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Beach Party: Surfin' Through the Scriptures
Publisher: Cokesbury: Beach Party: Surfin' Through the Scriptures. An exciting visit to the beach will teach students to ride the wave of God’s love and embrace the “Beach Be-Attitudes”: Be Obedient, Be Kind, Be Forgiving, Be Bold, Believe.
Each day, students are introduced to a mission project that other students have started or discovered. Below are listed the projects with a corresponding CWS project:
Day 1: Project “Mosquito nets for families in Africa.” CWS ships nets to many parts of the world. Most recently, mosquito nets have been distributed for use in Mozambique following the 2008 floods. Details can be found at: http://www.churchworldservice.org/Emergencies/international/2008/mozambique.html 02/06/08 http://www.churchworldservice.org/Educ_Advo/directorsdesk/2006/malaria.html 09/14/07
Day 2: Project “Care Bags”. These are cloth bags with personal care items for children including a book. This would be a great opportunity to highlight CWS Health Kits and School Kits. See http://www.churchworldservice.org/kits/index.html.
Day 3: Introduces students to hunger and poverty in Africa, and what one seven year old did to respond. Share the 05/06 CROP Hunger Walk DVD and Ester’s story. Have students do a CROP Hunger Walk as part of VBS and go for a walk on the “beach.” With some preplanning, this could be the high point of VBS Beach Party and raise funds to stop hunger.
Day 4: “Tsunami,” or how one nine-year-old responded to the 2004 tsunami centered near Sumatra, Indonesia. This story gives a perfect opportunity to introduce students to the CWS Emergency Response Program. Use a current disaster crisis that students are hearing on the news and offer them a way to help through making health kits, school kits or clean-up buckets.
Day 5: Project “Children Helping Children.” To quote the writer of this lesson from the Beach Party: Mission Leader Resource, “Do not think you have to wait until you are an adult to make a significant change in this world. The world needs you now.” Introduce students to the Build a Village website.
Over all, the Beach Party VBS curriculum could introduce children to the depth and breadth of the work of Church World Service.