Welcome to The Oak Church Family Resources Page. We hope the information and resources you find here will inspire and grow you, your children and the wider community. You can filter which resources you can see using the buttons below. These resources are created each week as part of our Sunday Gathering at The Oak, click here to join us live at 10:30am each Sunday.
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The Nest
Prayer Week 5
29th August 2021
This is our final week learning about prayer which is another word for talking to God.
If you have a chance, take a look at this 2 minute video about chatting to God with young children (see the video here). We would also recommend watching this video as well if you have time, you will need to create a login to watch it, but it is free and this video and the whole course are really fantastic (see the video here).
As a quick overview, we are going to be thinking about this concept of ‘chatting’ to God which is taken from the Parenting for Faith course and books (which we would really recommend). ‘Chatting’ encourages children to use informal language, as well as non-verbal forms, to communicate with God. It’s about reinforcing our children’s understanding that they have their own relationship with God. All our activities this week hopefully will help with this.
Verse ‘Always be full of joy. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful.’ 1 Thessalonians 5v16-18
Book My Very First Prayers by Gabrielle Mercer (see link here). Tamsin, one of our Nest team, has recorded a wonderful video of this term’s story using Makaton signs (see the video here).
Songs For this term please choose whichever are your favourite songs from our Nest resources page (see the videos here).
Activity 1 This is a chance to practice chatting to God with your child. We are going to include this activity each week of the prayer term and although it might feel a bit awkward at first, we hope that with a bit of practice this will become easier and help to encourage our children to chat to God themselves. Your child naturally learns by copying you and we want to show them that they can have their own relationship with God. It is also something we can try to do every day by letting our children see and hear us chatting to God out loud. For example ‘Thank you God for this dinner I am making, I really love spaghetti, God isn’t it funny that it looks a bit like wiggly worms!’.
Grab a cushion and ask a question (some ideas are below). Then tell God your answer into your cushion and encourage your child to do the same. If children are non-verbal or don’t want to speak then you could suggest the following: God is a proud parent just like us, who wants to see their new skills, so they might want to show Him how they can clap their hands or the funniest face they can make. Just remember to keep directing it as communication with God, not a performance for you.
What is your favourite animal? What did you have for breakfast today? Who is in your family? What is your favourite colour? Do you like singing or dancing? What food do you love to eat? What is your favourite toy? Do you like it when it’s sunny or rainy?
Activity 2 Make some paper dolls (see example here). Decorate these with whatever things you have available, you could colour them in, cut and stick items on, paint them etc. Either create them to look like people your child would like to thank God for, or while you are decorating talk with your child about people we can thank God for or ask God to help.
Prayer Week 4
22nd August 2021
Today we are going to be learning about prayer which is another word for talking to God.
If you have a chance, take a look at this 2 minute video about chatting to God with young children (see the video here). We would also recommend watching this video as well if you have time, you will need to create a login to watch it, but it is free and this video and the whole course are really fantastic (see the video here).
As a quick overview, we are going to be thinking about this concept of ‘chatting’ to God which is taken from the Parenting for Faith course and books (which we would really recommend). ‘Chatting’ encourages children to use informal language, as well as non-verbal forms, to communicate with God. It’s about reinforcing our children’s understanding that they have their own relationship with God. All our activities this week hopefully will help with this.
Verse ‘Always be full of joy. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful.’ 1 Thessalonians 5v16-18
Book My Very First Prayers by Gabrielle Mercer (see link here). Tamsin, one of our Nest team, has recorded a wonderful video of this term’s story using Makaton signs (see the video here).
Songs For this term please choose whichever are your favourite songs from our Nest resources page (see the videos here).
Activity 1 This is a chance to practice chatting to God with your child. We are going to include this activity each week of the prayer term and although it might feel a bit awkward at first, we hope that with a bit of practice this will become easier and help to encourage our children to chat to God themselves. Your child naturally learns by copying you and we want to show them that they can have their own relationship with God. It is also something we can try to do every day by letting our children see and hear us chatting to God out loud. For example ‘Thank you God for this dinner I am making, I really love spaghetti, God isn’t it funny that it looks a bit like wiggly worms!’.
Grab a cushion and ask a question (some ideas are below). Then tell God your answer into your cushion and encourage your child to do the same. If children are non-verbal or don’t want to speak then you could suggest the following: God is a proud parent just like us, who wants to see their new skills, so they might want to show Him how they can clap their hands or the funniest face they can make. Just remember to keep directing it as communication with God, not a performance for you.
What is your favourite animal? What did you have for breakfast today? Who is in your family? What is your favourite colour? Do you like singing or dancing? What food do you love to eat? What is your favourite toy? Do you like it when it’s sunny or rainy?
Activity 2 Decorate biscuits (any shop bought biscuits would work or you can make some if you’d like to) with icing and smarties (or any multicoloured chocolates/sweets). As your child puts each smartie on their biscuit, pray for the associated item on the list below. If you don’t want to do biscuits you could get some coloured balls, pieces of paper or material and pick one out of a bag and then pray for the related item.
BLUE A family member - thank God for them, ask God to look after them.RED Someone who is poorly - that God would make them better.
BROWN Yourself - tell God something you need help with, ask Him to be with you. GREEN The Oak - thank God for our church family, ask God to help our church leaders. YELLOW A friend - thank God for them, ask God to look after them. PINK Something we want to praise God for. ORANGE Where we live - ask God to look after the place we live in. PURPLE Someone who doesn’t know Jesus yet - that they would know God loves them.
Prayer Week 3
15th August 2021
Today we are going to be learning about prayer which is another word for talking to God. **Next week we will be doing an activity involving decorating biscuits (any shop bought biscuits are fine or you can make some if you’d like to) with icing and smarties (or any multicoloured chocolates/sweets). If you are not able to get hold of these items by then please contact Emily (email here) who has some of the Nest ones we can share with you.**
If you have a chance, take a look at this 2 minute video about chatting to God with young children (see the video here). We would also recommend watching this video as well if you have time, you will need to create a login to watch it, but it is free and this video and the whole course are really fantastic (see the video here).
As a quick overview, we are going to be thinking about this concept of ‘chatting’ to God which is taken from the Parenting for Faith course and books (which we would really recommend). ‘Chatting’ encourages children to use informal language, as well as non-verbal forms, to communicate with God. It’s about reinforcing our children’s understanding that they have their own relationship with God. All our activities this week hopefully will help with this.
Verse ‘Always be full of joy. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful.’ 1 Thessalonians 5v16-18
Book My Very First Prayers by Gabrielle Mercer (see link here). Tamsin, one of our Nest team, has recorded a wonderful video of this term’s story using Makaton signs (see the video here).
Songs For this term please choose whichever are your favourite songs from our Nest resources page (see the videos here).
Activity 1 This is a chance to practice chatting to God with your child. We are going to include this activity each week of the prayer term and although it might feel a bit awkward at first, we hope that with a bit of practice this will become easier and help to encourage our children to chat to God themselves. Your child naturally learns by copying you and we want to show them that they can have their own relationship with God. It is also something we can try to do every day by letting our children see and hear us chatting to God out loud. For example ‘Thank you God for this dinner I am making, I really love spaghetti, God isn’t it funny that it looks a bit like wiggly worms!’.
Grab a cushion and ask a question (some ideas are below). Then tell God your answer into your cushion and encourage your child to do the same. If children are non-verbal or don’t want to speak then you could suggest the following: God is a proud parent just like us, who wants to see their new skills, so they might want to show Him how they can clap their hands or the funniest face they can make. Just remember to keep directing it as communication with God, not a performance for you.
What is your favourite animal? What did you have for breakfast today? Who is in your family? What is your favourite colour? Do you like singing or dancing? What food do you love to eat? What is your favourite toy? Do you like it when it’s sunny or rainy?
Activity 2 Blow bubbles together and as your child pops the bubbles ask them to say things that they would like to thank God for. You could also use this time to go on a prayer walk together, searching for things you would like to thank God for - trees, birds, smiles from people you see etc.
Treehouse
Big Questions - Does prayer change anything?
29th August 2021
Yes yes and yes … Prayer changes everything!
Your prayers are powerful
Your prayers can change people’s lives
Your prayers can change this world and change you!
We are called to pray!
We won’t stop!
We can’t stop!
As our prayers go up – it’s Jesus who provides!
This video was about ending World Poverty but whatever is in your heard and mind I was to set you a challenge to pray about it!
Maybe you want to pray for someone who is sick, but not just once, but again and again! With faith until they are well!
Maybe you want to pray for someone who is sad, mad happy or glad.
Maybe you want to pray for someone to find Jesus?
Maybe you want to pray for people without homes?
Maybe you want to pray for your friends at school?
I ask you today – to choose to pray! Even when you feel nothing is happening. Jesus hears your prayers and listens! Does prayer change anything? Absolutely yes!
Worship:
Big Questions - What is Worship?
22nd August 2021
Is worship just singing songs?
Is worship telling God his is good?
Is worship being good?
Let’s see what we can learn about worship by watching the video
Worship:
Questions:
How do you show God you love him?
How do you love others?
What could we do to worship God this week?
Big Questions - Does God really love me?
15th August 2021
Do you know how amazing you are! Seriously – You I mean you!
No matter what God loves you – we don’t have to do anything more or less for God to love us!
Watch the video to find out more about this question.
Worship:
Can you find these verses in the bible :
Isaiah 54:10
Ephesians 1:5-6
1 Chronicles 16:34
Oak Youth
Summer break
25th July 2021
Oak Youth will be taking a break over the summer. We'd encourage you to connect with all that is happening during our Sunday Gatherings and we'll see you back with us in September.
Oak Youth
18th July 2021
Wow, we've made it, the holidays are here!
This week will be our last Oak Youth before we break for the holidays. We will be taking full advantage of this sunny weather and heading to West Royd park for a water fight. We'll meet at church 7pm and be back for 8:30pm. More details will follow by email.
A huge thank you to you for making Oak Youth part of your lock down journey over the past academic year, especially taking time to grow your knowledge and faith in Jesus.
If you have any questions about anything we have discussed over the past term during our Youth Alpha series please get in touch or post them in the Oak Youth Whatsapp we'd love to chat!
Here is a passage from Philippians that I will be praying for you. Why not have a read and pray for someone in oak youth or someone you feel prompted to pray for.
Pillipians 1:3-6
See you Sunday, don't forget your super soaker!!
God bless,
The Oak Youth Team - Becks, Jackie, Rachel & Becca.
P.S. We'll be back camping at Newday in 2022 but for this year join the fun at NewDayTV/YouTube on Wednesday 28th - Friday 30th July. You can find more details on their website - www.newdaygeneration.org
Oak Youth
11th July 2021
This will be our penultimate session at Oak Youth. We will be finishing the Youth Alpha series with a session called 'Telling Others'.
We'll be looking at how and why it is important to tell others about the Christian faith and what that looks like in our own lives.
Have a read of the verses below and think about how you can tell others about a loving God who cares for His creation and wants to have a relationship with each of us.
Matthew 28:19-20
Acts 1:8
Matthew 5:16
John 13:34-35
John 3:36
To accommodate those of you who will be watching the England match, Rach & Jackie will be leading this session on zoom 6:30-7:30pm. It will be great to see as many of you as possible!
God bless,
Becks & the Oak Youth team
P.S. Thank you so much for hanging out on zoom, contributing so well & being generally awesome young people to hang out with over the past year. Can't wait to party with you in our last session together next week - watch this space for more details, and feel free to invite your friends! And if your on Insta, & following NewDay; switch it on at 8am - you might see someone you know!
