Mini Church Jan to Easter 2026

Worship -  we have been singing this every week doing the actions in the chorus and playing instruments in the verses    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C986eLNNiOo Last time we learned that when Jesus was a grown up he got baptised by John. Shall we hear about what happened next? Jesus lived in a hot country a long time ago when there wasnt any electricity to make things go and no taps in peoples houses to get water.  People had to walk everywhere and they got their water from rivers and lakes.  Sometimes they dug down deep into the ground to find water.  It was hard work and lots of people were quite poor.  Jesus was a poor person.  He lived a simple life just like everyone else.  But after He got baptised God asked Him to do something really hard.  He asked Jesus to go away from his home, into the wilderness where there was no food or water or shelter and to wait.  Jesus didnt know what He was waiting for.  Waiting is hard e...

 Last week we heard about someone who lived in the wilderness and ate bugs and honey - can you remember his name? Thats right, it was John.  We are going to watch a video about John now, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFuJEeXV7uU That video used a word - Messiah.  That's a word which means ' God's specially chosen one'.   John's job was to tell people to get ready because there was a specially chosen person coming who was going to make them clean, not just by washing them in a river on the outside, but by washing them clean on the inside by filling them with the Holy Spirit. John baptised people .  Does anyone know what ' baptised' means?   ( demonstrate dyeing a piece of material in beetroot juice )   It means to dip something into something else so that it completely covers it and changes it.    Like this material has been covered and is now a different colour.  You cant wash that colour out.  It is changed forever...

 Over the past few weeks we have been talking about Jesus.  We have been learning that He is God who came to earth as a man to show us what God is like.   This week we are going to learn about someone else in the Bible who was very important.  Not as important as Jesus, but someone we need to meet. This person's name was John.  John was born at about the same time as Jesus and his birth was special because his mum and dad had been told they couldnt have children.   They were very old and a bit sad because they really wanted a baby but they didnt have one.  Johns Dad was called Zacharias and his Mum was called Elizabeth.  Zacharias worked in church and one day when he was busy an angel came to him and said ' today is a really happy day because God has heard your prayers and is going to say yes to them!  You and Elizabeth are going to have a baby.  You are to call him John.   God is going to use him to get people ready ...

 Have you ever been on holiday?   Who did you go with?  Where did you go?  Did you have fun? Well, when Jesus was  boy He went on holiday too!  Every year He went with His Mum and Dad and a whole lot of other people to a festival.  Lots of people went to Jerusalem which was a big city like Belfast.  There were lots of market stalls in the streets and music and food and everyone wanted to have a good time.  Sometimes people would arrange to meet up with their families - maybe their aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents would all be there.  Remember how we said that God loves families!  They would remember all the good things God had done for them in the year and celebrate and say thank you in church.  Then they would relax and sleep and eat and play and do all the sorts of things you like to do on holiday. One year when Jesus was about twelve His family went to the festival as they usually did.  Jesus met up wi...

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiEtuCaOEB4&t=46s    (Play from 1 min 16sec as this follows on from last week) Last week we learned that Jesus is God but in a body that we can see.  When we look at Jesus we can see what God is like.  So whatever Jesus says and does is what God is saying and doing.  And the good thing is that even though Jesus was born a long long time ago, what He said and did was so amazing that lots of people wrote it all down so that they could tell other people who hadn't met Him.  Like us.  Lots of the stories of what Jesus did and what He said are gathered together in the Bible. ( show the kids a bible ) In those days there were no cameras and televisions.  There were no phones.  But there were books.  So reading was the main way that people got to hear about what was going on.   Four of Jesus's friends wrote about Jesus - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The books they wrote are calle...

 Last week we learned that God is made up of three parts.  Can we remember what they were? God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit live in heaven which is a special place that we cant see.  We know it is there but we can't see it.   Can you see the wind?  No, but you know it is there cos you can see it blowing things ( use a windmill to demonstrate)   We cant see God but we can see what He does, (and in the past lots of people saw what God had done and wrote down these things in a book.  All the stories of what God has done are in the Bible and its a really good book to read if you want to know what God is like.   But God knows that its easier to understand stuff we can see so thats why He decided to show us what He looks like by sending the Son, Jesus.   Remember that Jesus is a part of God, but He is a part we can see!!! God wants people to know what He is like.  What do you think God is like? (let the kids tell you and...

 God in three persons The bible tells us that before there was anything, there was God.  But God isnt just one person He is three people!   God the Father - God the Son, Jesus - God the Holy Spirit.  This is a bit hard to understand so today we are going to be looking at what it means that God is three people. 1. Show an egg and ask what it is.   The whole thing is called an egg.  But when we break it ( do so) we discover that its made up of three different things.  The shell, the yolk and the white.  Separate the yolk from the white in a bowl.  The shell is like God the Father - it holds everything together and it protects what is inside.  The white is like the Holy Spirit.  It doesnt look very interesting but it protects the yolk and its the part of the egg thats really good for making things ( like cakes and meringues )  The yolk is like Jesus.  It is good for us, it looks perfect, it tastes great.  ...