Nau mai haere mai ki wāhanga tuatahi.
Term 1, 2023
Nau mai hoki mai ki te wāhanga hou!
As you know, the name for our programme is Te Aka. This connects us with Jesus’ reference to being the one true vine. And often he refers to how he is the vine, and we should hold fast to the true vine; “Ko ahau te waina pono… kia ū koutou ki roto ki ahau” (John 15: 1 & 4)
To begin the year, we start with a couple of weeks reminding us how to stay on the true vine (the right path) with a number of rules that Jesus talks about. Then we leap into a very important reflective time – Lent. This is the period that leads us up to Easter and our kaupapa this year is Growing with God or, E tipu ake ahau i roto i te Atua. We have a number of ways that we can do this over the Lenten period and a calendar to keep on top of it too!
These Lenten activities can be done together as a whanau as well. So karawhiua, get everyone together and give it a go ☺
There are a number of ‘challenges’ that we have provided for Lent that can be part of the learning sessions or take-home activities. Think about what you can do confidently, and what you have time for, and order your sessions accordingly. It is completely fine to only do the īnoi challenge or the memory verse challenge, or to try and do all challenges. However, you need to consider whether too many will confuse your tamariki, rather than help them to Grow with God (as the Kaupapa says!)
In the least, while Growing with God over the Lent period, our lessons explore each of the 5 senses leading up to Palm Sunday. So, we will explore what it is like to feel like we are Growing with God, what it is like to hear ourselves Growing with God, to taste what it is like to Grow with God, and so on.
Other challenges we’ve prepared for the period are:
Memory verse challenge – Each week, the rārangi o te rā can be offered as a memory verse for tamariki to remember for the next Sunday/session. We have offered a separate page for the memory verse challenge in case you want to do this separately.
Īnoi challenge – We will have an īnoi that you are encouraged to grow and develop over Lent. At the beginning, the whole īnoi is provided for you to read and learn over the week. Then, as the weeks go by, phrases are removed from the īnoi for you to add your own parts into. The idea is that, by the end of the 5 weeks that we run the īnoi, you and your tamariki will be able to say a prayer confidently. Tip for the leader: Get to know the īnoi and what you are doing well ahead of time so that you understand it and are able to teach it to your tamariki.
Blessings challenge – In week 2 of Lent, we have a rosary bead activity that everyone can do. This encourages you to count your blessings every day. Tamariki may not be able to think of many blessings at the beginning, but as the weeks carry on, they will be able to see more blessings in the day. This reminds us to be mindful of what is going on in our lives and to be open to the blessings that we experience every day. It also creates a culture of thankfulness and seeing the wonder in the world.
Each week we have provided lesson ideas for you to follow. There are estimated times suggested for the different parts of the sessions, but you will know your group well enough to know how long things will take.
As a reminder, each week there is the following:
- A template of a lesson plan that you can follow
- A description of resources needed
- A brief reflection on the reading
- One or two activities that you could try
Please note, the reflections are incredibly brief. For more information, or if you would like to know more about the context of the story, follow this up with your parish priest. We have provided some contact details on our website for the different Amorangi offices.
The pātai for tamariki are what we suggest you can talk about with the tamariki.
Lastly, the activities have been provided to support the message of the day. You can follow the activity that has been set out, or do your own. We won’t be offended by either.
We have started putting the WHOLE reading into the lesson plans for the leader to read. However, the readings for this term seems to be quite long!
Consequently, if you are worried about caring for Papatuānuku and all the printing, we suggest you don’t print these pages and instead:
- Find an online Bible, like biblegateway.com or bible.com
- Find a Bible app, there are heaps, like YouVersion which comes in different languages or read your own at home
Where necessary, we have indicated which parts of the reading you might like to focus on. In addition, unless otherwise indicated, the Bible used for the English version is the New Revised Standard Version-Anglicised.
The introduction line that has been put before each reading is the introduction line that comes from the Anglican Prayer Book that we use. This has been intentional so that tamariki and whānau can learn from the get-go how to present the Gospel reading for the week. This way, if whānau transition to wanting to do readings in Church, they are already prepared for it ☺
Just remember, if you change where you start the reading from, you need to change the verse number in the introduction line. And you DON’T need to provide an ending verse – because the Gospel is never ending!
Because these lesson plans are a new initiative and are broadly available, we would like to know how you are going. If you have any feedback, we have a 2023 evaluation form available. Feel free to mention everything; the good, the bad, and the crazy. We do take this feedback on board and try to improve our lessons. The more we can understand how tamariki ministry works in the different rohe, the more we can help you, and the Pihopatanga, grow our whānau in Christ.
Nga manaakitanga
Te Aka Team 🙂