Assembly idea: being there for one another. (help, working together, community)

This assembly idea is based on working together, community and asking for the advice and help of other people.  It uses two ropes in a kind of rope trick.

Many thanks to Andy Shaw of Blackpool for this idea that he uses in schools.

You will need:

Two long (5 foot) pieces of rope. This is particularly effective if they are of different colours – red and blue is great – but not essential.

You can use skipping rope from the school, but many schools are now moving over to speed skipping ‘ropes’ which are plastic with handles, so it’s best to check before assuming anything!  Otherwise you can obtain rope from a magic shop, such as Tricks For Truth (take a look round while you are there.  And if you want any magic tricks for your spare rope let me know and I will send you some ideas!).  At a push you can go down the local DIY store, but you will pay much more for it than if you had bought soft magicians rope, which is actually better anyway.

Follow the illustrations on the left for an explanation.

1) On each end of the ropes tie a loop which is just big enough to fit over a child’s hand.  Do that by folding over the end (about a foots worth at each end) and then tying both the end and the main bit of rope into a simple overhand knot.  That will give you a loop that isn’t a slip knot.  You should now have two ropes, and four loops.

In the assembly, choose two volunteers.  Have them face each other and one person puts the two loops of one rope over each of their wrists, the rope now hangs loosely between that person’s wrists.  We will call them ‘A’

2) The other volunteer (B) steps forwards. Put a loop of the second rope on B’s wrist, then pass the remainder of the rope behind A’s rope.  Finally, B put the loop of rope over their other wrist.  You should end up with something like the picture below, with A and B facing each other, joined by the fact that the ropes are linked.

The challenge is for them to unhook themselves without actually taking the rope loops off their wrists.

Let them struggle for a moment or so, and then ask them if there are any teachers that they would like to have a go.

3) The trick to this, if it can be called trick, because it isn’t magic or conjouring, but rather a puzzle, is to take the centre of one of the ropes, and push it backwards through the loop over one of the wrists and then the hand of the other person.  Again, the illustration will help (I’ve drawn the blue rope a bit bigger for clarity!).

You can make the point from this that we all need help from other people that know the answer. That we can just guess, but sometimes we need to ask for help.

There are a variety of ways of using the Bible with this one, here are some ideas.

• Asking Jesus in prayer – Luke 11.9
• Jesus promise to send the Holy Spirit – John 14.26
• Pentecoste – Acts 2
  The church as the body of Christ – 1 Corinthians 12

And the themes are

• Building up one another

Helping one another
Trust
Community

To name but a few!

Andy suggests that you get a nice cloth bag to present the ropes in so that you can ham it up a bit with the presentation.

Shortlink : http://wp.me/pDlJe-5p

p.s. if you would like an illustration drawing for you then please contact me at andyg@onegraydot.co.uk !  I will have to fit it round my regular schools work though…

O.M.G – the shortest prayer in the world assembly

This started with the thought that God’s name does get used as part of culture, and not in the way he intended.  Of course, challenging culture is hard work, and you have to be careful how you do it.  This was a way that I and the wife devised.

O.M.G. – the shortest prayer in the world.

With: a marker pen and flipchart.

Write the initials O.M.G. on the flipchart and ask if anyone knows what it means without shouting out.  Ask for the hands to be put down, you will come back to it.

Point out the importance of names.  I say something like this:

Did you know that names are important?  For example, when you meet someone for the first time, what is the first thing that you give them?  (ask for a couple of children’s names… lets say its Thomas and Ben).  Imagine this, you are sat next to Ben in class.  Ben, can I borrow your rubber?  Ben probably would give it to you.  (Repeat this with other items, like a pencil, a ruler.)  But if you just said ‘Oi’ because you don’t know his name, Ben probably wouldn’t be as helpful.  Or then (at this point shout without looking) THOMAS! (he will jump out of his skin). Did that make you jump?  Sorry, but you see what I mean? Names are powerful.  You can ask people to do things or tell them things.  Giving your name to someone is risky: it means you are wanting to be friends with them and that you are willing to do something for them.

Lets go back to O.M.G.  What does it mean (Oh My God).  I don’t know if you have ever thought about this, but it is the shortest prayer in the world.  It could really mean ‘oh my God help me.’  Sometimes it’s shortened to just God, or Christ, sometimes with and Oh God, which just misses out the my bit.  Quite often it’s if someone stubs there toe, or is surprised by something.  But I wonder if it is really the right way to use it….  Let me explain why, it all started about 3000 years ago…

(Tell a summary version of Moses hearing God’s voice on Mt Sinai when he was a shepherd.  Ex 3:1-15).  You see God’s name is special – Yahweh, or Jehovah means ‘I am’.  God gave his name, he wanted to be known, to be friends, just like we have already described.  In fact God even made a rule, ‘don’t use my name the wrong way,’ to make sure that people didn’t take advantage of him.  So knowing all that the question is this, if God loves us so much and shows it by letting us know his name, should we use his name just as any other word when we stub a toe, or are surprised?

Finish by saying the shortest prayer in the world.  Say this prayer once to demonstrate, then everyone can say it together.

Oh my God, please help me.  Amen

Shortlink: http://wp.me/pDlJe-J

Encourage prayer in your congregation for your school

Local prayer idea!

The thief that I am, the other day I accidentally removed a mug from one of the schools I regularly visit.  Yeah, I know, well that’s me.  It got into my bag between the staff room and the assembly hall.  I confessed up, and they told me to keep it.  Every time I use the mug (as I am now) I think of the school and pray for them!  Now I am not suggesting that knicking stuff is to be a regular feature of schools ministry, but I have had an idea.  There is a company called Zazzle http://www.zazzle.co.uk/?rf=238067487814440506 that I found out about in detail over the weekend who produce design-your-own giftwear.  It’s a bit pricey, but you can design your own mugs as one offs (£10.95-16.95).  I have seen the quality and they are really good – dishwasher and microwave safe I think.  Not just a tacky label slapped on.  A couple of ideas.  First, you could just go and buy your own mug and design it with the school logo or something to remember the school. But why not go further?  You can set up an account so that you can get a flexible royalty fee of up to 99%.  That would make an expensive cup, but if you designed one, or had the school children design one (which costs nothing to do) you could then sell them to your church congregation, encouraging them to pray…and then give the royalty money to the school.  Why not run a competition in the school?  Obviously the idea is that each time someone uses the mug they pray for the school, the money idea raises funds for the school.

Or you could just get one from the school, with permission of course.