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‘Who Am I’ series   (6 weeks)   
                    including
    Ed’s adventures around Hope Island

      Series Introduction

This page introduces the material, gives an overview of the series and lists the weekly titles. You will find links to weekly titles at the bottom of the page. 

Introduction to material

There are three parts to the teaching material. Part 1 - Lead-in session, Part 2 - Bible Chat and Part 3 - Response Time. The Lead-in sessions take the form of a short drama, which is arranged to be both entertaining and informative. The drama introduces the subject of the evening in a contemporary manner and sets the scene for the theme to be developed later in the Bible Chat.

The response time, the third and final part of the session, is intended to be very interactive. Response time may be in small groups (6 - 8 children) or as one with all of the children together. Here the children get chance to discuss the Bible content and ask any questions they may have, it also facilitates the building of relationships between the children and their leader. Conclude the shared time with a prayer, you may like to ask the children if they have any requests at this point.  

Series Overview

This series is presented in a way whereby each week Jesus answers the question “Who Am I?” The answers come from the "I Am" sayings of Jesus. Jesus said that He was the... Gate, Truth, Light, Bread, Life, Way. Each week the relevance of Jesus' 'I AM' sayings will be brought to the children.                     

Lead-in Sessions

The theme word for the weekly titles will be introduced by a guy called Ed who travels around an imaginary island called Hope Island.      

Ed finds an old guide book that takes him on a six week adventure, visiting the towns on Hope Island. At each place Ed has an experience, which teaches him some truth about life. These truths are linked to important truths that we learn from Jesus in the New Testament and are generally taken from John’s Gospel. 

There is a map to accompany the series to be used on screen. This could also be printed off to a large scale. PowerPoint and Jpeg versions of map are downloadable from the bottom of this page.

Along the way Ed enjoys the scenery, meets some great people and has a good time learning much from them. He is also able to be a help to others. Things happen that try and distract Ed, slow him down, or lead him off in some other direction, but although he is delayed here and there, he always gets back on the right trail and ends up where he needs to be.

Each week will generally start with Ed reaching a sign post at which he needs to follow his route. Sometimes there will be someone else at the sign that are headed in another direction. These other folk will try and get Ed to go with them but in the end he makes his own decision to keep on course. Ed is given advice from people he meets on his journey, some good, some not so good, but after he leaves each place, he is greatly encouraged to press on.

Ed’s journey follows a circular route, which starts and ends at GATEWAY. Each of the places on the journey will introduce the theme for the evening, which will then link up to the Bible and response times later on. Ed will go to GATEWAY, TRUTHVILLE, LIGHTON, BREADWORTH, FULL-LIFE and WAYMOUTH. All of these places take their names from the ‘I Am's’ of Jesus and it is these truths that the series seeks to bring home to the children.

Part 2 - Bible Chats pick up on the weekly 'I AM' saying of Jesus and develop the theme from a Biblical perspective giving life application for the children.

Part 3 - Response Time material aims to nurture discussion among the children and facilitate them in challenging and developing their own thoughts about the content of the session's presentation.  

Weekly Titles - follow the links

Week 1 - 'I Am the Gate'

Week 2 - 'I Am the Truth'

Week 3 - 'I Am the Light of The World'

Week 4 - 'I Am the Bread of Life'

Week 5 - 'I Am the Life Transformer'

Week 6 - 'I Am the Way'   
    

Intro page Downloads

LEADERS’ NOTES FOR THIS PAGE (above) - ‘WHO AM I’ SERIES INTRODUCTION
PowerPoint map of Hope Island  
Jpeg - Map of Hope Island