Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Robertson.

I'm so delighted to be with you today.

We have a fabulous lesson today.

It's called "Belonging to a Church," and in this lesson, we're going to be learning all about the idea of belonging and why places of worship, especially churches, can be really important to people.

I can't wait to get started.

Are you ready as well? Let's begin.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe how some Christians might belong to a church.

In this lesson, we have three keywords.

Should we have a go at saying them so we know what they sound like? Amazing.

I'll say the word first, and then I'd like you to repeat it back to me.

Can you do that? Of course you can.

Okay, our first word is "worship." Brilliant.

Our second word is "sacred." Amazing.

And our third word is "belong." That's it.

So what do these words mean? Well, "worship" is showing respect, devotion, or love for something or someone.

"Sacred" means holy and deserving respect or dedicated to God.

"Belong" means to be accepted as part of a particular group.

You might think, "I don't know what those words mean," but by the end of the lesson, I think you'll be a lot more confident with them.

So in this lesson, we're going to be asking two important questions.

Our first question is this: What is a place of worship? Jun and Aisha are talking about religious education.

Jun says, "Religious education often seems to be about people and the things they do.

I wonder why?" And Aisha says, "We can understand different worldviews by finding out about how people behave." People show what's important to them by the things they do and the ways they celebrate.

And in this lesson, we're going to be thinking about people and belonging, and particularly how Christians might belong to a church.

We're going to meet some people in this lesson, and they're gonna really help us understand all about places of worship.

Here is Sophia.

Hello, Sophia.

Sophia's from London, and she has a Christian worldview.

Can you see another photograph there? That's Sophia's church.

Oh, what a great-looking church, Sophia! I love all those windows.

She visits her church to worship every Sunday.

Sophia is gonna help us understand what is meant by that word, "worship." It's a really important word in RE, and you're gonna hear it time and time again.

Sophia says, "Worship is when you show love to someone or something you think is really important." As a Christian, I worship God when I go to church.

Thank you, Sophia.

So worship is about showing love to something really important, and Sophia worships God.

Let's just check our understanding so far.

Where do many Christians go to worship God? A, a mosque; B, a church; C, a synagogue? Can you remember that photograph? What did Sophia say? Pause a video and whisper to the person next to you.

What did you put? Did you put B, a church? Yes! Then you are right.

Christians worship God in a church.

Fantastic! Let's meet our next person.

This is Noor.

Hello, Noor.

And Noor has a Muslim worldview, and she also lives in London.

We can see a photograph there.

This is the place of worship that Noor goes to.

It's called a mosque.

Another beautiful building.

I love that stone.

She visits her mosque with her family.

Thank you for showing us your mosque, Noor.

Many Muslims go to a mosque to worship God together.

Noor says, "I love hearing stories about being kind.

I leave the mosque feeling happy and connected." Oh, that's nice, Noor.

So, she likes to go and listen to stories in her mosque, and it makes her feel happy and connected to other people.

Let's just check our understanding.

Where do many Muslims go to worship God? A, a mosque; B, a church; C, a synagogue? Can you think about what Noor just told us? Pause the video and have a think.

Did you put A, a mosque? Yes, you're right! Many Muslims go to worship God in a mosque.

Brilliant if you got that right.

Let's meet our third person.

This is Rafi.

Hello, Rafi! And Rafi has a Jewish worldview.

We could see a photograph of Rafi's place of worship.

Oh, it's really beautiful again, isn't it? I really love those stars going around the wonderful glass.

Rafi's place of worship is called a synagogue, and he visits his synagogue every week with his family.

Thanks for showing us a photograph of your synagogue, Rafi.

Many Jews go to a synagogue to worship God together.

Rafi says, "At my synagogue, I listen to the Torah, sing songs, and meet other Jewish friends." The Torah is a really special, important book for Jews, and there's one in every synagogue.

Thank you, Rafi.

Sounds really great.

Okay, let's think about what we've learned so far.

Sophia, Noor, and Rafi are describing their places of worship.

Sophia says, "Church is a special place where people gather to pray and worship God together." Noor says, "A mosque is a place where you can pray and talk to God." And Rafi says, "At my synagogue, I hear the Torah, sing songs, and meet other Jews." So they all have their own place of worship, but they all do similar things, like gather together with other people and pray.

I've got a true or false question for you now, and I want you to think about what we've learned from Rafi, Noor, and Sophia.

True or false? There is only one type of place of worship.

Hmm.

Do we think that's true? Do we think that's false? Pause the video.

Whisper to the person next to you.

Well, it's false, isn't it? Yes.

But why is it false? Well, if you remember, there are many different places of worship.

We looked at some examples, such as churches, mosques, and synagogues.

Well done if you've got that right.

Okay, we're going to have a task now to draw our learning together, and I know you are going to be marvelous at this.

I've got some sentences for you here, and I would like you to finish the sentence with the correct place of worship.

We have three places of worship we've been looking at: Noor's, with have a mosque, with have a synagogue, and with have a church.

So these are the sentences.

"Sophia is Christian and worships at a.

." "Noor is Muslim, and worships at a.

." "Rafi is Jewish and worships at a.

." You need to tell me which is the correct place of worship for each of those people.

Can you do that? Of course you can.

I'll see you very soon.

I'll give you some time to have a think.

So how did you find that? Did you get them right? Let's check, shall we? Sophia is Christian and worships at a church.

Brilliant.

Noor is Muslim and worships at a mosque.

That's right.

And Rafi is Jewish and worships at a synagogue.

Amazing! You've learned three places of worship.

Fantastic, everybody! The second part of our lesson, we're going to be looking at this question: How do Christians show they belong to a church? We're going to meet someone new now.

This is Asher.

Hello, Asher.

And Asher has a Christian worldview.

He attends a free church in London.

Asher says, "I feel very happy to belong to my church.

Belonging means feeling like you're part of a group or a community." Do you belong to anything? Maybe you belong to your school.

You feel part of your school community.

You might feel you belong to your class.

You're a community together learning and helping each other.

And maybe you belong to your family as well.

I wonder if there's anything else you might feel you belong to? There is a photograph of Asher's church.

Oh, thank you, Asher.

Yes, I can see lots of chairs where people sit down.

We're going to listen to Asher now, and he's going to tell us a little bit about what belonging to a church means to him.

Let's listen really carefully and see if we can remember some things about what he says.

What does it mean to belong to a church? <v ->Hi, my name is Asher.

</v> I'm a Christian, and I go to church every Sunday.

I go to church with my mum, my dad, and my two younger brothers.

When we enter the church building, there are always people around to say hello and welcome us in with a handshake and a smile.

This is really nice because it makes you feel like you're welcomed and a part of the church family.

When the service starts, we start off by singing praise and worship songs.

These are songs that we sing to say thank you to God for all the things that he's given us and all that he's done in our lives.

When we sing songs together at church, it feels like being part of a big family.

This is because even though we're all different ages and from different places in the world, we are all thanking the same God.

After that, we hear a talk about topics from the Bible, which we as Christians believe is the Word of God.

We learn a lot in these talks, and they help us to get closer to God.

My favorite part of these is where we learn about things that we can do to become even more like Jesus.

After that, we have another song to finish off the service, and someone will usually pray for us at the end, which helps us to be encouraged and ready for the week ahead.

Then I talk to all my friends from church about what's been going on in their lives, and this is really nice because I get to talk to other people about the things that I believe in.

It's great to have friends at church because I know they'll always be there on a Sunday morning.

During the week, we have meetings called Metro Connect, which is where we talk to each other about the Bible and about different things that are going on in our lives.

This is nice because I get to spend more time with people who also believe in Jesus and talk to them about lots of different topics.

<v ->Well, thank you, Asher.

</v> That was so interesting.

It was a real privilege to listen to you.

So let's think about what Asher told us.

He told us some ways he belonged to his church.

He said he loved being welcomed by his church family when he goes to church.

That's really nice, isn't it? He said he loves singing praise and worship songs.

He loves to go and worship God in his church, and he really loves to do that through singing.

He said he likes praying together with others.

That's really important to him.

He said he liked spending time with people who believe in Jesus because Jesus is really important for Christians.

So we've listened to Asher.

I wonder if we can think of two ways in which Asher feels a sense of belonging to his church.

Let's think of our options.

A, being welcomed by a member of the church family.

B, by eating with members of the church family.

C, by praying together with others.

Which two of those did Asher say he did to help him belong to his church? Pause the video and whisper to the next person.

Did you think of A, being welcomed by a member of the church family? And also C, praying together with others? Brilliant! Asher might eat with members of his family, but he didn't mention that, did he? So, well done.

Let's meet Sophia again.

This is a photograph of her church.

We've seen it before, haven't we? So, many Christians describe a church as a sacred place.

Sophia says, "A sacred place is a place that is holy and dedicated to God.

That means it's a special place for God.

My church is a sacred place.

I feel happy I belong to my church." That word "sacred' is important.

What does it mean? Does it mean A, something holy or dedicated to God? B, something that's fun to play with.

C, something that is very expensive.

What did Sophia just tell us? Pause the video and whisper to the person next to you.

Did you put A, something that is holy or dedicated to God? You are right.

Brilliant.

That's what 'sacred' means.

Let's listen to Sophia now.

She's going to explain to us why her church is a sacred place.

This is going to be really helpful because it's good and important to talk to more than one person when we want to find out why something's important to them.

We've listened to what Asher says, and now we can listen to what Sophia says.

Let's find out.

Why is her church such a sacred place? <v Sophia>Hello, everyone.

</v> I'm going to tell you about my sacred place, which is this church.

A church is a holy place because we read the Bible and respect God when we do it.

I really like singing the songs.

It is a place dedicated to God because it is a church, and we sing songs happily and we pray to God each day.

I enjoy Communion at church.

We eat bread and drink wine to remember Jesus dying for us.

Sometimes I help give out the Communion.

In our church, we believe children are really important.

<v ->Thank you so much for telling us that, Sophia.

</v> It's so interesting to find out about why church is important to you and what you do.

Sophia talked about how she belonged to her church.

She says Communion is a special time when Christians eat bread and drink wine together to remember when Jesus died.

She mentioned that, didn't she, in the video? And she went on to say that sometimes children help to give out the bread and wine, and she enjoys doing that.

"Children are just as important as the adults.

We belong to the church, too." So, isn't that brilliant? Sophia feels that she belongs to her church.

Giving out the bread and wine is a really important way she feels she belongs.

I've got a true or false question for you now.

Communion is a special meal that Christians share to remember when Jesus died.

Think about what Sophia says.

Is that true or false? Excellent.

It's true, isn't it? Because Sophia told us she enjoyed Communion at her church, and she likes to give out the bread and wine, and Christians do that to remember Jesus.

So, let's draw all our learning together: Sophia and Asher explaining how they show they belong to their churches.

Sophia says, "I feel I belong when I help to give out the bread and wine at Communion." And Asher says, "I feel I belong when people welcome me to church.

I like to pray with my Christian family at church." So, there are different ways they belong to their church.

I've got a final task for you now.

Aisha wants to explain how Christians show they belong to a church.

She says, "I know Christians have different ways to show they belong to a church." Let's see if we can help Aisha.

Can we find three ways that Christians show they belong to a church? Let's think about everything that Sophia and Asher told us.

What does Sophia do at her church to make her feel that she belongs? What did Asher say helped him feel he belonged at his church? What does he do? You might want to start with a sentence like this: "Christians show they belong to a church by.

." and then maybe naming some of the things that Sophia or Asher do.

I think you are going to be brilliant at this, so let's pause the video, and I really want to hear what you've come up with when we get back.

Well, you've been really hard at work, haven't you? So, we've been thinking about different ways Christians can belong to a church, and we said they might show they belong by praying together.

Asher talked about that, didn't he? Sharing bread and wine during Communion.

Sophia mentioned that.

Singing praise and worship songs together.

Asher said he enjoyed doing that, didn't he? Learning from the Bible.

Did you have any other ideas? Maybe you thought of something else that Asher or Sophia said about belonging to a church.

If you did, fantastic listening.

So, we've learned a lot in this lesson, haven't we? We've learned that a place of worship is important to believers such as Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

We've learned that a church is a sacred place because it's used for prayer and worship.

And we've learned there are different ways Christians might show they belong to a church: they might sing, pray, and share bread and wine at Communion services.

Hope you've enjoyed learning today about some places of worship and churches, and I look forward to seeing you in another lesson soon.

Goodbye!.