesus. This PowerPoint gives a series of images to display whilst telling the story. Comments on each slide are taken from the story and show when a particular image could be displayed.
In UPA and estate areas people simply do not know the story of God's work. Without knowing who God is or what He has done it's difficult for people to see their place in His plans. Simply teaching what happens in the Bible to a non literate culture can be difficult. Some ideas to help;
Videos can be a good place to start. Films like the Miracle Maker, Prince of Egypt and Joseph King of Dreams at least give an introduction to the story of God's work.
Some books with illustrations that can be scanned and displayed (either through paper, OHP or video projection) can also help. Mick Inkpen's 'Stories Jesus Told' and 'Animal Tales' are good. 'The Lion Storyteller's Bible' is also good but has less illustrations.
Drama can be a powerful way to get the story told, presuming you have a few people who can read well enough to play the parts. This zip file contains some drama written by and for Buttershaw Baptist for use in all age services.
We hope to add some service outlines to services where the emphasis is on narrative teaching. This powerpoint gives an overview of Old Testament history which can be used to set the scene.
Service Orders
These zip file contains the service order and documents that were used in all age services at Buttershaw Baptist. Not all of any one service will be usable by everybody, but hopefully some of it will be useful to some of us !
Zacchaeus up a tree - Luke 19
Gideon - Judges 6-7
Jephthah - Judges 11
Samson (Part1) - Judges 14-15
Samson (Part 2) - Judges 16
Elijah (Part 1)
Elijah (Part 2) - 1 Kings 18
Elijah (Part 3) - 1 Kings 19
Elisha and Elijah
Elisha and Namaan - 2 Kings 5
http://www.worshiphousemedia.net/
http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php5?ct=site.home
http://www.faithvisuals.com/
http://www.flickr.com/ a large on line image sharing site. Type in search terms and be amazed at what come back !
http://www.istockphoto.com
YouTube has a range of videos, some of which are set to Christian music and can be great for worship services (type in Chris Tomlin or Tim Hughes and see what you get !). If you find something you like, you can get a copy of the video to play.
Copy the address from the address box in your browser (it will be something like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEAK_acTbsQ) and then go to www.videodl.org, paste in the address of the clip you want and follow the instructions.
Riva is a program that will let you turn the videos from youtube into a more normal .avi or .mpg, It is free and can be downloaded from here
www.buttershawbaptist.org.uk
This file contains the data folder for a copy of EasyWorship (song and media projection software www.easyworship.com). It has most of the New Wine song words and some beautiful backgrounds. It is a large file (180 Mb) so you need to be on broadband to get it from the site. This file requires you to be on the latest build of EasyWorship. It should be unzipped to the data directory of the EasyWorship profile you are using.
2008 Powerpoints & Notes
DBN Biblical Basis
Having the DBN
Making Disciples
5 Fingered Blessing
Equipping Track
Buttershaw Mission
Spiritual detox
2008 Session Recordings
Opening Session - Hugh Balfour
Outreach that works
Having the DBN
Closing Session - Steve McGanity
Seminar - Making Disciples (Steve McGanity)
Seminar - Multicultural UPA (Martyn Saunders)
Seminar - Fresh Expression in a UPA (Frances Shoesmith)
Seminar - Spiritual Detox (Helen Balfour)
2007 Powerpoints
Growing a community project
Keeping Going
Multi Cultural Mission
Charlie Cleverly Session One
Charlie Cleverly Session Three
2007 Notes
Growing a community project
Keeping Going
2007 Session Recordings
Charlie Cleverly Session One
Charlie Cleverly Session Three
Multi-Cultural Mission 1
Multi-Cultural Mission 2
Growing a Community Project
2006 Powerpoints
UPA Leadership
Community Projects
Sexual Morality
Non Book Teaching (also used The Gruffalo)
Come and Heal Us (used for worship)
Consuming Fire (used for worship)
2006 Notes
Non Book Teaching
2006 Session Recordings
Sexual Morality
