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The entire assembly should take between ten and 20 minutes depending on which activities you use. You will need: written instructions for the challenge, three different types of milk chocolate bar and a blindfold.
INTRODUCTION AND CHALLENGE
Welcome the students and explain that before you introduce the topic of this assembly, you would like to set a quick challenge for two volunteers.
Ask for two students who are willing to play a game. Explain that one of them will have to describe something, while the other has to guess what is being described in under 30 seconds. However, to make it more difficult there are certain words that are not allowed to be used in the description. Once they have agreed who is doing which role, give the describer a piece of paper with the word ‘church’ written on it. Underneath, list the following words which cannot be used to describe it: steeple, tower, vicar, pews and altar.
When you are ready, start the game and time 30 seconds. If they run out of time and are really struggling, you could give them another 30 seconds. You may want to prepare other options in case they are able to complete it easily. Alternative words could include chapel or cathedral. At the end of the game, ask them how easy it was to describe that word. Thank your volunteers for their help and get them to sit back down.
It is likely that the students were using words to describe a traditional church building. Explain that although the English Bible uses the word ‘Church’ and ‘churches’ around 110 times, it never refers to a place or building. The first Christians didn’t have any special locations to meet – that happened centuries later. Instead, the word for Church (‘ekklesia’ in Greek) usually meant an assembly or gathering. It referred to the people gathering, not the location they gathered in. So when we talk about Church, we are actually referring to a group of people.
TASTE TEST
Select another volunteer who is willing to do a chocolate taste test – you might have a lot of volunteers! When selecting a student, make sure they are able to eat chocolate and have no relevant allergies or dietary needs. Blindfold your volunteer and explain that you are going to give them three pieces of chocolate to taste. All they have to do is describe each one, and then decide which is their favourite. When they are ready, give them a piece from one chocolate bar and ask them to describe the flavour. Do the same for the next two pieces. You might want to have a glass of water handy between chocolates, and perhaps feed them using a spoon to avoid the student feeling the shape of the bar with their hands.
Once they’ve eaten all three pieces, take off the blindfold and ask them which was their favourite chocolate and why. You could also see if they know what chocolate bars they have eaten. Then reveal what each one was and see if they were right. Thank the student and ask them to sit down.
Explain that just like chocolate, there are many different styles and flavours of church (sometimes referred to as denominations). Some meet in cathedrals or highly ornate buildings, some meet in school halls, pubs or cinemas. In some countries, churches meet secretly in people’s homes for fear of being arrested – you can also join church services online!
Although different types of churches may have slightly different beliefs, they generally agree on the essentials of the Christian faith: that Jesus died and rose again so we can be reunited with God.
ONE BODY
This common understanding across every individual church means that they are all connected. In the Bible, the writer Paul likens Church to the human body. Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26(CEV):
The body of Christ has many different parts, just as any other body does... Our bodies don’t have just one part. They have many parts. Suppose a foot says, ‘I’m not a hand, and so I’m not part of the body.’ Wouldn’t the foot still belong to the body? Or suppose an ear says, ‘I’m not an eye, and so I’m not part of the body.’ Would the ear still belong to the body? If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn’t hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn’t smell a thing. But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best. A body isn’t really a body, unless there is more than one part. It takes many parts to make a single body. That’s why the eyes cannot say they don’t need the hands. That’s also why the head cannot say it doesn’t need the feet. In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest... God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the other. If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honoured, the whole body will be happy.’
REFLECTION
To finish the assembly, ask the students to spend some time in reflection – either silently in the assembly or in their own time throughout the week. Summarise that churches come in many shapes and sizes, but are all part of a bigger purpose and have a role to play.
Ask the students to spend some time thinking about how they might fit into the bigger picture. What part do they play in their family? At school? In a sports team? If you are able to pray during the assembly, pray for the global Church – that they can be the hands and feet of Jesus, and that the students come to understand the roles that they play.
