Look at Bible Passages That Encourage Giving and Service
KEY STAGE 2
Mid-term planning
Year 5: Unit 6 / Term: Summer 2 / Year:
What is best for our world? Does religion help people decide?
Key Concepts: Inspiration; Christianity; Charity; tithing, Islam - Zakat / Learning Objective: to explore how and why believers help others through charity and service
Background information for teachers
Zakat – almsgiving or charity – is one of the 5 Pillars of Islam. The teaching, though these days usually left to the individual, is traditionally a tax of 2.5% payable once a year on capital - usually bank deposits, precious metals, merchandise used in trade, livestock and crops from cultivated land. It is not normally payable on personal possessions such as cars, clothing, homes or jewellery. Traditionally it is collected by the Mosque at the end of Ramadan and distributed to the poor and needy. Some Mosques will still observe this tradition, but some will give to other charities instead. There is a threshold, called the Nisab above which Zakat becomes compulsory. There are websites that will help Muslims calculate how much they should give and which show daily the current rate for Nisab: Muslims pay Zakat if their net assets equal or exceed the Nisab threshold. There is a level for whether people have assets in gold or silver. If they only have gold as an asset, then the Nisab measure for gold must be used. If they have a mixture of assets, then the Nisab level for silver should be used. In most cases this means that if net assets (income and savings) are above the silver Nisab threshold, Zakat must be paid on the total amount of wealth owned. Islam teaches that people should acquire wealth with the intention of spending it on their own needs and the needs of others. "‘Man’, said the Prophet, ‘says: My wealth! My wealth!’ Have you not any wealth except that which you give as alms and thus preserve, wear and tatter, eat and use up?" The whole concept of wealth is considered in Islam as a gift from God. God, who provided it to the person, made a portion of it for the poor, so the poor have a right over one’s wealth. Giving is commended in the Qur’an 9.20. Those who believe, and emigrate, and strive in God’s path with their possessions and their persons, are of a higher rank with God. These are the winners. The Qur’an emphasizes feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping those who are in need, and the more one helps, the more God helps the person, and the more one gives, the more God gives the person. Christian giving has its’ roots in the Old Testament – not harvesting crops to the edge of the fields, caring for the orphans and widows, bringing the tithe into the barn. There are many passages about giving: Matthew 6:2-3 and Matthew 25:31-46 are two of the best known. The story of the widow’s mite – Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4. Traditional teaching suggests a sum of 10% should be tithed on income; many churches take a weekly collection, but there is no compulsion to give and it is not usually a condition of membership of a church. Many Christians also follow the examples of Jesus and the disciples – helping those who are sick, or suffering in some ways. Many charities have been founded by Christians – Oxfam, Christian Aid, Tearfund and Traidcraft.
Expected
Pupils will be able to explain using some religious texts why Christians and Muslims give to other people and help those in need. Pupils will know about Zakat, and the motivation for Muslims to give to the needy. Pupils will identify some of the things that the world needs and identify ways in which charities, both religious and secular aim to meet those needs and the motivation for doing so. They will know about the principle of tithing and discuss the implications for the giver and the receiver.
Developing
Pupils will be able to identify some of the needs of the world and identify some of the ways that charities try to address these needs. They will understand that some people act from religious motives and be able to compare those to their own motives. / Excelling
Pupils will use a wider range of religious texts to explain Christian and Muslim views on charity and be able to compare Zakat and tithing. They will be able to compare the contribution of different charities to the needs to the world and suggest other ways of responding.
Engage:
- How helpful are you? Pupils conduct a class/school survey on being helpful. What does it mean to be helpful? Write about the most helpful thing that they have ever done. What made them do it? What were the consequences? Why are some people more helpful than others? What kind of people need to be helpful in their work? Design an advert for a “helpful” person. What qualities would they need to have?
Enquire & Explore: (AT1)
- Explore some of the helpful things that the disciples did, focusing on the early stories in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Consider also the letters of Paul. Were they helpful? Why did they do them?
- Look at Bible Passages that encourage giving and service.
- Research a Muslim charity, such as the Red Crescent and link it to Islamic teaching – one of the Five Pillars- Zakat.
- Research Christian Aid and how they set about helping people in Africa.
- Perhaps research Band Aid, Medecins Sans Frontiers or another non-religious organisation and what it has achieved, looking for the inspiration behind these charities.
Evaluate: (AT2 Impersonal)
- What’s important for our world? A diamond nine activity would be good at this point, exploring the needs to the world. Ask the question about whether people have to be religious to want to do these things? Is it only religious people who are prepared to sacrifice themselves for others?
- What’s important for our world?
- Do religious people make a difference to the world? Is it a positive difference? Do you think they should do that or is belief a private matter? Address the key question about whether it is only people of faith who help others and discuss why that might be. Do the religious charities make a greater difference than the non-religious charities? Does it matter? Would they consider working for a charity? Why? Why not? If there were no charities, what would the world be like? Does the world need charities?
Reflect & Communicate: (AT2 Personal)
- What do the children think is the most important thing that needs to happen in the world and how they would go about making a difference? Would they want to make a difference? Make a poster/leaflet giving the information about the charity they would most want to support or help. Do the children want to change any of the ideas they had at the beginning about being helpful? Is there anything that they need to do differently?
Evaluation:
- What went well?
- Even better if:
Some suggested resources:
- RE today publications: Faith in Action, People of Faith, Christianity Topic Folder Units 5 and 6
- Books about Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu etc.
- Christian Aid - What’s best for our world DVD and Booklet (available free from Christian Aid)
- h – Red cross and red crescent information
- ttps:// -
RE SCHEME OF WORK
CLASS RECORD SHEET
Assessment opportunities & activities
Year 5: Unit 6 / Term: Summer 2 / Year:
What is best for our world? Does religion help people decide?
Some pupils will have made more progress and be able to use a developing religious vocabulary to:
- Show understanding of how different people interpret the needs of the world in different ways
- Use the right words to explain how and why Christian Aid tries to meet the needs of the world
- Describe and link Christian or Muslim teaching with Charity work, referring to specific teachings of Jesus/sayings from the Qur’an
- Connect the work of Christian Aid with three sayings of Jesus about poverty
- Create a statement about own views of what the world needs, comparing them to religious beliefs and suggesting ways in which these problem might be solved by religious or non-religious believers
- Examine a news story about charity work from the perspective of either a Christian or a Muslim
Most pupils will be able to use a developing religious vocabulary to
- Describe some of the ways in which believers aim to meet the needs of the world
- Use the correct words to describe simply the work of a religiously based charity
- Ask questions and suggest answers about why religious believers aim to meet the needs of the world
- Make a link between Christian Aid and the teachings of Jesus and the Bible
- Make a link between their own helpfulness and the work of various charities
- Give a presentation/ prepare a leaflet about a need they have identified and how they think it should be tackled
Some pupils will have made less progress and be able to use religious words and phrases to:
- Hot-seat as Christian or a Muslim and answer questions about the needs of the world
- Give a reason based on religious beliefs for why charities aim to help people in need
- Identify some ways in which Christian charities seek to make the world a better place and some ways in which Muslims try to make the world a better place
- Talk about their views of what the world needs
- Recognise the things that motivate them to care for others in the world and the things that motivate others, including religious believers