Getting the message across

Do you know the story of ‘Jesus and the 10 Jaguars’? No? Neither do I! Yet, on some feedback from one of our schools, one of the Reception children said that his favourite story of the term was ‘Jesus and the 10 Jaguars’. I sat there in my office, trying to work out what they meant and I had to admit defeat. Fortunately, one of my team worked it out. Earlier that term we had done the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers (using wooden spoon puppets). It seems the child in question had misunderstood lepers and heard it as leopards, and then from there it was easy to see where the jaguar reference came from.

It got me thinking about ‘The Parable of the Sower’ and how different people have different reactions to the good news about Jesus that we tell them. When you’re talking to hundreds of people at the same time, you don’t get a chance to know exactly what your listeners are thinking, however our role is to be like the farmer in the story and continue to sow the seeds, and trust God that they will grow into a good crop.

That’s why our ‘Open the Book’ volunteers go in week in, week out, to tell the wonderful story of God and His love for everyone. With fewer and fewer children having any connection with a church, it is so important that we give them the chance to hear the message in a way that is fun, relatable and understandable so they have the chance to respond for themselves