The Christian time of Lent is with us and this is a time where Christians challenge themselves by showing sacrifice and endurance, just like Jesus did in the desert. We have taken this time to challenge ourselves and here are the different challenges we have started.
Week 1
Challenge 1 – Create your own Lent calendar to mark off each day.
As Lent had begun we started our challenge by creating our own calendar so we could keep track of how many of the 40 days were left. Mr Houghton helped us by printing out a calendar for us to track Lent. We mark it off each day.
A child commented, “I like marking it off so I know how many days are left.”
Challenge 2 – Choose to pray each for one thing in the world
We have joined together in prayer at different parts of the week that we are used to. Here are the topics that we have prayed about.
· The friends we have
· The food we eat
· The good health we have.
Challenge 3 – Choose one thing you want to give up, even for a day or a week.
Lots of children in our class have taken Lent as a time to show sacrifice and endurance by giving up something they love for a period of time. Here are what some of us have done/ or are doing.
A said, “I normally play on my Nintendo switch but I have given that up.” Someone else said, “I haven’t ate any chocolate for Lent.”
Challenge 4 – Choose something to give away to help someone else.
We have a very kind girl in our class, Lexi, she chose to give away her teddy to a new baby in her family to help make it happy.
A child said, “They need it more than me. I have lots of teddies.”
Week 2
As Lent continues, we continue to challenge ourselves focussing on the different Christian Values we can show alongside our Endurance.
Challenge 5 – Find out about the lives of children in developing countries that you haven’t heard of.
We watched a video about some children who were the same age as us but they didn’t live anywhere like we do. They don’t have clean water, food and treats to eat. They don’t even have clean clothes and a comfy warm bed to sleep in. This made us feel really sad but grateful for what we have.
Challenge 6 – Consider what you can do to take action on an issue. What could you give or do?
We thought about the children who were suffering in these developing countries. We then decided to think of things we could send them to make them happier and healthier. We drew all of these items in a shoe box so this could help the next time we do the ‘Shoe box appeal’.
Week 3
The 40 days and nights of lent are continuing. So we have challenged ourselves further by:
Challenge 7 – Write a kind message for someone to give them hope and encouragement.
We decided to write a kind message to someone in our class. Sometimes we fall out but it always nice to remind people that we do care. We like to spread hope for our friends in our class, school and in other places. Koinonia means togetherness, and we like to stick together.
Challenge 8 – Choose to pray for a person you know who sometimes feels hopeless.
We learnt about ‘Jesus and the Paralysed man’ and we know that some paralysed people can’t help but feel hopeless at times. There was a very smart man called ‘Stephen Hawkings’ who unfortunately died this week. We prayed for him and his family to give them hope.
Week 4
As lent continues, we continue to show our endurance and a desire to challenge ourselves. The Christian way of community is for us to work together and share a life in Christ. We took a closer look at the groups of people we work with and how we can support each other to become better.
Challenge 9 – Make a list of all the communities that you belong to.
We came together and realised we are a part of many different groups. This list included: School, class, friendship, family, sports teams, dance clubs, brownies, scouts and many many more.
Challenge 10 – Carry out an action that shows love or brings unity to your community.
Our school is one of our favourite communities. To show our love to our community we took the time in our play time to help tidy the school grounds. We stacked the blocks up, picked up rubbish and even swept up the sand.
