Newsletter 1
Newsletter 1.
Contents.
Who is Maurice Sweetsur?
Object Lesson (O.L.) 1 - Growing to be like Christ (Fruit in bottle).
O.L. 2 - Faith (A water experiment).
Who is Maurice Sweetsur?
Hi,
Since I started sharing object lessons with Children's workers, I have had many requests for information about myself and my ministry. Therefore, I decided to write a brief testimony which, I hope, will answer your questions.
I was born and brought up in Stoke-on Trent in England, but spent all my working life as a Research Chemist in Ayr, Scotland. I hold a PhD degree in Food Science from Strathclyde University (Glasgow). I am the author or co-author of over 60 scientific papers.
For most of my life I was an atheist, but then in 1980 I had a dramatic personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and was gloriously saved. I have been endeavouring to follow Him since.
I fellowshipped at an A.O.G. church in Prestwick, Ayrshire, and my Christian service included leading a Crusader (non-denominational children's youth movement) group, weekly "door to door" evangelism, and being Editor (and main contributor) to my church's magazine. Many of the articles that I wrote for this magazine were subsequently republished in the National Christian outreach newspapers "Challenge", "New Life", and "The Challenger". These articles were mainly on Evangelism, The Authority of the Bible and especially on Creation and Evolution.
In 1993 I took early retirement from my job in Ayr and emigrated with my wife Margo and son Paul to New Zealand. I now fellowship at another A.O.G. church in Papakura, Auckland.
On arriving in New Zealand I was amazed and thrilled to discover that "ordinary" Christians are allowed to teach Bible lessons (usually 30 minutes per week) in State Primary schools. I now spend most of my time preparing for and taking these classes, averaging about 12 per week.
In 1998 I began to develop "fun-filled" special lessons for children using ventriloquism, Gospel illusions, puppets, balloon modelling and stories. Under the name 'Uncle Maurice', I now take these lessons to various groups throughout Auckland and beyond, e.g. Sunday schools, Family services, Kids clubs, Holiday programmes, School 'break-up' Assemblies, Uniform organisations, Church camps etc. More recently, I have been offering four training workshops to groups in the Auckland area on Object lessons, Illusions, Storytelling and Balloon modelling.
I am committed to reaching and discipling children for Christ, and to help equip Children's workers for their ministry - hence these Newsletters. My prayer is that you will frind something here to benefit your ministry.
Maurice Sweetsur
Email: mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
“Uncle Maurice”–Teaching Bible truths to children in a fun-filled way.
Ventriloquism - Amazing illusions - Hilarious stories - Balloon modelling - Puppets - Children participation.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Object Lesson (O.L.) 1 - Growing to be like Christ (Fruit in bottle).
This takes a long time to prepare, but is well worth the effort.
While a fruit ( a lemon or orange is ideal ) is still very small and attached to its tree, place a narrow-necked bottle over it and tie to branch. Leave in place until the fruit has fully grown inside the bottle. Remove bottle containing the fruit and show to your class.
Ask "How did I get this fruit inside the bottle?" A few children may work it out, but most won't. Explain how you did it, stating that the tiny fruit had all the potential to grow into a large fruit, but that it needed food to grow. This food (sap) was all provided by the tree. Use this as an analogy for the newly born-again (or baby) Christian who has all that is needed to become the person God wants them to be, but needs to grow. Our food is God's Word (plus prayer and fellowship etc.).
Ask "What would have happened to the baby fruit if I had cut the twig attaching it to the branch while it was still small?" Answer. It would not have grown. In fact it would have withered away and died. Again use the analogy of the baby Christian who does not feed on God's Word.
O.L. 2 - Faith (A water experiment).
Explain that faith is believing in something that you cannot see. State that although you cannot see God (or Jesus) because He is a Spirit, you can still know that He is real. Explain that something else you cannot see, but is real is the air. State that you are now going to prove that the air in the room is real.
Pour water into a glass until it is almost full. Place a piece of cardboard, cut to slightly larger than the top of the glass, shiny side down, over the top. (An old breakfast cereal box is an ideal source of suitable cardboard). Hold cardboard in place, and invert glass. Take away your hand from the cardboard. Explain that gravity is still at work trying to make the water fall on the floor, but that the air - which we cannot see - is stronger than gravity and is keeping the cardboard in place.
Invite a few of the children to put their faith in the air - which they cannot see- and walk under the glass. As they are doing so, reinforce the truth that they are trusting in something that they cannot see.
If you wish, you could conclude this illustration as follows.
State that you are now looking for someone with GREAT faith. Choose a volunteer. State that you are now going to hold the glass of water over their head as before and tip it upside down, but this time you are not going to use any cardboard! Say you wouldn't want them to get too wet if things went wrong, so you will pour some of the water out of the glass. Pour out water until about 2 or 3 cm. remains. State that you still don't like the idea of wetting their hair - if things did go wrong - so you will hold a cup between the glass and their hair. Pour the water out of the glass and into the cup. Act surprised that the water came out of the glass. State that you have worked out the problem. You weren't really using faith, because real faith in Jesus is trusting in Him alone. Therefore, real faith in the air is trusting in the air alone. Therefore you are now going to invert the cup (now containing the water ) over the volunteer's head, but with nothing in between. Do this. The water will not come out of the cup, because you had previously placed a SPONGE in the bottom!
Contents.
Who is Maurice Sweetsur?
Object Lesson (O.L.) 1 - Growing to be like Christ (Fruit in bottle).
O.L. 2 - Faith (A water experiment).
Who is Maurice Sweetsur?
Hi,
Since I started sharing object lessons with Children's workers, I have had many requests for information about myself and my ministry. Therefore, I decided to write a brief testimony which, I hope, will answer your questions.
I was born and brought up in Stoke-on Trent in England, but spent all my working life as a Research Chemist in Ayr, Scotland. I hold a PhD degree in Food Science from Strathclyde University (Glasgow). I am the author or co-author of over 60 scientific papers.
For most of my life I was an atheist, but then in 1980 I had a dramatic personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and was gloriously saved. I have been endeavouring to follow Him since.
I fellowshipped at an A.O.G. church in Prestwick, Ayrshire, and my Christian service included leading a Crusader (non-denominational children's youth movement) group, weekly "door to door" evangelism, and being Editor (and main contributor) to my church's magazine. Many of the articles that I wrote for this magazine were subsequently republished in the National Christian outreach newspapers "Challenge", "New Life", and "The Challenger". These articles were mainly on Evangelism, The Authority of the Bible and especially on Creation and Evolution.
In 1993 I took early retirement from my job in Ayr and emigrated with my wife Margo and son Paul to New Zealand. I now fellowship at another A.O.G. church in Papakura, Auckland.
On arriving in New Zealand I was amazed and thrilled to discover that "ordinary" Christians are allowed to teach Bible lessons (usually 30 minutes per week) in State Primary schools. I now spend most of my time preparing for and taking these classes, averaging about 12 per week.
In 1998 I began to develop "fun-filled" special lessons for children using ventriloquism, Gospel illusions, puppets, balloon modelling and stories. Under the name 'Uncle Maurice', I now take these lessons to various groups throughout Auckland and beyond, e.g. Sunday schools, Family services, Kids clubs, Holiday programmes, School 'break-up' Assemblies, Uniform organisations, Church camps etc. More recently, I have been offering four training workshops to groups in the Auckland area on Object lessons, Illusions, Storytelling and Balloon modelling.
I am committed to reaching and discipling children for Christ, and to help equip Children's workers for their ministry - hence these Newsletters. My prayer is that you will frind something here to benefit your ministry.
Maurice Sweetsur
Email: mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
“Uncle Maurice”–Teaching Bible truths to children in a fun-filled way.
Ventriloquism - Amazing illusions - Hilarious stories - Balloon modelling - Puppets - Children participation.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Object Lesson (O.L.) 1 - Growing to be like Christ (Fruit in bottle).
This takes a long time to prepare, but is well worth the effort.
While a fruit ( a lemon or orange is ideal ) is still very small and attached to its tree, place a narrow-necked bottle over it and tie to branch. Leave in place until the fruit has fully grown inside the bottle. Remove bottle containing the fruit and show to your class.
Ask "How did I get this fruit inside the bottle?" A few children may work it out, but most won't. Explain how you did it, stating that the tiny fruit had all the potential to grow into a large fruit, but that it needed food to grow. This food (sap) was all provided by the tree. Use this as an analogy for the newly born-again (or baby) Christian who has all that is needed to become the person God wants them to be, but needs to grow. Our food is God's Word (plus prayer and fellowship etc.).
Ask "What would have happened to the baby fruit if I had cut the twig attaching it to the branch while it was still small?" Answer. It would not have grown. In fact it would have withered away and died. Again use the analogy of the baby Christian who does not feed on God's Word.
O.L. 2 - Faith (A water experiment).
Explain that faith is believing in something that you cannot see. State that although you cannot see God (or Jesus) because He is a Spirit, you can still know that He is real. Explain that something else you cannot see, but is real is the air. State that you are now going to prove that the air in the room is real.
Pour water into a glass until it is almost full. Place a piece of cardboard, cut to slightly larger than the top of the glass, shiny side down, over the top. (An old breakfast cereal box is an ideal source of suitable cardboard). Hold cardboard in place, and invert glass. Take away your hand from the cardboard. Explain that gravity is still at work trying to make the water fall on the floor, but that the air - which we cannot see - is stronger than gravity and is keeping the cardboard in place.
Invite a few of the children to put their faith in the air - which they cannot see- and walk under the glass. As they are doing so, reinforce the truth that they are trusting in something that they cannot see.
If you wish, you could conclude this illustration as follows.
State that you are now looking for someone with GREAT faith. Choose a volunteer. State that you are now going to hold the glass of water over their head as before and tip it upside down, but this time you are not going to use any cardboard! Say you wouldn't want them to get too wet if things went wrong, so you will pour some of the water out of the glass. Pour out water until about 2 or 3 cm. remains. State that you still don't like the idea of wetting their hair - if things did go wrong - so you will hold a cup between the glass and their hair. Pour the water out of the glass and into the cup. Act surprised that the water came out of the glass. State that you have worked out the problem. You weren't really using faith, because real faith in Jesus is trusting in Him alone. Therefore, real faith in the air is trusting in the air alone. Therefore you are now going to invert the cup (now containing the water ) over the volunteer's head, but with nothing in between. Do this. The water will not come out of the cup, because you had previously placed a SPONGE in the bottom!
posted by Maurice Sweetsur @ 7:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home