Our Transforming God

While Lent is often a time of reflection and preparation for adults, there are many opportunities for you to intentionally walk through this season with your children, family and whānau.

In 2017, we prepared these studies to go alongside the Lent Studies for the Anglican Diocese of Wellington, Our Transforming God, providing them with some all age resources suitable for an intergenerational group study. Each week focuses on the theme of transformation, as we are challenged to ‘let God change the way you think’ (Romans 12:2)

Just as a caterpillar goes through a transformation and becomes a completely new creature, we know that God wants to change the way we think about things, so that He can transform us into new people - people who love to live life His way.

This resource is no longer available.

Family Film Night

There are suggestions for a family movie each week, and all the films are suitable for both children and adults alike. Put on the popcorn, get out the blankets and make a blanket fort, turn off your devices (everyone!), and settle in for a family film night. All films are available to stream online (iTunes links are below) or should be in your local DVD store.

Week 1 – Zootopia (2016)
Week 2 – Inside Out (2015)
Week 3 - Annie (2014)
Week 4 – The Peanuts Movie (2016)
Week 5 - Wall-E (2008)
Week 6 – Paper Planes (2014)

Use your discretion when showing them to younger children – you might like to watch them in advance if your kids are sensitive viewers, and watch the film with them, guiding them through the plot.

Memory Verse

As you journey as a family to Easter, put this verse from scripture up where everyone can see it. Write it on the window or mirror with window markers, turn it into a poster, write it on the fridge, or stick it up by your children’s beds to look at as they go to sleep.

For more resources to help you prepare your family and church for Lent and Easter, see our other website pages

“Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.”

Romans 12:2 (CEV)

Think

Transform your neighbourhood
“The word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood” – John 1:14 (MSG)
Think about the neighbourhood you live in – what is it like? Grab a big piece of paper and some coloured pens, and have a go at drawing your community. Are there schools? Shops? A community centre? Where do you play sports? Where do children have fun? Where do you go if you are sick? Where are the safe places?

Sometimes we think about our neighbourhoods as places we can get things, but have a think about where there are opportunities for you to give something back? How can you share God’s love with those in your community? Think of ideas and write them on your picture.

Each of these signs shows how God’s transforming power is bursting into this present world.

Read

Jesus turns water into wine, John 2:1-11
Read the story of Jesus turning water into wine from your favourite Bible or bible storybook. This is one of the first miracles that Jesus does, and a sign that He is about to change everything – even the ordinary, everyday stuff.

Here are some questions to ask

What food and drink do you always have at a birthday party?
How would you feel if your favourite things ran out? What would the guests say?
Why do you think the saved the best wine until the end?
Why do you think Jesus chose a wedding party to do one of his first miracles?

Watch

Zootopia (2016, PG)
From the largest elephant to the smallest shrew, the city of Zootopia is a mammal metropolis where various animals live and thrive. When Judy Hopps becomes the first rabbit to join the police force, she quickly learns how tough it is to enforce the law. Determined to prove herself, Judy jumps at the opportunity to solve a mysterious case. Unfortunately, that means working with Nick Wilde, a wily fox who makes her job even harder. (1hr48)
Buy or rent Zootopia on iTunes

Talk

How does Judy Hopps help transform her neighbourhood?
Judy has to work with Nick to solve the case – is it easy to work with others? What benefits are there when we work as a team?

Think

Transform the way you think
Ask the family if they know of any butterfly facts – have they seen one recently? Do they know any types of butterflies? Where do butterflies come from? Ask if anyone has seen a chrysalis, and talk about the transformation a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty"
- Maya Angelou

Read

John 3:1-21 – Jesus teaches Nicodemus.
Nicodemus was a religious leader, and he had lots of questions for Jesus. Lots of questions! So many that he came to speak to Jesus at night time. If you had a question to ask Jesus, what would you ask? Write some down on post-it notes.

Jesus replied to Nicodemus’ questions with a riddle – he said that in order to be a part of God’s kingdom, you have to ‘born again.’ It’s a weird idea, to think about climbing back inside your mum’s tummy! (Mums wouldn’t like the idea either!) Jesus was explaining that to belong to God’s family, you have to start again, just like a newborn baby. God would give people a fresh start to begin a new life.

Jesus wanted to transform the way that Nicodemus was thinking. He flipped his ideas upside down and changed how he thought about God. He didn’t need to be the best, the richest, most successful person – he needed a fresh start with Jesus.

Watch

Inside Out (2015, U)
After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.
Buy or rent Insiide Out on iTunes

Talk

In the film Inside Out, what different emotions does Riley have? (Anger, Joy, Disgust, Fear, Sadness)
Which emotion was your favourite?
What happened when Joy and Sadness went missing?
Why do you think it is important for Riley to have all her emotions, including the sad ones?
Our memory verse talks about ‘letting God change the way you think” – how does knowing God change the way we think?

Banana and bacon, pineapple on pizza, chocolate and sea salt - all things that really shouldn’t go together - but when they do they’re amazing!. What other examples of things can you think of that don’t go together, that clash?

Think

Transform your attitude
Who are your closest friends? Are they similar to you? We can often get stuck in a pattern of hanging out with the people we like, and can find it hard to step out of our comfort zone and get to know the new kid at church, or play with the different kid at school. Close friends are important, but I wonder what we might be missing out on if we don’t get to know the other kids on the fringe.

An amazing book to read as a family (8yrs +) is ‘Wonder’ by RJ Palegio, which tells the story of Auggie Pullman, a kid with a rare facial deformity, and what happens when he goes to school for the first time. This is a story you’ll read again and again, and will make you laugh and cry. (It’s set to be released as a feature film in 2017)

Read

John 4:4-26, Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman at the well
We hear stories in the New Testament about how Jews and Samaritans did not get on - they weren’t friends, and that’s why this story in John 4 shows how Jesus flipped everything on its head. Not only does Jesus go to the well alone at midday, but he speaks to a Samaritan woman, and even asks her for a drink. As he talks to her, he explains that while the water in the well will refresh them for a short time, our generous God gives us a living water that will quench our thirst. God gives us everything we need.

Watch

Annie (2014, PG)
Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mum Miss Hannigan. But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in.
Buy or Rent Annie on iTunes

Talk

“Annie, she’s changing everything.” says Mr. Stacks. How does Annie transform Mr. Stacks’ life? Did his attitude change?
How does Mr. Stacks transform Annie’s life?
Where do you see that things are not as God would want them to be?
(e.g. school bullies, children without loving families, pollution). Sometimes God makes a direct difference in situations like this, but often he shows us how we can make a difference for Him. We can roll up our sleeves and help transform the world as we try and be more like Jesus. How could God use you this week to make difference in your family, church or school?

Think

Transform your relationships
Get a piece of paper for each person in your family, and encourage them to think about some words they would use to describe themselves. Encourage honesty and write them on the paper. Once they have written/drawn a few things, ask them what words God would use to describe them. Are these words different, or similar? Share any other words you want to encourage and build up one another. God can use us to help transform the way we see one another, and ourselves.

You might like to do this exercise as a family instead, rather than individuals, e.g. what words would God use to describe the Johnson family?

Read

John 11: Jesus brings Lazarus back to life
The story in John 11 reminds us that, even though he was God, Jesus still felt sad, happy, joy and pain like we do. When he heard that his friend Lazarus had died, what did Jesus do? The Bible says ‘Jesus wept’, or ‘burst into tears.’ What does this tell us about Jesus? What did Jesus transform in this story?

Mary and Martha were deeply upset that their brother had died, and that Jesus hadn’t done anything to help him – even though he was only 3km away. They had to learn to love and trust Jesus, even when they were in the middle of a sad and difficult time.

Watch

The Peanuts Movie (2015, G)
In an attempt to impress the new Little Red-Haired Girl who moves into the neighbourhood, Charlie Brown goes about trying to transform himself into the most popular boy in school. With a few adventures and mishaps along the way, he soon realises that being honest, caring and compassionate are the most important qualities in a true friend.
Buy or rent Peanuts Movie on iTunes

Talk

How does Charlie Brown put others first in the film?
Charlie Brown reads that the first step to winning is to, “forget everything you know about yourself.” Having always thought of himself as a failure, this was the encouragement he needed to believe in himself more - “I am worthy, I can do this!”
Remember our memory verse from Romans 12:2 “Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.” Charlie Brown had to change the way he thought about himself. How does knowing God change the way we think about ourselves?

Think

The flowers appearing in Spring remind us that the winter is over, and summer is on the way. But we often forget that for a beautiful flower to appear, the seed has to die. A dead seed is planted in dark, damp soil, and we can do is wait. And one day, a little sprout of green will break through the ground and new life will grow.

As a family, plant an ‘Easter Garden’ together, a tradition that is great for getting hearts and hands into the symbols and events of the Easter Story. Check here for instructions.

Read

John 12:12-16: Jesus rides into Jerusalem
The story for this week starts with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, with crowds cheering ‘hosanna in the highest!’, and is contrasted with the confusion of the disciples, who are not able to understand why Jesus is talking about his death. The story starts by showing that Jesus is like a king, full of hope and promise – but it doesn’t end that way. His friends were confused and did not know what was about to happen.

It is important to relate the events of Easter in an age-appropriate way, which differs for each child. You can encourage children to share their own ideas of Easter, and the verse from John 15:13 “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”

Like the disciples, we can find it difficult to grasp just why Jesus had to die on the cross, but we know that God’s transforming power brought him back to life. Jesus’ resurrection was the ultimate transformation.

Watch

Wall-E (2008, G)
A Pixar animated tale about a robot who accidentally discovers the way to save planet Earth. 700 years after humanity has left Earth, WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) fills his days collecting rubbish, and anything else that takes his fancy. But unknowingly, he has discovered a secret that could make the once beautiful planet habitable again, enabling humankind to return.
Buy or rent Wall-E on iTunes

Talk

How does Wall-E’s discovery transform a planet of rubbish into one that could be habitable again?
How had the world become like that?
Can you spot any parallels between the stories of Wall-E and the story of Noah’s Ark in the Bible?

Make

Paper Plane challenge
The farthest flight by a paper aircraft is 69.14 meters (226 feet 10 inches), achieved by Joe Ayoob and aircraft designer John M. Collins (both USA), at McClellan Air Force Base, in North Highlands, California, USA on 26 February 2012. The plane was constructed from a single sheet of uncut A4 paper.

Get some A4 paper and see how you can transform a single sheet into the ultimate flying machine. How far can you make it go? What can you do to make it go further, higher, faster? Set up a runway in your lounge or outside, and see who can throw their plane the furthest.

Sometimes your plane will succeed, sometimes it doesn’t go far at all. You might need to smooth off the edges, make some adjustments and try again.

As we follow God and work out how to be a disciple of Jesus, we might make mistakes, mess up, and things might not go to plan. As we attempt great things for God, look for ways God is straightening your path and giving you opportunities to transform your heart to be more like Jesus. God is a loving, patient creator, who wants us to live life to the full.

Read

John 21:1-19
Tell the story of Jesus meeting the disciples on the beach around a fire as part of your family dinner time. To make the story come to life, pass around objects to evoke the senses (touch, smell, taste): bread, coal, fish (fresh, cooked, or chocolate!). Or you might want to have fish and chips/bread for dinner, and set up a pretend fire with some coal, wood and candles as a table centerpiece.

We meet the disciples after a lousy night of fishing – they haven’t caught a thing, and moral is at an all time low. Jesus transforms their failings into a huge catch of fish, he makes them breakfast, and he gives Peter a special job to do.

Watch

Paper Planes (G)
An imaginative children's film about a young Australian boy's passion for flight, and his challenge to compete in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. 11 year old Dylan soon realises how a simple piece of paper could transform his life, as well as his family.
Buy or rent Paper Planes on iTunes