Upcoming Event … Grade 6 & Year 7 Dinner … followed by Games Night!
Friday 10 December
6:00-7:00pm dinner for Grade 6 & Year 7 only.
This is an opportunity for Grade 6s to meet some of the youth leaders, make some new friends, and chat about Life Groups and events open to them next year. I’ll be there too, as a familiar face 😀
7:00-9:30pm Years 8-12 youth will join them for an evening of classic youth games involving strategy, teamwork, torch-lit madness, and lots of fun!
Location: Youth Minister Andi’s place in Kangaroo Ground! (RSVP to receive address!)
Cost: $10 for Grade 6 & Year 7s incl. dinner, $5 for other youth
BYO: Torch!
Services, Sunday 28 November
- 8am – traditional Anglican Prayer Book service, celebrating communion
- 10am – blend of traditional & contemporary worship, incl. kids’ program
- 5pm – relaxed service with a focus on youth & young adults
- Online Service – Premiering at 10am & 5pm, but then available to watch at any time
Due to current restrictions, our in-person services are limited to fully vaccinated attendees. (Children under 12yrs are exempt from vaccination requirements.) Check-in via the ServiceVic app or our laptop-kiosk is required, and vaccination status needs to be provided.
You can now find details of all our upcoming Christmas in-person & online services here.
This week is the first Sunday of Advent.
We light a candle each week to remind us that Jesus brings light into the world. This week we light the candle of HOPE. We can have hope because the bible assures us that God is faithful and will keep his promises.
Activities, if needed, to keep hands busy while listening to today’s talk:
- Colouring 1, 2, 3, 4
- Advent Wordsearch (two difficulty levels)
ADVENT Family Discipleship
It is very easy to get swept up in the busyness of the Christmas season … there are events to plan and attend, food to prepare, and presents to buy! But Advent encourages us to slow down and prepare our hearts to appreciate the real reason for the season – to remember the first coming of Jesus and to look to his coming again.
Do not attempt to take on all these ideas at once! But a daily practice of intentionally making Jesus the focus of your household is a wonderful way of growing in faith together.
Family Advent Devotionals:
Choose between these, depending on the age of your child(ren)
- Family Advent Devotional with daily bible readings, activity/reflection, and you can colour the page when you’re done!
- Daily Advent colouring book with bible readings.
- Devotions & Christmas Cards – daily devotions and weekly Christmas Card activity. Note: this one was dated for 2020, so you’ll need to mentally adjust by one day.
- Jesse Tree Family Devotional – daily devotions and themed Christmas ornament craft.
- Advent Family Prayer Guide
- Weekly, rather than daily, Family Advent Guide, readings and activities.
- The Weary World Rejoices, weekly devotional.
Advent Wreath:
Position a white candle in the centre of a plate/platter, and three purple and one rose candle equal distances around the outside. Alternatively, use all white candles and wrap a purple/pink coloured band around the outside candles. Decorate the area around the candles with greenery from your garden.
If you make this a centrepiece for your table, kids can look forward to lighting the candles each night at dinner. One purple candle (HOPE) is lit the first week. Two purple (+PEACE) candles are lit the second week. The two purple and one rose (+JOY) candle are lit the third week, and all four (+LOVE) are lit the final week. The central white (CHRIST) candle is lit on Christmas Day.
You can find a free printable here for readings and explanations to go along with the lighting of the candles each week.
Advent wreath crafts can be an no-flame alternative or additional activity, e.g. Kid’s Advent Wreath using cardboard rolls, Wall art idea.
Advent Chain:
This printable features 25 names that Jesus is known by, with a bible reading for each. The creator chose a purple/silver colour scheme to represent royalty, but you may choose to go for Christmassy green and red, or any other colours you have on hand. Each day, read/discuss a verse and add a link to your chain, so that by Christmas, you have a full chain to leave up as a decoration. If you choose to do a daily Advent devotional, you may not wish to add another daily activity, so adapt this as an activity to do over one weekend instead.
Nativity Story Cube:
Make a story cube to help young children tell and discuss the Christmas story. Find full colour and colour-in versions here. Print and cut out, create the cube using glue or sticky tape, then take turns rolling the cube and talking about whichever picture lands face up. See what the children remember and what they like best about the Christmas story.
Have a great week,
Kylie – Children & Families’ Minister
St John’s is committed to Child Safety and welcomes your feedback on how we can keep improving.
[mc4wp_form id=”5448″]