‘Children love stories. Tell Bible stories and tell them well.’
We often feel the need to embellish or update Bible stories for children. I suggest we should pay more attention to the actual story. Tell the back story (how did we get here?) and the front story (where does this take us?). Dave and Lyn Hopwood’s interactive series Telling tales is brilliant. They have been remaindered by CPAS now but if you see a secondhand copy of any of the three in the series, snap it up. It is life-saving. The premise is to pick a few key words in the story as buzzwords and have an action attached to it that everyone joins in.
Talk quietly. Don’t try hard to project to the back but be brave. Teachers tend not to shout and it brings the noise level down so children listen better. Teachers will not be grateful if you leave their children high as kites! By all means be lively, but do something quiet in the last two minutes. A prayer is a good idea, or a few minutes of silence for thinking.
Steve Tilley is a vicar in Somerset.
‘Be open to the unexpected – it’s not always bad!’
Don’t always plan everything in detail, and never underestimate the power of a good story. Once in an infant school, I was telling the story of Daniel and the lions’ den. I chose a boy called Daniel to be the star (whom I knew outside of school) and had no other props. As I read the story, Daniel moved forward, and as I said he went into the den, the reception class (without prompting) moved slowly until they surrounded him. It was an amazing sight, especially as they became the lions at the relevant time, again without prompting!
Rachel Wood is a Methodist minister in the Vale of Stour.
‘Take a seasonal treat in for the staff – chocolate at Easter / scones in the summer / mince pies for Christmas!’
Make things memorable as quickly as possible. I try to find a large scale but easily set-up prop to use so that as children enter the hall, they are already engaged and intrigued about what is to come. For the story of Peter walking on water, I used an inflatable dingy; for the story of Abraham, I used a big picnic basket with a rug and pillows that I kept packing up and moving round the hall as I told the story of his travels; for the story of Esther, I dressed up as Elsa from Frozen – the bolder the better. I always start with a game linked to the story with prizes and I always try to chat with the kids doing the projector / chair-moving jobs. Relationship is important so chocolates for the staff are always a winner too.
Deb Chamberlain is a children’s pastor in the West Midlands.
‘Plan for a tech free assembly on your first visit – it’s too stressful when your whole assembly is on a slide show and there’s no computer!'
I remember receiving a letter when I was starting my job as a children’s worker from a local primary school inviting me on to their assembly rota for the year. The school had topics planned for each week of the year and I could pick which week I wanted. I try and use one key phrase throughout as a link to what we’ve just seen or done and the point I want to make. Keeping it simple and engaging is enough – too much techy stuff makes it too stressful when it doesn’t work.
Mim Taylor is a children’s worker in Canterbury.
‘Always look to build on what you have done before, stay relevant and continue to raise the bar!’
We are always attempting to raise the bar with each assembly we do. We always try to keep the story fresh: last Christmas we told the story from the angel’s point of view, delivering gifts to the different characters of the Christmas story through an angel delivery service. We strive to immerse the children in the story, using characters that they can relate to and laugh at, and allowing them to have some involvement in the assembly. Schools (both church-based and not) recognise the work that has gone into creating the assemblies, and on the whole, give us positive feedback.
Lloyd Cummins works for Brighton and Hove City Mission.
Useful assembly websites:
