Pick of the month
Diary of a disciple: Luke’s story
Scripture Union (Five stars)
Xana: Diary of a disciple is a retelling of Luke’s Gospel aimed at 8 to 11-year-olds. A quick flick through this book showed a similar format to Tom Gates or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This immediately drew Florence in and made her super-keen to read it.
The style makes it familiar, easy to read and great for reluctant readers. It also proved to be laugh out loud funny; I could hear her giggling from the next room. As a retelling, it’s true to scripture and gives a great grounding in the gospel, with clear explanations and challenging questions for the reader to ponder. It even had Florence reaching for her Bible to look up the given references! It is a perfect book to give as a gift and an easy way for kids to evangelise by lending it to their friends.
Florence: This book looks like a Tom Gates book but it is ten times better! It’s got lots of funny bits and cartoons that make it a lot of fun to read. It explained some things in Luke’s Gospel that I hadn’t really understood before and there are little activities to do that make you think. I’d definitely recommend it to a friend.
Xana Ridley, a full-time mum of two. Her and Florence Ridley (aged 9) both enjoy Scripture Union holidays and eating chocolate
Lift off!
!Audacious (Four stars)
Lift off! is a fun kids album that young children aged 3 to 9 are sure to love. Its cool club dance soundtrack flows through the whole album, with a bit of dubstep and drum and bass thrown in for good measure.
My family and I have loved dancing and singing along to this album over the last week and I would definitely recommend it as an album to keep in your car when you need to brighten up a dreary day! Choosing a favourite track is a hard job and I have found myself humming along to several of the songs, even when no kids are around. So it’s catchy, fun to listen to and definitely appeals to the kids.
My critical reflection would be that the vocals tend to sound a bit Americanised for a church in Manchester, and some of the melodies take a bit of getting used to and can be complicated for kids to sing along to. That said, this album definitely stands up to its American counterparts as a well-produced, thoughtful (listen to ‘Whisper to my heart’) and engaging kids’ album.
Pete Sheath is a kids’ and all-age worship songwriter and works at St Saviour’s Church in Guildford as a children, youth and families minister
Outdoor church
Sally Welch, BRF (Four stars)
We don’t spend enough time outside. If we don’t experience creation, we won’t be motivated to care for it or experience God through it. Outdoor church aims to connect children and families with creation, the Creator and each other.
The idea is that you take a group of all ages to a space outside, away from traffic noise, where you can notice and enjoy creation throughout the seasons. It’s got a plan for 20 sessions, which include a Bible story, a short engaging talk and five activities. There’s sitting still and listening, moving around, finding things, making things, feeling things and eating things. It’s a great way to experience church together, and to enjoy being outside regardless of the weather or the time of year. This will work well for all ages, with little ones requiring more help and older ones gaining a bit of independence. The talks are profound yet simple; the activities are fresh and fun.
I’m really excited by this. I’d never connected the stewardship we’ve been given over the world with the lack of time we spend enjoying creation, or how we do church. Outdoor church has opened my eyes wide.
