28 June 2026
Bible readings for today
Liturgical Colour: GREEN Today is Refugee Sunday in the Church Calendar. You can find resources for this day at the bottom of this page. |
CollectAlmighty Father,
grant that we your children may never be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, but continue his faithful servants to our lives’ end; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen E te Matua kaha rawa, kaua mātou, āu tamariki e tukua kia whakamā ki te whāki i te whakapono o te Karaiti i rīpekatia, kia ū tūturu tonu āu pononga ā, mate noa. i roto pū i a Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki. Āmine. |
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.
Intergenerational worshipThis resource is the first of 5 weeks looking at how we can 'check our heart', using the upcoming gospel passages of Matthew. From Intergen Australia
Craft - welcome mats
What you need:
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 relayA 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:
What you do:
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Gospel ConversationsThanks to the Diocese of Dunedin for their great Gospel Conversations each week. For some reason the lectionary, after giving us a long and complex reading last week, gives us 3 verses this week. What could we find worth spending time on in such a short passage? Bishop Kelvin, Nicki and Mark Wilson join Rev. Michael Godfrey to discover applications for our ministries, our relationships, and even the future of the church!
Visio LectioA Lino cut inspired image from Rev. Sarah West for this week's gospel reading, shared with permission.
PNG Download Download w/ background Terms of Use 
ManaakitangaManaakitanga 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
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.) 
Seven Minute SermonThis seven minute sermon podcast from Rev. George Penk looks Romans 6.14-23, and how grace makes Christianity unique. But does grace mean that we can keep sinning?
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Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14)
Children's talkFlame: Creative Children's Ministry have partnered with the Diocese of Newcastle (UK) to put together some resources for this week’s worship, on the story of Abraham and Isaac. To join in this week’s prayer activity you will need a glass of water and some card.
Each week they produced a video with a short service including sorry and thank you prayers, a story and a creative prayer activity that people at home can easily join in with. For this Sunday they looked at the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac and how God provides what he needs.
Click here to download the words to the simple liturgy if you'd like to join in the words. Click here to access a set of resources to accompany the story, written by a collection of children's ministry bloggers, hosted by Kate at Jesus Without Language. |
Match gameA printable matching game from Sundayschoolzone.com for kids to play the game 'pairs'. Print out two copies of the cards, and get the children to play them in groups of two.
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Media |
Song - Not AfraidNot Afraid is a wonderful song by Rend Co. Kids, with a simple and beautiful message for all ages.
Chords and music here on Worship Together |
Psalm 13
Liturgy: call to worshipIntergenerational Call to Worship
(based on Psalm 13) We’ve come to worship, to sing and pray and hear God’s Word, because: God’s love lasts forever! Even when God seems far away, we know: God’s love lasts forever! Even when nothing is going right, and we’re ready to give up, we know: God’s love lasts forever! When people treat us badly, we know: God’s love lasts forever! When we’re all alone, and we feel like no one loves us, we know: God’s love lasts forever! Let’s worship God together! ~ Christine Longhurst, re:Worship |
Refugee Sunday
As the number of refugees passes 37.6 million (2023), we are now more aware of displaced people more than ever. And with growing calls to increase the refugee quota here, the church has a great opportunity to extend grace, manaakitanga and love to refugees arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand.
‘When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt.’
Matthew 2:13-14
Matthew 2:13-14
Why do people become refugees?People are forced to flee—from war and violence; from natural disasters; from religious persecution, political oppression, and ethnic injustice; from food crisis, drought, and famine. They have no choice but to leave behind their land, their homes, their belongings, and their sense of identity. They run in fear for their lives, either within their own country (internally displaced people) or to another country entirely (refugees). And the heaviest toll is felt by the children.
- World Vision Refugee NumbersCheck out these most recent figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency (updated 1 July 2023)
Operation Refugee
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Jesus was a refugeeJesus was a Refugee - get the book/graphics on the Lost Sheep website and you can watch the story being read here
Worship ResourcesWorship resources from CWS may help you profile Refugee Sunday in your worship services. Download here
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