HOLIDAY CLUB INCLUDES PHOTOCOPIABLE RESOURCES AND FREE EXTRAS ONLINE TREASURE SEEKERS CAN BE USED WITH THE GUARDIANS OF ANCORA APP A SCRIPTURE UNION HOLIDAY CLUB PROGRAMME GREAT NEW IDEAS, INSPIRED BY EXPERIENCE 01/07/2016 10:01
TREASURE SEEKERS The quests Treasure seekig day by day
THE QUESTS SERVICE I RUMOURS OF A SAVIOUR KEY PASSAGES Isaiah 9:2 7; Micah 5:2 5a KEY STORYLINES O The Shier s fi rebugs direct the service leader ad cogregatio to a ew story-treasure a large preset! O God promises his people that he will sed a Messiah a forever Kig who will save them. KEY AIMS O To set the scee for the holiday club, explaiig God s pla to restore his relatioship with humaity he will sed a Saviour! O To lauch the holiday club, so that church members ca commit to pray for the comig week. O To welcome ay childre ad their associated adults comig to the club who are ot usually part of the worshippig commuity. BACKGROUND CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES NO CHURCH BACKGROUND Childre ad families from outside your church commuity might be meetig God for the first time at this service. They might have precoceptios about God ad what followig him meas, ad they are likely to be ufamiliar with the idea that God wats to save his people, icludig them! That God loves us eough to sed his So to save us may be a strage cocept, so emphasise God s love for us. I a world that places coditios o so may thigs, icludig love ad acceptace, this ucoditioal love is couter-cultural ad arrestig! CHURCH CHILDREN Childre from your or aother church commuity will be familiar with how thigs are doe ad with stories of Jesus. Challege these childre to cosider that these stories are for them. God has a pla to save them, ad he loves them so much that he gives them his So. Some may be at the stage of askig questios about the faith they have grow up with, experieced ad shared. Create space, both today ad at the holiday club, to ask those importat questios. FROM OTHER FAITHS If you do have childre ad their families from other faiths comig to this first service, make sure they receive a geuie but ot overwhelmig welcome. It may be their first visit to a church, so have someoe o had to explai what is happeig throughout the service ad to reassure them that it s OK just to watch ad liste rather tha joi i the sigig or prayers. At the ed, itroduce them to other childre ad families with whom they could form friedships. If they are comig to a church service they will expect it to be a Christia act of worship, so there is o eed to water dow the message. WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS Parets will value your o-judgemetal acceptace of their child. Ask parets or carers how best to welcome their child, sice they eed to be cofidet that their child will be icluded, ecouraged ad kept safe. As you begi to make frieds with the child, assume that they are able to uderstad you. Just because a child caot speak, move or see does ot mea that they do ot uderstad. Each child will wat to be treated the same as ay other child of the same age. Shier 36
SERVICE I RUMOURS OF A SAVIOUR PREPARATION WHAT YOU NEED CHECKLIST: Paper ad pes or pecils Drama script from page 88, a desk or table piled high with papers, a ote (a scroll rolled up ad sealed) Numbered evelopes, each with a fi rebug clue iside (oe set per group) A large box wrapped like a preset, with the two Bible readigs (Isaiah 9:2 7 ad Micah 5:2 5a, both CEV) iside writte o scrolls, hidde somewhere i your meetig place Words from the Bible passages writte o large pieces of card Ruler, Woderful Adviser, Mighty God, Eteral Father, Price of Peace, Hoest, Just, Shepherd have some blak pieces of card i case ayoe suggests aythig else Actios for the fi rst part of the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA: TREASURE SEEKERS Lear ad remember verse: God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his oly So ad a PowerPoit slide with this part of the verse o Quiet, refl ective music for Guild prayers SUGGESTED SONGS O Light for everyoe Light for Everyoe CD (Scripture Uio) O O come, O come, Emmauel Missio Praise 493 THE SERVICE WELCOME You may have may childre ad families i your cogregatio today who are ot used to beig i church. Make sure that the leader of the service itroduces themselves ad lets people kow where the toilets are. Reassure families from outside the church that this service, ad church, is for them ad that they are welcome. You might wish to have a time whe you serve tea, coffee ad cakes before the service, to welcome people ad make that first trip ito church a little easier. Welcome everyoe to the service ad the start of GUARDIANS OF ANCORA: TREASURE SEEKERS. Explai to everyoe that they re at the start of a excitig time at your holiday club. SETTING THE SCENE Itroduce the childre to Acora ad their role as Guardias. Itroduce the preseters of the club, Swift ad the Shier. Iterview them ad ask them what they are lookig forward to about the club. Swift should give a sesible aswer about fidig story-treasures ad explorig great ew parts of the Saga. The Shier should give a silly aswer, such as he s lookig forward to his favourite dish of baked beas, baaa bread ad broccoli! The preseters should give a brief summary of what s happeig at the club ad be ethusiastic about welcomig the childre to Acora. INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY Ask the cogregatio to thik about what they are lookig forward to. Give everyoe a sheet of paper ad a pe. Break ito family groups, makig sure you iclude those who are ot there with their family, ad ask everyoe to write dow somethig they are lookig forward to. It could be a holiday, a visit to a theme park, a ew job or luch out with a fried. Each group should gather the papers together ad the try to guess who is lookig forward to what. Brig everyoe back together ad ask for a few voluteers to share what they are lookig forward to with the whole church. After they have doe so, thak your cotributors. Commet that we look forward to good thigs, or eve sometimes to the ed of bad thigs. It s sometimes hard whe we do t have aythig to look forward to. Explai that, more tha 2,000 years ago, a group of people were lookig forward to somethig very, very special. These people were God s people. They had had some great times with God! But, they had stopped beig frieds with God, ad had tured their back o him ad goe their ow way. So ow they were sufferig. Other atios all aroud them had attacked them, bured their cities ad take lots of people off to other coutries far away from their homes. But God had give them a promise. He had ot forgotte them. He was t goig to leave them i their sufferig. He was goig to do somethig about it he had a pla! Ad God s people were lookig forward to that promise comig true. Swift 37
THE QUESTS The Guild Hall JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF ANCORA Itroduce the club drama, Jourey to the Cetre of Acora. Explai that, durig the club, you ll be catchig up with the advetures of Kal, the Keeper of the Keys ad their assistats. Today, Kal visits his twi sister, the Keeper of the Keys, ad she gets a mysterious message. BIBLE READING Explai that whe childre eter the world of Acora, they become Guardias, seekig out story-treasures ad explorig stories of the Saga. Whe they fid stories, the Guardias take them to the Theatre of the Saga ad tell them i frot of the Spire of Light. The Spire glows brightly ad powers the whole city of Acora. The Shier comes back o stage, carryig his bug later. He says that the bugs have bee gettig very excited i the past few miutes, which meas that there is a story-treasure somewhere i the buildig! He listes to his later ad says that the bugs have left some clues to what the story-treasure is. Ask people to go back ito the groups from earlier ad give out sets of the clues to each group. The clues to the treasure are: 1 My first is i PAPER but ot i READING. II My secod is i PARTY but ot i BALLOON. III My third is i EAR but ot i HAIR. IV My fourth is i STRING but ot i TWINE. V My fifth is i BAKE but ot i BAKING. VI My sixth is i NETBALL but ot i BASKETBALL. VII My last is i TEA but ot i COFFEE. The groups should discover that the storytreasure is PRESENT. Oce everyoe has solved the puzzle, ask whether ay of the childre ca see a preset somewhere i your meetig space. Oce the preset has bee foud ad brought to the frot, ope it up to see what s iside. Pull out the two Bible readigs ad ask for a couple of voluteers to read each oe. (You could prime people before the service to do this.) BIBLE EXPLORATION This time of Bible exploratio looks at the promise of the comig of the Messiah ad what that meat to God s people. The childre who come to the club will explore stories of Jesus birth, some of his teachig ad his death ad resurrectio, ad discover that sedig the Messiah, a special Saviour, was God s pla to save his people. Today forms the itroductio to that. Ask the cogregatio to thik about why they are lookig forward to the evets they discussed i their groups earlier. What is it about these thigs that fill us with hope, joy or excitemet? Share a time whe you were lookig forward to somethig, ad how you felt whe it fially came to pass. What differece to your life did that evet or thig make? Go over oce agai the story of God s people waitig for somethig, a promise that was goig to chage their lives ad free them from all the terrible thigs that they were goig through. Say that Isaiah was talkig to God s people i the eighth cetury bc. He was tellig them what God wated to say to them. God s people had troubles ad were beig attacked o all sides. But Isaiah told them this message from God. 38
SERVICE I RUMOURS OF A SAVIOUR Read out Isaiah 9:2 5 agai. Ask the cogregatio to try ad imagie how the people felt. They were livig i darkess. They were treated badly ad forced to be slaves. Yet God was goig to rescue them. Ad he would sed someoe to rescue them permaetly. For all time. Read Isaiah 9:6,7 ad commet that, although Isaiah seems to be talkig about somethig that has already happeed, he s tellig people what is to come. A child is bor, someoe who will be the ruler of God s people. Read out the two verses agai ad ask people to shout out some of the ames for the ruler that Isaiah metios. As people metio the words, ask for voluteers to come ad hold the appropriate word at the frot. If ayoe suggests aythig reasoable that you have t got o your cards, write the word o oe of your blak cards. Read out Micah 5:2 5a ad ask the cogregatio to do the same thig call out the ames of this ruler promised by God. Add i the words to your display at the frot as people call them out, agai writig other good suggestios o blak cards. Look together at the words ad ask the cogregatio what they thik of such a ruler. If you kew this kid of a ruler was comig, how would you feel? Commet that Micah gives us a clue for who this ruler is. Read verse 2 oce more. Who do people kow who was bor i Bethlehem? Jesus! Durig the club, the childre our Guardias will be learig about Jesus ad God s promise of a Saviour. This is the Saviour that God s people were waitig for. God s pla was to sed a Saviour to his people, someoe who would be Kig for ever. LEARN AND REMEMBER VERSE God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his oly So, so that everyoe who has faith i him will have eteral life ad ever really die. Joh 3:16 Explai that, at TREASURE SEEKERS, the Guardias will be learig a verse from the Bible, ad you re goig to start thikig about it ow. Show the PowerPoit slide ad ask the church if they have heard this before. Say that you re goig to show everyoe some actios so that they ca start to remember the verse. You might wish to do this yourself, but it might be good to get some of the Elder Guardias ad Assistat Elders up to do it for you. This will help the childre ad their families get to kow some of the people who will be their guides i Acora at TREASURE SEEKERS. Perform all the actios you have come up with ad get the cogregatio to copy them, while they say the words of the first part of Joh 3:16 from the scree. Oce you have goe through the verse ad actios a few times, remove the words from the scree ad challege everyoe to say the words ad do the actios without readig! Say that God had a pla to save his people. Some of God s people did t like God ad they tured their backs o him. They followed other gods ad did what they wated, without ay thought of others. But God still wated to save them. His pla was to save all his people. Ask the cogregatio why they thik God might wat to save everyoe, ot just the people who followed him. Joh 3:16 tells us the aswer: he loved the world, ad that meat everyoe. Ad that s still true today. God loves everyoe, whether they follow him or ot. His pla to save his people is for us! Jesus, God s special Saviour, God s So, is our Saviour too. GUILD PRAYER PRAYER FOR US Explai that every day at TREASURE SEEKERS the childre will get the chace to talk with God i their groups their Compaies ad all together as the Guild of Acora. You re goig to pray together today. Give out sheets of paper ad make sure everyoe has a pe or pecil. Ask the cogregatio to write or draw somethig they d like to say to God as their respose to what they have discovered today about God s pla ad Jesus the Saviour. It might be to say Thak you or to ask God a questio. Ecourage everyoe to be hoest this is betwee them ad God. Play some quiet, reflective music as people thik about what to write or draw. The, whe everyoe has writte or draw their prayer, ivite them to come to the frot ad put them i the preset (the day s story-treasure). Fiish with a prayer thakig God for his pla to save his people ad askig him to help us discover more about what that meas for us ad our commuity. PRAYER FOR TREASURE SEEKERS Ivite two or three people who are goig to be ivolved i TREASURE SEEKERS to come to the frot ad explai their role. Try to get a mix of differet roles Elder Guardias, registratio team, refreshmet team, musicias etc. Show through your voluteers that there are lots of differet skills ivolved i ruig a safe ad successful holiday club. Oce you have heard from a few team members, ivite everyoe who is goig to be takig part i TREASURE SEEKERS to stad up. Ivite those still sittig to pray for the perso earest to them. BLESSING Thak everyoe for comig alog to the service ad make sure everyoe kows whe ad where TREASURE SEEKERS is takig place. Sig the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA theme sog to fiish, ad the say a appropriate blessig as people depart. AFTER THE SERVICE MEET AND GREET After the service has fiished, make sure as may characters from the club as possible are available for childre ad their families to meet ad chat to. The characters should be i costume ad chat to the childre i character. This will help build familiarity ad aticipatio for the childre before comig to the club, ad provide reassurace for childre who might be ervous about comig alog. FOOD Food is a importat tool for makig people feel welcome, so have some refreshmets available after the service. Try to be a bit more lavish tha you would ormally be after a service. Provide a Acora-themed meu, such as the Keeper s cakes ad Swift s sadwiches. If you have the time ad facilities, you could eve provide a meal ad ivite everyoe to stay. Durig this time, prime people i your cogregatio to befried families who are ew to church, to help them feel a bit more at home i what ca be a ufamiliar situatio. GAMES Iclude some games so that childre ca get ito the TREASURE SEEKERS spirit! Choose some of the suggestios from pages 84 to 86, or just play some simple games. 39
THE QUESTS QUEST I MESSAGES FROM ANGELS KEY PASSAGES Luke 1:26 38; Matthew 1:18 25 GUARDIANS BACKGROUND KEY STORYLINES O The Shier reveals that the fi rebugs will help fi d story-treasures. The fi rebugs reveal a agel that ulocks the fi rst part of the Christmas story. O Mary receives a strage ad terrifyig visitor a agel! The Agel Gabriel tells her she will have a baby, ad that the baby will be God s So. O Joseph has a strage ad terrifyig dream featurig a agel! Followig the agel s words, he marries Mary. KEY AIMS O To welcome each child to the club, settig the toe for the ext few days. O To explore the promise of God s forever Kig. O To uderstad that beig part of God s pla is sometimes es diffi cult. O To regard ad treat these stories as woderful treasure. Mary NO CHURCH BACKGROUND This might be the first time that some childre have take part i a churchru activity, so make sure that Elder Guardias are aware ad help the childre through the start of the club. May childre are familiar with the Christmas story through school plays, Christmas sogs ad various other media. However, most of these sources hadle the biblical story with a certai artistic licece! May childre from outside a church commuity will come with plety of miscoceptios about the evets of the story, the characters who were there ad eve about who Jesus is ad what he came to do. Help childre to focus o the story as it happes i the Bible. Share the awe ad woder with them, approachig it as if you were hearig it for the first time yourself. Be careful ot to embellish the story with some of your ow additios, as this will ot be helpful there is eough drama i the story already! CHURCH CHILDREN Church childre themselves may well have picked up some strage additios to the Christmas story, so help them to fid the real story as told i the Bible. But more tha that, try to help church childre make coectios betwee this story ad what has goe before i the Bible. Woderig aroud questios such as Why did God sed Jesus? ad What did Jesus come to do? ca help to frame the idea of God s pla to save his people ad Jesus as God s forever Kig. This will set them up to explore the stories i the holiday club ad glimpse more of God s salvatio. WITH OTHER FAITHS Muslim childre may be familiar with this story of the aoucemet of Jesus birth, as a similar story appears i the Qur a. However, i Islam, Jesus (Isa) is a revered prophet, but ot divie he is ot the So of God. Jews will recogise the idea of the Messiah as promised i the Old Testamet, whereas Hidus will be familiar with the idea of God takig differet forms ad aspects. You ll eed to approach this story with care, bearig i mid the beliefs of the childre i your club. WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS As this is the first day of the club proper, some childre with additioal eeds may eed extra time to settle ad become familiar with the club. Give clear ad repeated guidace, so that childre ca cope with the fast-paced ature of the programme. You could produce a visual diary for childre to carry roud with them, so that they kow what is happeig ext. If ay childre have specific eeds, make sure their Elder Guardias kow so that they ca make the ecessary arragemets. I additio, you might eed to reassure parets ad carers that their childre will be icluded ad well looked after. 40
I MESSAGES FROM ANGELS ELDER GUARDIANS GATHER SPIRITUAL PREPARATION Split the team ito two groups ad ivite each to read oe of the two passages for this Quest: Luke 1:26 38 ad Matthew 1:18 25. Ecourage each group to thik about how the huma character i their passage would have felt before ad after their ecouter with a agel. Would they have felt the same as the character i their passage? Would their reactio have bee ay differet? Gather some feedback from both passages. Ask each group to summarise their Bible verses as well as their coversatios aroud the evets of the passage. Talk about how willig both Mary ad Joseph were to play their part i God s pla. It s ot clear if they could have said o, but sayig o did t seem to cross their mids. Thik about how you are all comig together to tell God s story to the childre at your club. You re goig to have to do some tricky thigs that you might ot feel el quite ready for. Yet we ca take some comfort from Mary s reactio to the agel: I am the Lord s servat! Let it happe as you have said. Pray together for each other, askig people to share aythig that t they are ucertai about. Pray particularly ly for those worries ad cocers, but lift up the whole team i prayer as you start this amazig adveture together! PRACTICAL PREPARATION Talk through your programme together. Remid everyoe about the key learig aims ad who is doig what, esurig that everyoe kows their part i the day ad has everythig they eed. Pay particular attetio to youger team members or those who have ot bee ivolved before ad may be feelig a bit ucertai. Ecourage them over the course of the sessio. This may be the role of the overall leader or could be assiged to aother member of the team, or member of the church whose sole role is to ecourage the team. Create a atmosphere where people feel able to ask about aythig they are ot 100 per cet clear about. Set up the differet areas of the club ad make sure that everythig is i place i plety of time, so that you are ready as the first childre come from the registratio area. You will probably eed extra help as it is the first day. Leaders will eed to be especially welcomig to parets ad childre who have ot bee before or ay adults accompayig childre who look ucomfortable beig i a church settig. You will eed to hide the agel for Firebugs assemble ad esure that the clue cards are set behid the Shier s Later. Esure that Mary kows what she s doig i the Story of the Saga. Liste to ay last-miute istructios from the Guildmaster, Swift or the Shier, or from the drama, music or refreshmet teams. Remid the team to set a example by joiig i ad respodig to prompts from the upfrot preseters: this will ecourage the childre to get more ivolved. As this is the first day of the club, make sure the registratio team is ready to greet ad register the childre. Have some extra voluteers o had today, so that parets do t have to wait log. Have a welcome team o had to take the childre to their Compaies. WHAT YOU NEED CHECKLIST Registratio: registratio forms, badges, labels, pes, team lists, paper fi rebugs, extra voluteers Compay duties: paper/card ad art materials News from the market: today s ews, theme tue ad etrace effects Firebugs assemble: clue cards (see the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA: TREASURE SEEKERS multimedia dowloads area) a agel (a large-ish Christmas tree decoratio or similar) hidde somewhere i the room Music: The Firebugs bad or backig tracks Story of the Saga: agel from Firebugs assemble, story script, actor to play Mary, costume for Mary (icludig pregacy bump!) Guardia s Guild challege: words for the fi rst part of Joh 3:16 o PowerPoit, actios worked out for the words Provisios: driks ad sacks Treasure map: Bibles, Treasure Chest, Treasure Store, paper, pes, pecils, felt-tip pes or crayos Compay prayer: agel shapes (idividual or chai), pes, pecils Costructio: materials for your chose optio(s) Games: equipmet for your chose game optio(s) The Shier s Later: childre s cotributios chose from those submitted Drama: script from pages 89 ad 90, costumes ad props Swift s traiig review: quiz questios ad challeges Guild prayer: actios worked out for the actio prayer The Guildmaster 41
THE QUESTS THE FIRST QUEST COMPANY DUTIES 2 10 MINUTES Welcome all the Guardias to your group. You eed to be familiar with the ames of the childre i your group, so use those ames as much as possible durig this opeig time. Itroduce yourself ad your Assistat Elder(s) ad itroduce the childre to others whom they do t kow. Challege the childre to decorate your Compay area. Provide some art materials ad ask them to come up with a Compay ame ad a shield. Ecourage them to work together ad iclude details of all the Guardias i the Compay o the shield. They could iclude thigs that reflect Guardias iterests, such as a football, ballet shoes, a badge from Cubs or a readig book. It could also iclude the Compay ame. If you like you ca show them some existig coats of arms ad explai the differet elemets. If some childre are t too ivolved with the shield, ask them to make a sig with the Compay ame o it. Just before the start of Guardias assemble, go over people s ames agai. This will help you remember the ames of the Guardias i your Compay as well as helpig the childre remember each other s ames. If the childre have t fiished the shield or sig, tell them that there will be plety of time to work o them later i the morig. Otherwise, stick up the sig ad shield i your Compay area. As you make your way to the mai meetig area, make sure all your Guardias are with you ad are startig to kow their way aroud. GUARDIANS ASSEMBLE 9 45 MINUTES ALL TOGETHER Oce all the childre are settled, Swift ad the Shier itroduce themselves, ad the itroduce Atiqua, Fabula ad Macse. The upfrot preseters set a ethusiastic ad adveturous toe to the programme ad welcome the childre to GUARDIANS OF ANCORA: TREASURE SEEKERS, ad to the Guild i the city of Acora. Swift is practical, dyamic ad i cotrol. She tells the childre that they are Guardias i Acora ad emphasises what a hoour it is to be part of the Guild of Acora. She explais that Acora is a city that loves stories. The Saga is the group of stories that all Acoras love to hear ad which lights up the Spire at the heart of the city. Each story of the Saga is represeted by a story-treasure (some sort of object or artefact). May of these story-treasures are missig ad the people of Acora are determied to get them back so they ca, oce agai, tell the stories that have bee lost. The existig Guardias have recovered some of these, but ew Guardias are eeded to help fid more! The Shier is the opposite of Swift. He is disorgaised, whimsical ad proe to distractios. He attempts to share some of the guidelies of livig i Acora, but Swift eeds to iterpret what he says. The Shier: We have some guidelies to help us live i Acora! The first is: the bells! The bells! If you hear the bells, do t paic as well! Keep calm ad follow your Elders out, do ot scream ad do ot shout! Swift explais what to do if the fire or smoke alarms go off. The Shier: Next! It you get caught, the do t despair, just thrust your had ito the air. Ask if you ca be excused ad you wo t get the cross-legged blues! Swift explais where the toilets are ad whether you eed to ask before you go. The Shier: Whe we eed to stop ad look, we should do thigs by the book. I ll do this! (He does some elaborate actios borderig o iterpretive dace.) Swift tells the Guardias the sloga or actio to show that everyoe should stop ad liste. Swift the rus the Guardias through some quick warm-up activities as a start to their Guardia traiig. This warm-up should be simple ad eergetic, ad be safe to do. Swift tells the Shier that a special visitor is comig to the club ad they have to get ready. She starts to tidy the stage. The Shier tries to help, but oly causes more mess. The two preseters should work out a sequece where the Shier udoes whatever Swift has just doe! I the ed, she otices what he s doig ad tells him to stop! He the pesters her about who the visitor is. NEWS FROM THE MARKET Atiqua arrives o stage with some kid of sesatioal etrace: smoke machie, dramatic theme tue or eve theatrical pyrotechics whatever you ca do that is affordable ad safe. Whe she appears, she itroduces herself: Atiqua is here! I the market, she has bee listeig, Stories ad rumours, heard she has. Guardias! We begi! If possible, her theme tue should cotiue uder this itroductio. She pulls out a sheaf of otes from her robes ad reads from them i a mysterious, mystical way. RUMOURS ABOUND OF NEW GUARDIANS! Travellers have told me of ew Guardias i the city! They have see them travellig to the Guild tall oes, short oes, youger oes, older oes ad (She poits at oe of the Elders ad shrieks.) Well, whe I heard the story, I did t believe it. But it s true! There s eve a Guardia with the biggest ose I ve ever see! MACSEN IS NEW STORYTELLER IN THE THEATRE OF THE SAGA A ew storyteller has arrived at the Theatre! He is called Macse! My fried Fabula thiks he ll do a very good job. You might meet him later! FIREBUGS SHOW THE WAY May travellers have reported that their firebugs have started to show them how to fid lost story-treasures. Oe visitor to my market stall said his firebugs were so excited that they broke his later! Look out for firebugs ad what they have to tell you. Now go must Atiqua, retur to her market stall. (She switches from her mystical way of speakig to a kid of market trader accet.) Before I go, I ve got some beautiful ew bug laters i oly 20 firebugs each! Bargai! (She returs to her mystical voice.) Farewell! (Her theme tue returs as she exits.) FIREBUGS ASSEMBLE The Shier is t surprised that firebugs are beig so helpful, ad Swift commets that if the firebugs ca direct them to ew storytreasures, the the Guardias might be able to fid some more stories of the Saga. The Shier listes to his bug later (as if the firebugs are talkig 42
I MESSAGES FROM ANGELS to him) ad says that they have come up with a game to help the Compaies fid out what the story-treasure is that they re lookig for. He goes to the Shier s Later ad retrieves a box with a set of clue cards for each Compay. Assistat Elders should come ad get the resources for their Compay. Swift makes sure that everyoe has got a set of cards ad the tells the Assistat Elders to read out the first clue ca ayoe guess what it is? Give all the Compaies a chace to aswer. If a Compay thiks they kow what the story-treasure is, they should sed a Guardia up to ask the Shier. He the tells them if the firebugs say if they re right or wrog. Keep goig through all the clues util everyoe gets the right aswer a agel! The Shier cogratulates the Compaies ad Swift rewards the first team to have guessed the treasure with some firebugs. The Shier commets that the firebugs have show everyoe that the ew storytreasure is a agel. He challeges the childre to look aroud the room ad see a agel. Oce the childre have spotted it, it s brought to the frot ad set before the Spire of Light. Swift hopes that Macse will be able to ope up the story of a agel. GUARDIANS SINGING Itroduce The Firebugs bad (if you re usig them) ad ivite them to teach the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA holiday club theme sog ad ay actios, if you ve come up with some. Sig it a couple of times so that the Guardias begi to get the hag of it, rather tha sigig other sogs agai at this poit. Say that you ll sig it agai later. STORY OF THE SAGA Macse appears o stage ad itroduces himself. Macse is a ew storyteller ad he has bee traied by the best storyteller i Acora Fabula herself. He is part of the team that makes sure stories of the Saga (the Bible) are told every day. The power of storytellig fuels the light of the Spire ad shies throughout Acora. Macse explais that may of the story-treasures have goe missig ad eed to be foud. Swift tells Macse that lots of ew Guardias have siged up ad that meas they ll be able to help fid ew stories! The Shier should pass him the agel ad say that the firebugs have show everyoe that this is today s storytreasure! What story will it ope up? Storytellig optios Each day, there are three optios suggested for tellig the Bible story: you ca use the same approach each time, mix ad match how you tell the story or combie two or more optios. Choose which will be the most helpful for your team, the childre ad the style of your club: 1 Macse ca retell the story usig the script from page 75. Today, you ll eed a actor to play a pregat Mary. II Macse tells the story from Luke 1:26 38 ad Matthew 1:18 25, usig his ow words ad persoal storytellig style. III Macse should itroduce today s video storytellig episode, available to dowload from the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA: TREASURE SEEKERS multimedia dowloads area. (If you are tellig the story ad usig the video, tell the story first, the show the video so the childre already have the outlie of the evets before seeig the episode.) After the story has fiished, Swift ad the Shier reappear ad woder with Macse about the story. Try to cover themes such as what Jesus came to do, how God has some kid of pla to help his people ad how brave Mary ad Joseph were. Fiish with how scary the agel seemed to be, ad compare this with the story-treasure. Say that the agel was a special visitor. The Shier should start pesterig Swift about the idetity of their ow special visitor! Say goodbye to Macse util the ext sessio. The Shier itroduces the Guild s special story-treasure shelf. He explais that this is where storytreasures are stored util they ca be take to the Keeper of the Keys i the Hall of Memory where all the treasures of the Saga are kept for everyoe to ejoy. He puts the agel o the shelf. It should stay there util the ed of the club. GUARDIANS GUILD CHALLENGE God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his oly So, so that everyoe who has faith i him will have eteral life ad ever really die. Joh 3:16 Each day, you re goig to ivite some childre to the frot to take part i the Guardia s Guild challege. These challeges will help the childre lear the TREASURE SEEKERS Lear ad remember verse: Joh 3:16. If you did Service I, ad you made up some actios for the first part of the verse ( God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his oly So ), the use those agai. If ot, make up some actios ad teach them to the childre. Put the words for this first part of the verse o the scree, teach the actios ad say the words together. Oce you are cofidet that the childre are familiar with the actios, ivite te voluteers (or a appropriate umber for your club if you have 20 childre i total, ivite three or four forward) to come to the frot. Challege them to lead the rest of the club i the actios, sayig the words at the same time. Thak the voluteers for doig so well ad the remove the words from the scree. Say the words ad do the actios oce more without havig the words displayed! GUARDIANS GOLD Remid the childre about the themes of the story God s pla, Jesus the forever Kig ad the bravery of Mary ad Joseph. Outlie agai what the agel said about Jesus God s So, bor to save people from the rubbish that gets i the way of them beig frieds with God; thik through how Mary ad Joseph had to do difficult thigs, but still stuck to what God wated them to do. Before the sessio, prime a Elder Guardia to thik about a story from their ow life that might illustrate the themes from the story. What does Jesus mea to them? How do they feel about Jesus savig them from the bad stuff i their lives? Or they could thik about a time whe they had to do somethig difficult, but they did it because it was what God wated them to do. What treasure i the story ca they describe to the Guardias? GUARDIANS GO! Fiish this sessio with a sog (the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA sog would be a good choice), ad with the Shier remidig the childre that the club is gettig a special visitor he hopes that they are t as scary as the agel! 43
THE QUESTS UNLOCK THE TREASURE 9 45 MINUTES IN SMALL GROUPS PROVISIONS Elder Guardias should make sure all the Guardias have made it back to the right Compay. As this is the first sessio, sped a few momets welcomig the childre to their Compay ad makig sure they are all comfortable. Had roud the refreshmets ad chat about what the childre have heard so far. Ask what they thik about what Mary had to say. TREASURE MAP: BIBLE DISCOVERY With older childre (8 to 11s) Give the childre time to fill i the opeig pages of Treasure Chest (this ca be fiished off at the ed of the day s club, if ecessary). Ask the childre to imagie it s Christmas time. What do they look forward to about Christmas? Chat for a while ad the tur to page 7 ad ecourage the childre to write or draw some of the thigs you ve discussed. As the childre work, chat about some of the other thigs they like about Christmas. You might also wish to describe your ow Christmas traditios. Read the first Bible passage together, from page 8 (Luke 1:26 38). There are differet ways you could do this: you or a Assistat Elder could read it out, you could ask a voluteer to read the whole passage or part of it, you could eve use a audio Bible ad play the correct passage while the childre follow i their books. Whatever you choose, make sure everyoe is comfortable ad o oe feels pressurised to read out loud whe they do t wat to. Oce you have fiished, ecourage the childre to thik about how Mary might have felt after she had bee visited by the agel, ad the draw a appropriate expressio i the picture o page 9. Whe everyoe has fiished, compare the expressios ad the go back to the passage ad uderlie everythig that s surprisig. Do the same with Joseph s story o pages 10 ad 11 (Matthew 1:18 25). However, there are two pictures of Joseph, oe for before the dream ad oe for afterwards. Judge how log to sped o before you do t wat to get bogged dow talkig about adultery or sex educatio! Sped a few momets woderig what is happeig here. What is God doig? Why did he sed the agel? What is Jesus goig to do whe he grows up? You do t eed to come to ay coclusios just yet, these themes will recur throughout TREASURE SEEKERS. Accept all the childre s aswers eve if they come out with a respose that does t seem right, it s part of their workig out ad processig of the story! Go back to the two passages for today ad ask the childre to pick out what the agel says about Jesus. Gather these together by writig them aroud the picture o page 12. Ecourage the childre to say what this tells them about who he is ad what he will do. Fially, review what you ve explored today by usig the My Treasure questios o page 13. These will appear each day ad the childre will soo get used to reflectig o their thoughts i this way. With youger childre (5 to 8s) Give the childre time to fill i the opeig pages of Treasure Store (this ca be fiished off at the ed of the day s club, if ecessary). Set the childre workig o the puzzle o page 5, to reveal who the special visitor was who came to both Mary ad Joseph. As you work, chat about ay special visitors you have had recetly. Oce the childre have revealed the agel, read the two Bible passages o pages 6 ad 7 (Luke 1:26 33 ad Matthew 2:18 21). At this stage, it s probably best for oe of the Elders or Assistat Elders to read out the passage. Ecourage the childre to liste or to follow i Treasure Store. Help them fid the aswers to the questios. Ask the childre what Mary ad Joseph might have bee thikig as they talked with the agel ad thought about their dream. If you have childre i your group who do t have a church backgroud, you might get a wide variety of aswers here! That is fie, as these childre may be ecouterig this story for the first time ad wo t have a large frame of referece for thigs such as agel visitatios. Sped some time reflectig o the descriptios of Jesus that Mary ad Joseph were give. Go through the ames o page 8 ad chat about what they mea. Ask the childre to choose the oe they like the best ad the explai why they chose it. Make sure you thak each Guardia for their cotributio. Fiish off with a time of quiet where childre ca tell God whatever they wat to. You might have some childre who fidget or who feel the eed to chat or whisper judge how log to give this accordig to how ivolved your childre are. If they ve ever doe aythig like this before, they may ot immediately egage. COMPANY PRAYER Give out simple outlies of agels, cut out from white paper, together with pes or pecils. (You could use a agel chai, where the agels are all joied together). Ask the childre to thik about what they ve explored today. What do they wat to say to or about God? Ecourage them to write or draw that o their agel shape. Stick the agels (or agel chai) to the wall ext to your Compay ad look at them together. Have a time whe you ecourage the childre to pray about what they ca see o the agel shapes. You might have some childre who have ever prayed before, so explai briefly that ayoe ca pray ad they ca do it however they like. Prayig is just like havig a coversatio with God. Roud off with a simple prayer thakig God for sedig Jesus. CONSTRUCTION Choose a costructio activity from the Treasure Trove (pages 81 to 83). There are craft ideas based o the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA theme ad o the Bible story for the sessio. Today s Bible costructios are Agel ad Agel dress-up o page 81. For extra craft ideas, see Ultimate Craft (SU 978 1 84427 364 5). GAMES Choose some suitable games to help trai the Guardias! A rage of games is available o pages 84 to 86. For more games, see Ultimate Games (SU 978 1 84427 365 2). 44
I MESSAGES FROM ANGELS GUARDIANS GATHERING 5 25 MINUTES ALL TOGETHER THE SHINER S LANTERN Play the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA sog as the Shier welcomes everyoe back. He tells the Guardias about the Shier s Later a place where they ca leave their messages, questios, pictures, jokes whatever they wat to share with the other Guardias! Explai that the firebugs i the later will pass all the messages o to the Shier. If aythig has already bee put i the later, share that ow. COMPANY SHOWCASE Choose a Compay ad ivite the Elder Guardias ad two or three of the childre to come to the frot to show everyoe somethig they have bee doig i their Compay duties. It might be a item they have made to decorate their space, a emblem or flag they have devised or a motto to say. Admire what they have show ad thak them for beig ethusiastic Guardias. If you have lots of Compaies, you might eed to feature more tha oe here. JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF ANCORA Itroduce the drama, set i the city of Acora. For childre who were t at Service I (or if you did t do this service), give a recap of that very first episode, although the drama will still work without seeig the service episode. Today, both the Keeper of the Keys ad her brother Kal get a very strage visitatio from a very mysterious visitor. What does it all mea? SWIFT S TRAINING REVIEW Devise a quiz to help the childre remember ad process what has happeed i the club durig this sessio. Have factual questios, together with physical ad metal challeges that relate to today, for example who ca recite the Lear ad remember verse? Ca ayoe remember the warm up from the start of the morig? Create teams by joiig Compaies together or simply splittig the childre dow the middle of the room! GUILD PRAYER Before the sessio come up with some actios to accompay this prayer: Thak you God for sedig Jesus. Thak you for helpig Mary ad Joseph to be part of your pla. Help us to be brave, like Mary ad Joseph, ad follow your plas for us. Ame. You could use sig laguage or other actios. Teach the actios to the childre ad the say the prayer a few times, with the childre doig the actios each time. REVIVE The Firebugs should lead the childre i a couple of lively sogs. Use some that church childre will kow, so that they ca carry ad help teach the words ad music to the rest of the group. GUARDIANS GO! The Shier realises that TREASURE SEEKERS has almost fiished for the day, but they have t had their surprise visitor. Swift aouces the arrival of the Guildmaster, ad briefly iterviews him. They thak everyoe for comig ad give a seak preview of what s goig to happe at the ext sessio! The Shier says it s always a hoour to see the Guildmaster! You might wish to ivite some Guardias up to the frot to fid out what they have discovered ad ejoyed about the club today. Sig the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA sog to fiish Guardias gatherig ad the sed the childre back to their Compaies. ANCORA FAREWELL 2 10 MINUTES IN SMALL GROUPS Chat with the childre about what you explored earlier i the sessio i Treasure map: Bible discovery. As the childre wait to be collected, they ca complete ay ufiished pages from their Treasure Chest or Treasure Store. Or, they might choose to work o a ogoig costructio project. RECALIBRATION CLEAR UP AND DEBRIEF 6 30 MINUTES Oce the childre have goe, tidy up ad do ay ecessary preparatio for the followig day. As may team members as possible should meet to review how the first day has goe, ad idetify aythig that might eed to be adjusted or ay childre who might have bee uhappy. Report back o what happeed i the Compaies ad the sped time prayig together. Remember to ackowledge ad affirm team members cotributios to the sessio. If possible, share a meal together. USING THE GUARDIANS OF ANCORA APP WITH THE QUEST If you have access to a tablet ad are able to dowload the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA app, there are several ways you could use this to ehace today s Quest: O If you are able to coect your tablet to a projector, you could play through the relevat parts of Messages from agels as a way of itroducig the story to your Guardias. O If you have eough tablets to have oe per Compay, you could ecourage childre to take it i turs to play through Messages from agels at appropriate poits i your programme. You might eed to set a time limit to make sure everyoe gets a tur. O If you have eough tablets for oe Compay to have oe each, you could icorporate time durig Costructio or Games for Compaies to rotate ad play through Messages from agels i a dedicated zoe, uder supervisio. You could suggest the followig: O Fid your way to Mary s house to see what is happeig there. O The travel to Joseph s to discover what he dreamt about. If you do t have access to a tablet ad are t able to dowload the GUARDIANS OF ANCORA app yourself, do t worry, there are still plety of excitig ways to egage with GUARDIANS OF ANCORA. Start by visitig www.guardiasofacora.com to fid out more. Remember to ecourage the childre who atted your club to dowload the app for themselves, if they have access to a tablet at home. 45