Beach mission idea
Many of our evangelical community will be engaged in beach missions and country missions over the Christmas break. Here's an idea for those who are trying to take the gospel to infants and primary children during those missions. If you know people who are involved in that great ministry, perhaps you'd like to pass this idea on to them.
The idea is to make use of Kel Richards' new ‘Aussie bush yarn’ for kids, Gumtree Gully. It's a parable of the gospel (based on Two Ways to Live), using characters which are all Australian native animals (and, of course, the human park ranger).
Why not invite the kids to a ‘story-telling’ time each day, and read a chapter each time (there are six chapters). Read the story in a nice dramatic way (perhaps with different people voicing the different characters and a narrator). Then the narrator can work through the ‘What's inside this story?’ section, which seeks to explain the meaning of the parable to the children. And, to get the children to think and respond to the story, you could also use some of the discussion questions from the ‘Things for adults to talk about with kids’ section at the back of the of the book.
At the end of the sixth session, you could offer the children a copy of Gumtree Gully or Who will be king? to take home.