Posted via Blogaway
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Adventist Youth Program Idea #5
Personal testimonies should have a special place in the Sabbath program. Each
Sabbath, the congregation should be encouraged and educated in a way that
throughout the coming week they will be able to live and create fresh
experiences that will strengthen their personal bond with Christ. These
experiences, when shared with the church in the Sabbaths to follow, will in turn
inspire and encourage others in their daily walk with the Saviour.
More often than not, though, the program leader will have a problem finding someone from the congregation to share an inspiring experience with the church. There are two possible reasons that could account for this.
First, the members do not have such experiences. Second, they are too shy to come up front and share the experiences they do have.
One way to deal with both problems is through this simple activity.
PROGRAM IDEA: Group Testimonies
Objective: To encourage the congregation to share their personal experiences as a Christian.
Materials Needed: None
Mechanics:
Divide the congregation into as many small groups as reasonable. Ours did well with four. Instruct each group to gather experiences from the members for each of the following categories:
1. Answered Prayer
2. Helping Others
3. Witnessing to Others
4. Conversion
5. Overcoming Temptation
You could also add other categories or come up with an entirely different set of categories. Give the group about ten minutes to gather these experiences. Time pressure is sometimes necessary to motivate the members to volunteer their experiences. Also, dividing them into smaller groups will encourage them to contribute. Plus, there’s the assurance that he/she won’t be the only one to do it.
At the end of the allotted time, have the group representatives come up to share their experiences with the bigger congregation. It’s also advisable to set a time limit for each group to present. The adult males at our church had more than five representatives, and we only then discovered that the “quiet” ones have a lot happening in their lives that are worth hearing!
At the end of the afternoon, we heard at least 20 different experiences from our members, most of them sharing for the first time.
Optional: Have the entire group come up front at the beginning of their turn to sing a hymn, serving as intermissions between the mini-speeches. We did this at our church so the non-representatives could still take part in the larger program.
I hope this helps your AY Program plan for this coming Sabbath. If you do use this program idea, do share how it goes. I would very much love to hear from you.
God bless!
Check out other AY program ideas in this blog by clicking here.
More often than not, though, the program leader will have a problem finding someone from the congregation to share an inspiring experience with the church. There are two possible reasons that could account for this.
First, the members do not have such experiences. Second, they are too shy to come up front and share the experiences they do have.
One way to deal with both problems is through this simple activity.
PROGRAM IDEA: Group Testimonies
Objective: To encourage the congregation to share their personal experiences as a Christian.
Materials Needed: None
Mechanics:
Divide the congregation into as many small groups as reasonable. Ours did well with four. Instruct each group to gather experiences from the members for each of the following categories:
1. Answered Prayer
2. Helping Others
3. Witnessing to Others
4. Conversion
5. Overcoming Temptation
You could also add other categories or come up with an entirely different set of categories. Give the group about ten minutes to gather these experiences. Time pressure is sometimes necessary to motivate the members to volunteer their experiences. Also, dividing them into smaller groups will encourage them to contribute. Plus, there’s the assurance that he/she won’t be the only one to do it.
At the end of the allotted time, have the group representatives come up to share their experiences with the bigger congregation. It’s also advisable to set a time limit for each group to present. The adult males at our church had more than five representatives, and we only then discovered that the “quiet” ones have a lot happening in their lives that are worth hearing!
At the end of the afternoon, we heard at least 20 different experiences from our members, most of them sharing for the first time.
Optional: Have the entire group come up front at the beginning of their turn to sing a hymn, serving as intermissions between the mini-speeches. We did this at our church so the non-representatives could still take part in the larger program.
I hope this helps your AY Program plan for this coming Sabbath. If you do use this program idea, do share how it goes. I would very much love to hear from you.
God bless!
Check out other AY program ideas in this blog by clicking here.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Kindergarten: The Ten Plagues of Egypt
I know I promised a post on Baby Moses and I'm getting around to doing just that. In the meantime, I just have to share this puzzle activity on the Ten Plagues of Egypt because I put a lot of work into making it. haha
After making each individual piece fit, editing each piece, cutting up into 12 different files, fitting them up together to see if they'd fit back, and finally laying out for printing, I now think I deserve applause. and I still have to cut them up using real scissors and sort the pieces (120 pieces, to be exact) into envelopes. remind me why on earth I thought of this activity. I'm definitely saving this and using this again and again just to make the effort worth it.
The idea is to hand out the puzzle pieces to the kids and have them glue the pieces back together on a prepared sheet. I do hope they enjoy doing this.
Anyway, none of the clipart used is mine so I'm paying forward by sharing the puzzle here.
If you do use this for your class, do tell me how it goes.
God bless!
After making each individual piece fit, editing each piece, cutting up into 12 different files, fitting them up together to see if they'd fit back, and finally laying out for printing, I now think I deserve applause. and I still have to cut them up using real scissors and sort the pieces (120 pieces, to be exact) into envelopes. remind me why on earth I thought of this activity. I'm definitely saving this and using this again and again just to make the effort worth it.
The idea is to hand out the puzzle pieces to the kids and have them glue the pieces back together on a prepared sheet. I do hope they enjoy doing this.
Anyway, none of the clipart used is mine so I'm paying forward by sharing the puzzle here.
If you do use this for your class, do tell me how it goes.
God bless!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)