Creative Ideas for All-Age Church: 12 Through-the-year Programmes for Informal Church services and special one-off events. This item is unavailable.Creative Ideas for All-Age Church: 12 Through-the-year Programmes for Informal Church services and special one-off events

The twelve themes in this book contain a wealth of creative worship ideas, all designed to encourage the church family to listen to each other's stories. Through listening and worshipping together in a less formal setting, the material promotes creative thinking and enables people of all ages to learn together in worship and grow in faith as part of God's family. Each theme includes introductory reflections on the season of the year; a biblical context; ideas for a visual display; age-specific activities; suggestions for sharing a meal; suggestions for reflections, prayers and sung worship and, finally, ideas for taking the theme further. The themes can be used to plan stand-alone worship programmes or to follow the pattern of the Christian Year, giving an ideal opportunity for once-a-month exploration of colour, creativity and individuality of each season. Some themes are based on Bible stories or issues relevant to the church family, while others use abstract ideas designed to promote lateral thinking. The material offers a wide range of practical ideas and fun (or reflective) activities designed to give choice to those planning the worship. A pick-and-mix approach provides flexibility for the length and setting of worship. Themes include: Gifts, skills and talents (Epiphany) Lent Unity (Holy Week) Celebrating life (Easter) Sharing our story (Ascension) Prayer (Pentecost) Summer outings Quiet spaces Harvest Sharing our concerns Advent Christmas

Karen Morrison is the Head of Children's and Youth Work for the United Reformed Church and also a former Moderator of the Consultative Group on Ministry Among Children (CGMC). A key part of her role within the URC is to write programme and resource materials for 5-18s for Pilots, which sits within the United Reformed Church and works with several denominations including the Methodist Church, Baptist Church, Congregational Federation, Church of England, Church of Scotland and the Church in Wales. She is also a trustee of Roots, an ecumenical, lectionary-based resource for those working with children and young people. Her published material includes contributions for publications such as Partners in Learning and, more recently, CORE Skills for Children's Work, for which she is part of the management group. Karen is responsible for a minimum of two publications each year for use with children, one based on worship and the other on the study of a country. She either writes or edits the material, which always includes theme-based ideas for crafts, worship, activities, games and theme exploration. Karen also writes articles and magazine pieces and is involved with training adults to work with children and young people. Karen lives in Hampshire with her family and six chickens.