Dizzying

Monica and Tevunga just love spinning around in the hall after church on a Sunday morning!

Pretzels

Last Sunday our Awesome Kids made PRETZELS. It was a lot of fun, and they tasted delicious! The shape of the pretzel reminded us of God's loving arms around us, loving us and protecting us. 

Some of our Awesome Kids and some "bigger kids" in the congregation helped act out a skit, explaining the Bible reading about The Armour of God.

Some big meanies came up to Monica and said some unkind things, whilst hitting her with balloons! How terrible! But... the Awesome Kids were able to help Monica find pieces of "armour" to put on, and she was able to deflect the bullies and their taunts, and popped their balloons. They went back to their seats looking very defeated :o)

We were reminded that God's love is always with us, not matter what we face in life...and although we might still get a bit bumped and bruised along the way, the never-ending strength of God's awesome love is with us, helping us to get through life's challenges.

August FISH

Check out the videos and photos from this month's FISH. We had a fabulous PERCUSSION BATTLE, where teams found ordinary household items to use as instruments in a battle of the beats. It was HOME vs OFFICE... 

The Home Team used kitchen and laundry implements such as buckets, pots, teapot lids and wooden spoons, even a few packets of dried food! The Office Team used pens, coffee cups, stapler, tissue and paper boxes and a computer keyboard. It was LOUD and it was FUN! 

Percussion battles at FISH!

Tonight's FISH (Family Fun Night) was joyfully noisy - 22 awesome kids plus an assortment of awesome adults... lots of hoops, balls, the Fruit Game, a Family Feud game, and a Percussion Battle!

We had the 'Home' Team and the 'Office' Team. The 'Home' team were given a bucket full of kitchen implements, pot lids, teapots and packets of food. The 'Office' team had a computer keyboard, stapler, tissue boxes, pens, rubber bands, coffee cups, rulers and other items you might find in an office. Each team had ten minutes to compose and rehearse a percussion performance piece - and were judged by some special guest judges, Gracie's parents.

The rhythm was spot on, the enthusiasm and creativity outstanding, and in the end the judges declared it a draw. Keep an eye on the blog and we'll upload videos of the performances soon.

FISH 5.30pm

FISH is at the slightly later time of 5.30pm this Saturday, so bring your dinner and meet in the Awesome Room for a fun night with a mix of games and challenges to suit all ages and abilities. Something with a musical flavour this time!

See you there!

Musikool Kids Fun

We had an influx of fathers at Musikool Kids this morning, and it was lovely to hear the deep voices as the Dads sang with their sons and daughters around the rainbow ring.

There were lots of giggles and cackles as some Dads lifted their children up as we sang the Hey Dum Diddle song with our scarves, "Stretch up high.... and come down low..."

Lovely to have grandparents there too, enjoying this special time with their treasured tamariki.

Wise Owls

This week is all about owls and bread.

We talked about what it means to be wise. Caleb pretty much summed it up: He said, "Being wise is being thoughtful, and making good decisions."

We discussed wise decisions, and what it is to know right from wrong, and to be able to figure out what to do in difficult situations.

Jesus used stories called 'parables' to explain how God wants us to live. Sometimes in Awesome Time, we use modern-day stories, picture books or plays to help explain God's messages from the Bible. This week, our Awesome Kids helped act out a story based on a picture book written by Robin Tzannes, called Sanji and the Baker.

There was a poor man, called Sanji, who lived in a small room, it was simple but quite cosy. The best thing about it was it was right above the baker's shop. Every morning, Sanji would step out onto his balcony and take a deep breath, and whiffed and sniffed the heavenly aroma of freshly baked bread. Mmmmmm....

Sadly, Sanji couldn't afford to buy the bread from the bakery. He had to make do with standing on the balcony and inhaling the lovely smells coming from the bakery.

One day the grumpy baker insisted Sanji pay him for the smells he had been enjoying. But Sanji was poor and had no money so the baker took him to court. The wise judge told Sanji to return the next day with 5 silver coins. Sanji had to borrow from everyone he knew for the five coins, but... the coins were not to pay the baker. Read the book and find out how the wise judge used the 5 silver coins to teach a very valuable and amusing lesson. 

Whilst the Baker made some bad decisions and did not live in God's way, Sanji's friends were compassionate and generous, lending him the coins even when they knew he probably wouldn't be able to pay them back. And the judge, well he was super wise... you'll just have to read the book to find out why!

The lesson for us was, to think about what it means to live wisely. To live in God's way of love and kindness, sharing what we have with those in need.

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." 

Jesus was always concerned about the physical needs of people. That's why he spent so much time feeding the poor, healing the sick. But he wasn't just concerned about empty stomachs, he was even more concerned about empty hearts. 

As we share our bread together, with the hungry, let us also share the story of Jesus, the Bread of Life, and celebrate that God's never-ending LOVE is for everyone, no matter how poor or rich. Let us share that LOVE and kindness and generosity with everyone too.

To help us remember...

We made some cool, crafty, wise owls - some to take home and some to go up in the Chapel Street Art Gallery. And we enjoyed some beautiful freshly baked bread!

Thanks to Ella and Daniella, we had some lovely pine cones to make some wise old owls with!

Introducing our newest Awesome Kid:
Jack!

Not only was it YOUTH SUNDAY, and we were so happy to have lots of youth leading our service, but Sunday was extra special as we got to meet Rev Anne Preston, who will be minister at Christchurch North Methodist from early next year. Anne's son Jack joined our Awesome crew for the day. We look forward to seeing you again next year, Jack! Ka kite ano!

Smiling Sisters

Some beautiful smiling sisters at the end of another Musikool Kids Friday morning session.

Musikool Kids, our Music and Movement Classes for Pre-school aged children, runs during school term time on Fridays at 10am.

Our sessions are usually 30 to 40 minutes and include a variety of traditional and modern children's songs, percussion instruments, scarves, rainbow ring, puppets, parachute, bubbles and much more.

At the end of our session we have a morning tea and play time, which is a great opportunity for the adults to get to know one another.

If anyone would like to help serve the cups of tea once a term, please get in contact with Melanie or Merilyn, we would love to hear from you! Thank you!

Seed Sowing at CHYPS Youth Group

CHYPS, is the Chapel Street Young People's YOUTH GROUP, for youth in school years 7 through to 13. CHYPS meets once a month, on a Saturday evening, from 6.30pm to 8pm at the Chapel Street Centre.

The purpose of CHYPS is:

* to welcome youth from our church and community to connect in a fun, relaxed group with Christian values

* to build relationships between our church leaders and the youth in our church & community

* to be primarily a social group, enabling youth to make new friends and strengthen existing friendships within the church & our community

A typical CHYPS evening consists of a mix of high-energy and quieter games and concludes with supper & a 10-minute ‘God-Time’ (low-key, informal, bible-based chat/devotion).

Our current group has a wide range of ages and a mix of youth who attend church and many who don't. We provide a safe, friendly and caring environment where the youth feel valued and respected.

We aim to be 'Seed Sowers', in the words of Siu Williams-Lemi, Regional Youth Co-ordinator for the Sth Island Methodist Church:

"The one thing I have learnt is that although everything we teach is important, what is more important is the relationships we build with the children and the atmosphere we create."

We warmly invite new members to CHYPS, and if any parents are interested in helping on our supper roster we would love to hear from you!

Merilyn's Little Helpers

Last Friday at Musikool Kids, Merilyn was thrilled to have some lovely little helpers when it was time to wheel the tea trolley back to the kitchen!

AbsolUKEly Fabulous!

Last Sunday our UKULELE GROUP, AbsolUKE, led our worship with an oldie but a goodie, JESUS LOVES ME.

Some of our ukulele players have only been playing for a couple of months, wow, they are fast learners! The group sounded amazing and the congregation loved singing along to this classic with the ukes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzEcrhq5rIQ

The Wide-Mouthed Frog

Last Sunday we had the story of the Wide-Mouthed Frog, who had a very big mouth, loved the sound of his own voice, and ate... flies.

The Wide-Mouthed Frog decided to go on a journey to see the world. On his journey, he met some other creatures, who didn't look like him or talk like him or eat like him. The Wide-Mouthed Frog was rather boastful, and announced arrogantly in his big, wide-mouthed voice, "I'm the Wide-Mouthed Frog, and I eat flies! Who are you, and what do you eat?"

When he met the sheep, he called him a strange, woolly creature and made fun of him eating grass. When he met the pig, he made fun of his smelly breath. When he met the donkey, he made fun of him eating porridge.

When he met a strange looking animal that looked rather like a mossy log, he got quite a shake-up when the crocodile announced, "I'm a CROCODILE and I EAT WIDE-MOUTHED FROGS!"

With that, the Wide-Mouthed Frog puckered up his mouth into the tiniest, narrowest mouth he possibly could and squeaked, "Oh, Wide-Mouthed Frogs, gosh, you don't see many of them around these days, do you? I'm off!" And he hopped away.

We talked about how vain and mean the Wide-Mouthed Frog was, and how hurtful the unkind things he said were. We hope the Wide-Mouthed Frog learnt to think before he speaks in future!

We read the letter in the Bible:

We all belong to God’s family. Be kind to one another. Share what you have with one another. When you speak, speak to build up one another. Use kind and helpful words. Be kind to one another.

We made some wide-mouthed frogs, with tongues that said 'USE KIND WORDS' to remind us God wants us to say things that are kind and helpful to people, not hurtful.

(based on Ephesians 4:25—5:2)

I am

Last Sunday we explored a whole lot of "I am" statements in the bible, where Jesus said things like, "I am the bread of life."

"I am the light of the world."

"I am the good shepherd."

We created our own "I am" statements about ourselves. Some examples were:

"I am unique."

"I am treasured."

"I am brave."

"I am caring."

It was a busy morning, with lots of activity! The band played, and we were thrilled to have Angel join us with her beautiful vocals this morning. After church, our ukulele group, AbsolUKE, had a jam, and they are ready to lead worship this coming Sunday with a song they have been learning. Can't wait!

A Storm in Church

https://youtu.be/FodBmTxjiQI

Last Sunday, we had quite a storm in church. 

We had wind tubes, thunder drums, waves of streamers splashing from one side of the church to the other... the congregation rocked from side to side as the waves pushed our boat around... we even had to use buckets to bail water (and if you look very closely you might see one person found another use for her bucket!)

We were reminded that when we are afraid, we are all in the same boat. And when we invite Jesus into the boat with us, we have nothing to fear, because we are not alone.

Even when we think God is far away, or that we don't deserve God's love, there is always more thank enough of God's love for all of us, and then even more!

Jesus is with us in the Storms of Life

Our Awesome Kids created a musical storm last Sunday, to remind us that whatever storms life brings, Jesus is right there with us, loving us always and helping us to get through.

https://youtu.be/NAnLT6RIyOY

Cheese Rolls and Chocolate Sauce at CHYPS

Last month's YOUTH GROUP involved a Scavenger Hunt and a scrumptious supper including cheese rolls and ice-cream with home-made chocolate sauce. Delicious! Thanks Carol & Sue!