Launch

Launch TFTW – Sat 9th May

Hey Launchonauts!

This week we thought we would do something different. Rather than craft and questions, we’d like you to create a picture or something 3D, that shows us your favourite thing about God or Jesus. Maybe it’s a characteristic of God like compassion, gentleness, creativity or power? It could be a favourite story in the Bible, something about God’s goodness or an image to represent God himself. Whatever you like!

Take a photo of your creation and ask your grown up to send it to us at live@exe.vin or the Launch parent/carer WhatsApp group

Launch TFTW – Sat 2nd May

Hey, Launchonauts!

We have another craft activity this week – something simple to help us reflect on a verse, have a chat and focus on God. Watch the tutorial on how to make claws. Afterwards, gather your equipment and start crafting!

As you craft with your grown up read and discuss the following verse, theme and question together.

Hebrews 4:12

“God’s word is alive and working. It is sharper than a sword sharpened on both sides. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined. It cuts to the centre of our joints and our bones. And God’s word judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts.”

 

Be Diligent to Hear God’s Word

Hebrews chapter 4:2  talks about  ‘God’s word’ meaning the ‘Good News’. You may have heard this phrase before. The Good News is what we call God’s coming kingdom on earth and his big rescue plan (through Jesus). It’s called this because it truly is good news for us! It talks about the Israelites in the wilderness and how they treated God’s good news –  “The Good News was preached to us just as it was to them. But the teaching they heard did not help them. They heard it but did not accept it with faith” (Hebrews 4:2)

In today’s verse (Hebrews 4:12) The good news is described as sharper than a sword sharpened at both ends! God’s good news and his promises are a truth that should help us from straying into unbelief. They can penetrate into our thoughts and feelings. The word “judges” in verse 12 does not mean “condemn.” It means “assess”  – like a fair and loving assessment of what’s good or bad to keep us on the right path.

Q.  What do you think is the best thing about God’s good news?
     (this can be anything specific to you – some aspect of God’s character maybe)

Pray together and thank him for his good news. Thank him for Jesus and his rescue plan. Ask him to help us remember his promises and stay close to him.

Launch TFTW – Sat 25th April

Hey Launchonauts!

Today’s craft is a very quick one! Watch the tutorial on how to make a pencil bow and arrow. Afterwards, chat with your grown up about what materials you have at home that you can use to make yours – you might have to substitute something. Then ready your equipment and creative heads to start crafting!

 


As you craft with your grown up read and discuss the following verse, theme and questions together.

Ephesians 6:10-18 The Armour of God

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his great power. Wear the full armor of God. Wear God’s armor so that you can fight against the devil’s evil tricks. Our fight is not against people on earth. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world. That is why you need to get God’s full armour. Then on the day of evil you will be able to stand strong. And when you have finished the whole fight, you will still be standing.
So stand strong, with the belt of truth tied around your waist. And on your chest wear the protection of right living. And on your feet wear the Good News of peace to help you stand strong. And also use the shield of faith. With that you can stop all the burning arrows of the Evil One.
Accept God’s salvation to be your helmet. And take the sword of the Spirit—that sword is the teaching of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times. Pray with all kinds of prayers, and ask for everything you need. To do this you must always be ready. Never give up. Always pray for all God’s people.

You may be familiar with these verses about the ‘Armour of God’. Paul is writing to christians about how to be strong against all the bad things that happen to us and around us. He says there is a spiritual battle in the heavens that we can’t see. Our faith (our trust) in God is a shield and keeps us strong in hard times (Paul calls those hard times the day of evil!). 

Q1. How does trusting in God help us when we are sad or scared? 

Q2. When has it helped you? 

Let’s pray for our church family that we can all trust God with our worries and be strong in faith.

Well done – if you’d like, ask your grown up to take a photo of your masterpiece and any thoughts you might want to share with your fellow Launchonauts and email it to live@exe.vin

Hey Kids and Teens… Help Needed!

Hey kids, Dave here!

I’d like your help with our online Sunday services. Are you up for the challenge? Here’s some ideas about how you could help…

Record a Video

Could you do our welcome? You’d say something like, “Hello everyone, welcome to Exeter Vineyard’s online service. Today we are going to __________.”

If you’d like to do this, let me know and I can tell you what you need to say for the week.

If you don’t want to do a video of yourself, you could always do something creative, like the Iron Man video above. I know your Lego minfigs can’t wait to be involved!

Tell a Story

I know lots of you are amazing at cartoons or stop-motion animation or other in countless amazing creative ways. Maybe you could tell us a story out of the Bible?

Draw a Picture

Could you draw a picture of something that will help us think about God? It might be based on a verse from the Bible, or an idea about who God is, or a scene from Jesus’ life? Or something that represents God?

If you also wanted to record a quick video talking about your drawing that would be really great too!

Say a Prayer

Could you record a video of you saying a prayer? Then everyone watching can say Amen with you. It’s really helpful to have someone lead us in prayer.

 

TIPS FOR FILMING

You can record your video on any smartphone using the selfie camera or, if you have someone to be a camera-person, on the normal camera.

The most important thing is the sound quality. Record in a quiet environment – it’s amazing how a phone microphone will pick up a washing machine, vacuum cleaner or people in the background. If you try to do this outside even a breeze can drown out your voice, so, unless it’s a really still day, it might be better to be indoors.

The video will be shown landscape so it’s best to turn your phone sideways. Try to be somewhere with good lighting. And don’t sit directly in front of a light source or you’ll be a silhouette.

If you’re filming yourself you might want to find somewhere to lean your camera so you don’t have to hold it. It will look best if you can have the camera at eye level.

Start the phone recording and wait a couple of seconds before talking. Same at the other end; leave a little gap. Otherwise we can end up with a video that starts when you’re halfway through a sentence.

GETTING THE FILE TO ME

The video file will be too large to text, email, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger to me (or it will sent, but be massively compressed).

So please use a file transfer service to send to my email. The easiest might be to get the app “Smash: File transfer” on your phone. This allows you to add the file and send to my email address ( dave (AT) exe.vin )

Alternatively you can use the website WeTransfer, which does the same thing without installing an app.

If you find you get stuck with the file transfer, get in touch

Launch TFTW – Sat 18th April

Hey Launchonauts!

This week’s craft is a little more ambitious! It’s going to be a propelled vehicle of your own design and you can use pretty much anything to make it, but you will need a balloon, so make sure you have one in advance! 

Watch the video tutorial and then look at the web list of  items that can be used. Afterwards, chat with your grown up about what materials you have at home that you can use to make yours. Then ready your equipment and creative heads to start crafting!


List of materials here

As you craft with your grown up read and discuss the following verse, theme and questions together:

Hebrews 12:1-2
So we have many people of faith around us. Their lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way. And we should remove the sin that so easily catches us. Let us look only to Jesus. He is the one who began our faith, and he makes our faith perfect. 

Our relationship with God is not a quick sprint but a steady journey with him. The verse tells us to remove anything that gets in the way of that relationship with God (maybe distractions or anything that prevents us connecting with him).

This doesn’t mean we can’t do the things we enjoy (as we get our talents from God) but instead we can include God in our fun times and remember to follow Jesus. He is the one who first ran this race and in him we see how to live a life connected to God. It says in verse 2:  Let us look only to Jesus. He is the one who began our faith, and he makes our faith perfect. 

Q1. The first verse talks about people around who also believe in God (and all the people who have ever believed in him throughout history!!!)
 What people of faith are around you?
What can you see in their lives that shows you what faith looks like? (faith just means trusting Jesus). 

Q2. How can we include Jesus in our fun times or our daily activities?

Launch TFTW – Sat 11th April

Hey Launchonauts!

As we celebrate Easter we hope you’ll enjoy crafting with us and thinking about what Easter means for us. As before, we’ve chosen a simple craft video so we don’t have to buy special supplies, but can use the things we have around the house.

Watch the tutorial on how to make a paper egg decoration. Afterwards, chat with your grown up about what materials you have at home that you can use to make yours. Most of us don’t have patterned paper so why not use some old or new drawings, magazine pages or wrapping paper. Transform your eggs into cards, hanging ornaments, whatever you like to celebrate Easter at home.

Then, get your equipment ready, engage your creative brain and start crafting!

As you craft with your grown up read and discuss the following verse, theme and questions together.

John 11:25-27
Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will have life even if he dies.  And he who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this? Martha answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the One who was coming to the world.

On Good Friday, Jesus was executed and his body was taken down from the cross, and buried in a cave. The tomb was guarded and an enormous stone was put over the entrance, so that no-one could steal the body.

On the following Sunday, some women visited the grave and found that the stone had been moved, and that the tomb was empty. Jesus himself was seen that day, and for days afterwards by many people.

His followers realised that God had raised Jesus from the dead! 

Eggs are a symbol of rebirth and new life and thanks to Jesus we now get to join in that new life too – the Bible says we have been born again when we believe in Jesus and what he did for us!

Q1. What things are you thankful for this week?

Q2. We live in a world that is waiting for God to bring about rebirth and new life, but for now many things aren’t how God would like. What can you think of that is bad in the world? Perhaps something that makes you sad or you wish would change. Pray together about it – in the Bible it says, “Do not be worried about anything, but in every situation, pray with thanksgiving, and present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6-7

Pause your crafting to take a moment to close your eyes and ask God to be present with you. Be still and think of the things you’ve chatted about. Breathe in and out. After a few minutes. Did anything else pop in your mind? This could be God speaking to you and encouraging you.

Well done – if you’d like, ask your grown up to take a photo of your masterpiece and any thoughts you might want to share with your fellow Launchonauts and email it to live@exe.vin