Inside:Out – Newbury Mission - 2006

During the month of November there have certainly been plenty of bright lights, loud noises and energetic excitement in Newbury – and amazingly it has nothing to do with the fireworks!! Oh no, the start of this month was to see a week of mission for Newbury Baptist, as together the Church sought to make a real impact for Christ upon those within their town.    For part of this week Arise were invited to hold a ‘Praise Party’ event for those aged 5-11yrs. Called ‘Inside:Out’ this event was crammed full of fun and food (!!) as the children discovered more about Jesus and what it means to follow Him – inside and out!

Lively music from Taste and entertaining drama from Envizage, combined with a ‘get wet’ quiz, DVD, and games, enabled the children to find out more about who Jesus is and what an amazing impact He can have upon their lives.  Furthermore for those children who were already Christians, Hannah, with the help of some eager volunteers (thank you!) encouraged these children to share their faith with their friends and to show what’s on the inside to the outside, through whatever they may do. After all it’s great to have Jesus as a friend – so let’s not keep this good news to ourselves!!

Following all the dancing, laughing, singing and celebrating, the children certainly deserved their party food and oh boy did they enjoy eating it!!  The event was great fun for all that were involved, young and old alike, and it is our prayer that those children who were present will have grabbed hold of the excitement of following Jesus – ‘inside:out’!!

Sunday 9th July saw Stubbers’ Adventure Centre in Ockendon invaded by over 350 enthusiastic children . . . followed slowly in tow by their leaders! The atmosphere was full of excitement as the children went around the various challenges and activities. There was a fantastic range on offer from Canadian canoeing to wall climbing and tunnelling; bouncy castles to sport workshops and ‘It’s a Knockout’ and for the more sedate, there was an array of art and craft activities and of course, for those not wishing to be spotted by their leaders- face painting!!

Following all this physical output, there was then time for some well earned food input (thanks to the giant BBQ) and the all important spiritual input, at the ‘Junior Solid Roadshow’. Here we shared with the children through puppets, challenges and the Mad McScience Scientist what it means to give our best for Jesus.  The time of worship together was electric and it was fantastic to see children committing to Christ for the first time and also 180 of the children re-stating their faith and that they want to live life to the max for Jesus – super stuff!!

Watch this space for more info and reviews on this year’s and of course, next year’s event!!

He certainly does – and what at amazing week we had celebrating this totally awesome fact!!

August 14-20th saw the Arise team overseeing and running the children’s work at Leading Edge, with a great team of willing volunteers from all parts of the country, north and south, east and west, all congregating together in the middle: Warwick. Leading Edge is the Baptist Union of Great Britain’s annual Holiday week; a time for adults, youth and children alike to be enthralled, engaged and energised by God, through Bible study, worship and much discovery.

We were responsible for a great group of 250 children ranging from just a few weeks old right through to the ‘big year sixes’! Together they formed what is known as ‘Club L:edge’ – a place ‘for those who rock, to find out about the One who rocks!!’.  Within this the children were split into the following teams:

Little L:edge (0-2.5yrs): Here they had lots of fun experiencing God’s love and care and also hearing and experiencing some amazing stories about Jesus their King, for the very first time!!

PL:edge (2.5-5yrs):  In this adventurous club they had great enjoyment with ‘Charlie’ (a puppet – sorry to shatter any illusions tee hee), as they explored many of the amazing things that Jesus has done, which we can read about in the Bible, so as to see that He certainly is no ordinary King!

FL:edge (5-7yrs): Through a range of energetic games, cool crafts and fun activities this group had a great time finding out more about their amazing King and what it means to follow Him!

SL:edge (7-10yrs): This group were up to all sorts, from crazy challenges (such as rocket launches) to deep discussion (“how can I discover more of God?”), they all had a brilliant time finding out who Jesus really is and how they are called to worship and follow Him whole-heartedly, as daring disciples!

Everyone all had an awesome time – tornados (yes there was more than one), torrential rain, and burnt BBQ food wasn’t going to put anyone off!! You could really sense that God was at work, not only in the lives of the children but also of those in the team.

We all have such an amazing King, and this was celebrated in the ‘Praise ‘n’ Party’ event led by Arise, as together we looked at the theme of ‘Amazing but True’!!  And oh boy, did we party!!  There was just so much to celebrate – all the amazing things Jesus has, is and will do; the fact that He died for us and rose again, so that we may have life with God the Father to the max, and also, this year saw the special occasion of Leading Edge’s 10th birthday! Alex Ferguson was even there to blow out the candles on the cake (okay not the one from Man Utd – nope the one from Club L:edge – a far better team!!).

Throughout all of the events surrounding Leading Edge, both before, during and after, it has been so apparent that Jesus is no ordinary King and He calls us - ordinary people, no matter what our age, to do extraordinary things as we choose to follow Him. What an amazing King; what an amazing week!! For sure, ‘Our King Rocks’!!

Plenty of fun was had in the mud at Firm Foundations this year and the children at the event were glad to be jumping around in it, praising the Lord in their wellies!!

The theme for the weekend was Passion and this was delved into further in the children’s Praise Parties led by Arise and the two worship bands B5 and KJC. Together, on the Saturday, the children looked at Jesus’ Passion for us and by using Marlin from Finding Nemo as a guide, they were able to hear more about Jesus’ love for us and how He would ‘leave ninety-nine just to find them’. 

The Sunday saw the children following this up by looking at their passion for Jesus – through various chocolate challenges and the fact that our actions so often portray what we care about, they were able to explore the issues further. This led onto the children focusing upon the following verse in Matthew:

“Live so that people will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in Heaven.” Matthew Ch 5 vs. 16

With this in mind, on Monday the children’s workshop led by Arise saw the children designing and making their own ‘T-shirts’ with the aim of showing others their passion for Jesus.  So even if the rest of their clothing was covered in mud – they could proudly go about wearing these T-shirts and sharing the good news with those whom they meet!

Thank you to all those involved in helping the Arise team at Firm Foundations!

'The Way of the Cross’ was the theme for Easter People this year, as adults, youth and children alike followed Jesus’ journey to the cross. It certainly was an amazing adventure as together we explored the greatest sacrifice that could ever be made for us all.

Arise took on the responsibility for all of the 5-10s children’s work at the event – a great experience to be had by all involved.  In the morning this saw us forming an ‘Xpedition Force’ with 80 children as we explored Jesus’ journey through a range of experiences.  Every day we used a specific sense to search deeper into the story. Messy craft, energetic games and challenging competitions were then arranged around this theme for the day.  This saw many an entertaining moment from the dubious ‘Testing of the Taste buds’ to the scary ‘Swamp Dipping Challenge’ . . . !!!  These fun moments however, provided us with plenty of opportunity to share the serious message of the cross, with the concluding day: ‘Seeing is Believing’ resulting with many children for the first time, grasping the real message of Easter for themselves; it was a joy to see!

In the evenings 40, 7-10 year olds joined in with the ‘X-training’ team. This team went on an adventure together so as to explore in more detail their own lives and the Christian faith. Each evening we were visited by the ‘Hiker’ who shared an item from the rucksack so as to illustrate what Christians have to help them on their journey of faith. This, together with ‘Xpedition Xercises’, the ‘Xplorer Diary Room’ and ‘X-training Tactics’ enabled the children to not only reflect but also react, with many making commitments to Jesus and many determined to become stronger in their faith.  It really was fantastic and there are many special moments of ‘breakthrough’ that the team and I will treasure for ever!

It really was an amazing week, one in which you could so sense that God was at work; He provided for all our needs; He kept us energized, but most of all He moved in the lives of those attending.  What an adventure . . . and thank you so much for your prayerful support of this!!

The Identity Roadshow continues to travel around the country – a day of challenge and discovery as the children investigate through a range of fun crafts, games, quizzes and media, who Jesus is and the impact that knowing Him can have upon their lives.  So far Arise has delivered the children’s work at the following events: London, West Sussex, Solent and Sheffield.  Together we have had lots of fun finding out more about Jesus!!

A big THANK YOU goes out from the Arise Team and the Children to all of the willing volunteers who have been involved this year – thank you for all that you have contributed to making the event so much fun!

Check out the fun that we have been having at the Identity Roadshow as it travels around the country!!