Barnabas in Churches E-News - October 2013

What a busy month ahead! October is packed with opportunities for a host of special services and celebrations that all come at once - Harvest Thanksgiving, Bible Sunday and All Hallows Eve; and then there's All Saints and Remembrance Sunday just around the corner. And that's without mentioning St Luke, St Francis and Apple Day or the fact that October is the month for The Big Draw.
Whatever the event, the story of God's love to us in Christ is surely the biggest draw ever, and to help you tell that story well, here are plenty of ideas, resources and books from us at BRF.

Ideas for autumn festivals

  1. Harvest
  2. St Francis' Day (4 October)
  3. St Luke's Day (18 October)
  4. Bible Sunday
  5. All Hallows Eve
  6. All Saints (1 November)
  7. Remembrance
  8. Apple Day and The Big Draw - see Creative Mission and More Creative Mission for plenty of ideas

New ideas for all-age worship

We have two new ideas this month:
  1. Time to seek the Lord: An outline for an all-age celebration linking the gaining of an hour on the clock in October and the story of King Hezekiah's healing.
  2. Make it count: This four-in-one visual aid explores the heart of the Christian good news, the content of the Bible, and offers a pattern for prayer and a short psalm of praise to God. Ideal for use with small groups or as a focus for a talk in an all-age Bible Sunday service or Messy Church celebration.

Top tips for all-age worship

More and more churches are recognising the importance of worshipping together with the whole family of God - young and old, all ages and all stages. It's not been our default tradition in the Protestant world to do this and some find it quite challenging, especially those asked to lead such services.
Check out our top ten tips for successful all-age worship in our article Worshipping together as well as our other training topics.

Planning ahead


We know Advent is some way off, but with the launch of our exciting new resource The Gingerbread Nativity, we just couldn't resist giving you a taster. This book draws on the popular tradition of making and decorating gingerbread houses and biscuits to explore the themes of Advent and the story of the first Christmas.
  1. Find out more
  2. Read a sample
Why not join the current trend for baking! And in keeping with the popularity of BBC's The Great British Bake Off, we have our own gingerbread nativity competition - check it out here.

While on the theme of Advent, dads hoping to enjoy seasonal quality time with their children need look no further than the Who Let The Dads Out? Christmas Celebration booklet for all-age activities to try at home.
Packed with practical ideas to help wrestle back some of the meaning of the Christmas celebration, this booklet is ideal for the pre-Christmas period. In keeping with the Who Let The Dads Out? tradition, and supporting the 'Christmas starts with Christ' national initiative, the ideas help dads and children experience the real meaning of Christmas without compromising a sense of fun and family traditions.
  1. Find out more
  2. Read a sample

BRF wishes to acknowledge, with thanks, the grant assistance from Speaking Volumes, which has made the publication of this book possible. Speaking Volumes is an initiative of The Christian Book Promotion Trust, 'placing good books in your community'.

Messy Church has proved to be a highly successful way for all-ages to grow and celebrate together. A new collection of essays in Messy Church Theology explores the significance of Messy Church for individual discipleship and for the wider church. Anyone wishing to engage in a broader awareness of this, or those who are questioning the long-term sustainability and impact of Messy Church, will find that the essays provide a framework for thought and debate.
  1. Find out more
  2. Read a sample

Top three ideas

Here, for your interest, are the top three most popular downloads from this website for October last year:
  1. God is a faithful gardener
  2. Remembrance Sunday making peace
  3. Harvest seed confession

Forthcoming events

Check out the following events in which our children ministry teams are involved:
  1. CRE Midlands, 3-4 October 2013, NEC, Birmingham - find out more
  2. Who Let The Dads Out? conference, 12 October 2013, 9.15 am - 3.30 pm, Hoole Baptist Church, Chester, Cheshire - find out more
  3. Children and family ministry training event, 9 November 2013, 10 am - 1 pm, St Andrew's Church, Crawley, Sussex - find out more
  4. Children's and Family Ministry Hand in Hand Conference, 31 January - 2 February 2014 - find out more

Could you support our Barnabas Children's Ministry financially?

BRF's Barnabas in Churches ministry is part of the UK's home mission, sharing the good news creatively with children and families. By God's grace, we are finding ourselves more and more in demand as we encourage people to explore the Christian faith. This ministry is largely funded by grants and donations. Could you help us with a regular or one-off personal donation? Could you encourage your church to support our Barnabas Children's Ministry as part of its regular giving? Whatever you're able to do, thank you for your support.

And finally....

As we all know so well, working with children and families can be both extremely tiring but also tremendously rewarding. But within the life of the church, it is not just that it can be rewarding but rather that it is vital for the future of the gospel.
So, here is a thought for you to draw encouragement from as we end:
A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a child.
FromWithin My PowerbyForest Witcraft
Then Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them by placing his hands on them.
Mark 10:16 (CEV)
Let's join him this month in doing just that.
With prayers for your work.
The Barnabas Children's Ministry Team
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