Matthew 10

Book of Matthew: Chapter 10

Welcome (Matthew 10:40-42)

Welcome questions

"Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me"

Jesus talks about how important it is it welcome people -- and that when we are welcomed, or welcome others, Jesus is welcomed too.

How can we welcome people well?
How can we welcome new kids at church?
If you were going to a new place, how would you know that you were welcome?
What things can you do to make sure children are welcome at your home, school or church?
Can you remember the last time you were given a really warm welcome?
Why do you think the Bible says that anyone who welcomes you, welcomes Jesus?

Craft - welcome mats

What you need:

Outdoor natural coir mats -- you can buy them from Bunnings for approx $10
Tester pots of outdoor paint. (Resene often donate these to community groups, although you might not get the colours you want!) Outdoor paint lasts well, although there are no guarantees in a high traffic area.
A thick paint brush for stippling paint onto the mat
Masking tape
Paper templates with 'welcome' or 'kia ora' printed in a typeface you like, and cut out using a craft knife or scalpel. Don't use a font that is too fine -- chunky sans serif typefaces are good!

What you do:
Children work together to design and decorate the welcome mats. These can be used at church or given away to new people in the community, such a new refugee family.

Have a template cut out in advance, with the letters for WELCOME or KIA ORA. Where a letter has a counter (e.g. the inside of an o) you might like to stick those down separately with masking tape. Secure the whole template to the mat with masking tape

Doing one colour at at time, dip the paint brush into the test pot and dab it onto the mat, keeping the brush vertical. Complete one layer, and you might like to add another layer once that one is dry. You could do a different colour per letter.

Give the mat to a new family in the area, or use them at church to welcome the community when they arrive.

Game - welcome relay

A fun, active game to help kids think about welcoming people well. You could do this as one group, or divide the children into teams

What you need:

2 chairs
2 cushions
small table -- light enough for one or two kids to carry
2 plastic cups filled with water
jug of water
A non breakable vase with a flower in it (such as a tall cup)
plate of biscuits or snacks
A bible
You can add other props if available, e.g. table cloth, your church newsletter, teapot.

What you do:

Choose a child to be the 'visitor' who arrives at your door unexpectedly. If you have lots of children in your programme, you could do multiple visitors and houses.
You welcome them into your house and then realise that you have nothing to welcome them.
Children run a relay race bringing things from one side of the room to the other, so that the guest is welcomed well. You could race teams to be the first team to finish, when everything is on the other side of the room.
Children should think about what order they should send things (eg. you need a table to put the cups of water on first!
Repeat if you have time.
Highlight the importance of welcoming people well. It's not about having material goods, but making sure that we are prepared to be kind and hospitable to those who need us to be Jesus to them.

Manaakitanga

Manaakitanga means hospitality, kindness, generosity, support - the process of showing respect, generosity and care for others.

Strandz put together a video for the Wellington Diocese about Manaakitanga and Faith 5, introducing how we could invite Jesus to be a part of our meal times.

Reward questions

What would be your ideal reward?
Have you ever received a reward?
As a Christian, what reward do we have?
Why do you think ‘Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person’ means?

Reward chart

What you need: lots of stickers, a copy of the template, cardboard, stuff to decorate with, glue

What to do. Glue the template to the cardboard. Decorate.

In the spaces provided, get the children to choose some things they would like to work on. Eg helping show hospitality, learning a particular bible verse off by heart, helping to clean up without being asked, praying before they go to bed, using kind words to welcome new children at school.

Give each child some stickers. Explain that whenever they do one of the things they have listed, they can put a sticker next to it on the chart. When they have five stickers by an item, then the next time they come to Children’s Ministry, they can share about what they did, and what it was like or what they learned and they will get a special reward. (this might be a pencil or bookmark. The main point of this is to get them to share with the group about their experience and what they learned.)

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