This assembly is part of a 3 part series aimed at transition but suitable for all primary school ages – Part 1 – Part 2

Items needed: Bowls, Rice, Chop Sticks

Assembly Aim: To help children think about how they can help each other with change and how things are easier with more than just yoursel

1. Introduction

Introduce yourself and ask the children what we’ve been looking at over the last few weeks

Explain that we’ve looked at our fears and we’ve looked at change and this morning we’re going to think about how we can help each other

1. The Rice Experiment

As for a volunteer and explain to them that they need to transfer the rice from 1 bowl to another using only chop sticks….after a while ask the children what would make the job easier for the helper?

Invite 2 or 3 more volunteers up to help and see if they get the job done quicker

Ask the volunteers to sit down and explain that sometimes when we have tricky things to do it’s easier when we have our friends to help us with this.

1. Thought Time

Ask the children for some things they might need help with?

Ask them who they’d ask for help if they needed help?

Explain that there’s lots of different people we can ask for help…we can ask our friends, our teachers, our Mums or Dads or our bothers and sisters and by having help from others these tricky situations can be easier.

1. Story Time

Nehemiah (knee-a-my-a) was a man that helped the king. He tasted the king’s drink to make sure no one poisoned it. He was called a cupbearer. He was a very trusted man. The king liked Nehemiah and cared for him.

One day Nehemiah’s brother told him some sad news. He discovered that the walls of his hometown (Jerusalem) were broken and had not been repaired. This troubled Nehemiah. He cried and prayed for several days. He had such a love for his beautiful city; he couldn’t bear to see it in ruins.

The next day, Nehemiah served the king his drink. The king immediately noticed that Nehemiah was upset. He asked him what was wrong.

Nehemiah quickly prayed and then told the king and queen of his sadness. Then he boldly asked the king if he could go rebuild the city wall. After some talk, they agreed.

Nehemiah set out quickly. But he was very careful about the things he did. In fact, when he got to Jerusalem, he kept his plans a secret.

First, he went at night to look at the broken down wall. He rode a horse around the city and inspected it.

Then, he told the people. He shared how God had answered his prayers and how the king let him come to help. Everyone was excited. They wanted to start rebuilding the wall right away. However, some people didn’t like this plan. They asked lots of questions. What was Nehemiah’s answer—“We are God’s servants. We will start rebuilding.”

He knew that GOD was helping them rebuild the wall. He wasn’t going to let someone discourage them or stop the building.

God helped Nehemiah to rebuild the wall. He had each person build the wall next to their home in the city. That was a good idea because everyone wanted to do their best job on the part that was by their home. They would work hard to make it safe and secure from their enemies.

And they managed to finish it in 52 days…a record time!

1. Message

Because God was with them and they all worked together Nehemiah and everyone got the wall built in a record time…and did a great job too!

And we can do the same!

If we work together we can achieve more…we might do a class painting or we might have a big job to do for our teacher and if we work together we can do much more.

And it’s the same for those moving up a class or school who are scared or not looking forward to the changes like we talked about last week…if we work together we can help each other and make the changes a lot easier.

1. Prayer

Thank God that He is always with us

Ask him to help us to work together