Content Provision for Member Stations
By: McCrindle
A rising trend in Australia is the affinity for no religion1. While one in five Australians (22%) considered themselves as non-religious in 2011, the number has been rising with three in ten (30%) considering themselves as non-religious in 2016.2 Continue reading “Australia’s Changing Spiritual Landscape”
By: Brittany Ann
if you didn’t grow up in a church that hands out palm fronds on Palm Sunday and you never saw other people making palm crosses, you may have a few questions about why you’d want to learn how to make things out of palm leaves. Continue reading “Easy Palm Cross Activity to Do with Kids This Easter”
By: Christine Addis
My family and I have developed some traditions over the years that have become part of normal life in the Addis household and one of those traditions has been to organise a treasure hunt at Easter with the “treasure” being Easter eggs. Continue reading “6 Fun Things You Can Still Do This Easter Weekend”
By: Berni Dymet
Good Friday. Gee – you read the historical account – doesn’t seem that good. So – was there anything good about Good Friday? Continue reading “What’s So Good About Good Friday?”
By: ACCTV
Staying safe at home this Easter long weekend will be a piece of cake (or is that a piece of chocolate!), with a wonderful variety of Easter movies and programs for the whole family on ACCTV and ACCTV Now. Check out the line-up. Continue reading “Your Long Weekend Easter Movies With ACCTV”
By: Clare Bruce
Churches will be allowed to conduct the Easter services they’re accustomed to next weekend, complete with musicians, worship teams and those in other ministry roles—but worshippers will still have to stay home and watch the services by live-streaming. Continue reading “Church Teams Allowed to Meet Next Weekend, to Conduct Full Easter Services by Live Streaming”
By: Stephen McAlpine
It’s coming up to Easter.
Bet you didn’t think Lent 2020 was going to take that much away from you did you? I was hoping people would be giving up oats, baked beans, minced meat and pasta. Continue reading “The Tomb Is Far Emptier than the Shelves Will Ever Be”
By: Kim Wilkinson
Would you ever think of zombies and superheroes when describing the Easter story to a child?
It is an unusual story. A man nailed to a cross and left to die, stabbed in his side to check he is dead. A curtain ripping in two. And then this same man coming back to life, with the injuries still visible, but able to eat, drink, walk, talk….and vanish only to reappear a distance away.
When you think about it, you could understand why a modern day child might consider Jesus to be either a zombie or a superhero or both.
Bible Society Australia engaged renowned children’s author Susannah McFarlane to write an accompanying book to the Who, What, Why, How of Christmas, published for the first time last year. The same children who featured in that book are back this Easter. Once again the cynic Josh struggles with the story.
When Josh learns that Jesus died and came back to life, he immediately suggests that Jesus was a zombie. The narrator is quick to point out two distinct differences:
No, zombies are still dead. Jesus was dead but then was alive again. And, actually, zombies are made-up things, but Jesus is real.
Grace, Abby and Tom also ask questions and seek to understand why Jesus died on the cross, what it means to experience forgiveness and the love that Jesus offers the world. At the end of the story Josh is starting to come around to the power of the story.
We all know Josh’s in our lives. They might be ten or they might be fifty.
We can no longer assume that children understand the Easter story. Here in Australia Easter represents an extended holiday and chocolate eggs brought by an Easter bunny. The religious significance is increasingly lost as less people attend Church.
These books present the Gospel message through the profound questions that children bring and the Narrator’s ability to answer at a level that is age appropriate, without stripping the reconciling gift of God’s grace of its life-giving significance.
Bible Society Australia is giving up to three copies of Who What Why How of Easter away. A copy for you, and two others to give away to families who might not know Jesus or His gift of grace.
There is much to model in this story. The narrator treats each child with respect. No one is ridiculed or dismissed. They are heard.
About the author: Kim Wilkinson is a media and communications professional who specialises in building community and valuable relationships.
In this question, you’re going right to the heart of the Christian faith. So I’m going to summarise a million earth-shatteringly important points into just three simple reasons why the resurrection of Jesus is so important. Continue reading “Why is the Resurrection of Jesus So Important?”
By: Clare Bruce
This Easter weekend, as the folks at Australian Christian Channel remember Christ’s death and resurrection, they’ll also have a little extra to celebrate: their 20th birthday. Continue reading “Can You Believe It? Australian Christian Channel Turns 20 This Easter”