As the summer holidays are in full swing, and churches are welcoming back their congregations, Sally Tate introduces RaiseUp, a new initiative providing a wealth of resources
Have you ever been preparing Sunday school lessons or toddler and youth groups and struggled to find Christian content online that you think your young people will really engage with? Playing media (videos, music, stories) as part of children’s ministry can really capture imaginations and support the group leader in expanding on a theme or teaching point, but I know that from preparing these sessions over the years, it is a bit pot luck! I have come across some absolutely wonderful Bible stories that have really spoken to me as well as the children, and then there are some that I am not sure should really be used.
Media is not the enemy
More than ever, children are connecting with media to play games, watch stories and listen to music. From our perspective, media is not the enemy and going all out just to restrict usage is not the answer.
In Matthew, we read that Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). We believe that modern media can really play a valuable part of a young person’s faith journey by providing content that they love in a form that they enjoy. But the problem is that there just isn’t enough out there that is relevant for today’s audience that reflects the character of God well. That is why those of us at Wonderborn have decided to create our own biblically based media and put it all in one place!
Resources all in one place
In our team, we have brought together skills from the Christian music industry, from education, Christian charities and from engineering so that we can bring together a wide range of materials, including music, games, animation, talks, Bible stories and more – all fully searchable by theme, curriculum, age group and type of content and put it in one place. We have called it ‘RaiseUp’.
We have all volunteered and continue to volunteer in all sorts of children’s groups and we are passionate about supporting other leaders to be able to access Bible-based resources from trusted ministries across the world in easy-to-use formats. Of course, media can never take the place of face-to-face interactions – as we have learnt the hard way this year – but it can provide additional opportunities for creativity and learning.
RaiseUp is a subscription website providing high-quality media to support those working in children and young people’s ministry. Their aim is to help increase the God-centred media (video and animation) available for church groups and as a result inspire future generations.
