2015 Mission Focus

2015 Mission Focus:

Imagine No Malaria

Thank you so much for including Imagine No Malaria as the mission focus for your VBS this year! Whether INM will play a small or large role in your program, we hope you can adapt the following resources to help save lives from a preventable disease at your church. Let’s do it!

Included Information

Vision and Goal
Decoration Ideas
Supplies
Day-By-Day Instructions
Video Guide
Donations

Vision and Goal

Many Upper New York churches were requesting to include Imagine No Malaria as a mission focus for one or all of the days of their VBS program.

Imagine No Malaria is the extraordinary effort of the United Methodist Church to raise $75 million for the prevention and treatment of malaria. 95% of malaria infections are in sub-Saharan Africa and kill one person every minute. Most deaths are pregnant women and children under 5. Churches have united together to raise $1 million dollars to save 100,000 lives from malaria this year.

$10 buys an insecticide treated bed net- the best way to prevent malaria, the best way to save a life. With your kids during VBS, what is a good goal for the number of lives to save?

Determine how many lives you will save with your VBS team
Ask if the church or a committee/small group will match what kids bring (ex. $200 match)
Include Imagine No Malaria with VBS promotion

Decorations

- Use a large science poster board as your donation meter

- Hang up bed nets or white tulle behind the display

- Use brown cardboard side or spray paint it dark brown

- Cut the top of the board to look like a mountain range

- Use white tulle or white paint to symbolize snow at the top of the mountain

- On the main part of the board, include this text:

“Malaria is a big problem. Like a giant mountain that’s hard to climb. Imagine No Malaria is taking huge steps to end malaria.

This week, help us climb this mountain!”

- Cut out shapes of people. For every donation a child brings in or for every time they pray or complete a challenge, have them put their name on a cut out and add it to the mountain

- Have a flag at the bottom with the words “Conquering Malaria” on it and have it go up the mountain as kids participate. By the end, have it at mountains summit

- Write out “Malaria Facts” on different colored paper and string them around the narthex by your display to resemble prayer flags.

- Malaria is 100% preventable, treatable, and beatable

- One person dies every minute from malaria

- 90% of all malaria is found in sub-Saharan Africa

- Over 95% of malaria deaths are children under 5 and pregnant women

- $10 buys an insecticide-treated bed net

- $5 provides a full round of malaria treatment

- United Methodists have raised $67 million of our $75 million goal through Imagine No Malaria

- Imagine No Malaria focuses on prevention, treatment, education, and communication to eradicate malaria

- If you ordered donation banks, make them into a pyramid by the entrance for kids to take on their way out

- Order fly swatters, stickers, and posters for free to decorate your display at

Decorations

Supplies

Display

- Large science poster board

- Bed net (Amazon, Sport’s Authority, Dick’s Sporting Goods) or white tulle (Joann’s, Hobby Lobby) to represent a bed net

- Red or orange paper (Imagine No Malaria colors) for people cut outs

- Different colored paper for flags

- String for flags

- 11 x 14 paper to print out Imagine No Malaria posters

- Paper (for daily challenges)

Resources(order for free at

- Donation Banks

- Mosquito Stickers

- Fly Swatters (for prizes or decorations, can also be found at dollar stores)

Session Suggestions

For churches that have already covered Imagine No Malaria facts, feel free to adapt the information that reflects the knowledge of your group but remember that VBS often draws new students!

Introduction:Introduce Imagine No Malaria at the beginning of your time together

Closing:Add this during your closing time

Video Suggestion: Please check out the video guide provided below to access videos mentioned

Daily Challenge: Suggested activity to helps kids learn more about Imagine No Malaria

- If students bring back a daily challenge, consider hanging or taping them in the Narthex/lobby to show parents when they come in!

Prizes: If you’d like to offer a prize to one person (randomly or by answering a question/completing a task) here are some ideas:

- If you had multiple children complete a task, pass out mosquito stickers from

- Giving them the “Golden Fly Swatter”: fly swatter spray painted gold

- Give them a mosquito repellent clip or safe repellent to keep mosquitos away from them!

- Have the church donate a bed net to Imagine No Malaria in their honor!

Day 1: God Provides

Introduction

Script for stage leader

- Raise your hand if you’ve been bitten by a mosquito?

- What happens when you get bit by a mosquito? (Get two or three answers)

- What is a disease that can be carried by mosquitos? (say malaria if someone doesn’t)

- Malaria is a disease that is carried by mosquitos in other parts of the world. So when people in places like Africa get bit, they can get sick.

But you will not get sick with malaria in America if you get bit by a mosquito (emphasize that we will NOT catch malaria if we live in the United States)

- Malaria kills one person every minute, though it’s preventable. What does preventable mean? (One or two answers)

- We know how to prevent malaria with bed nets that protect people while they sleep for $10

- Today we’re learning about how God has the power to provide(Hold on!). We follow God’s example by providing help to those with malaria this week.

- Pray with me:

“Lord, please help us learn about malaria this week and care. You are a provider who takes care of our needs. As Your children, let us take care of the needs of others. There are a lot of problems in this world, but malaria is one we know how to fix. Please help us provide for those with malaria this week. In Your name Jesus we pray, Amen.”

Closing

Suggested video: Leo and Kya

Hold up a $10 bill.

- Has anyone here spent $10 on something? What did you buy? (one or two answers?)

- What else could we buy for $10 (a bed net)

Hold up a bed net or tulle if you have one

- Bed nets are treated with insecticide and cost $10. Because the mosquito that spreads malaria in Africa mostly bites at night, these nets save lives.

Daily Challenge: How can provide for those with malaria? As Christians we believe that everything is God’s, including the money and time He gives us. How can we give it back to Him by saving a life?

- As you leave you’ll get a sheet of ideas to raise money to save lives from malaria this week and summer. Choose one tonight and come back ready to tell us about it tomorrow!

ACT! TO END MALARIA

$10 buys an insecticide-treated bed net and can protect

2-3 people in sub- Saharan Africa from malaria.

Choose an idea below or come up with your own that you

coulddothis week or summer to save lives through bed nets!

Make sure to get your parents’ permission for these fun ideas!

MALARIA FACTS

- Malaria kills 1 person every minute, 90% of deaths are kids under 5 pregnant women in Africa

- $10 bed nets are the best way to prevent malaria and are installed by local health workers to ensure they’re used correctly

- Malaria is 100% treatable if caught early and can cost as little as $5

- Imagine No Malaria uses 100% of donations to fight malaria through prevention, treatment, education, and communication

- More information can be found at

- Make a lemonade stand

- Make homemade insect repellent and sell it to family and friends

1. Fill a small spray bottle ½ full with boiled water

2. Add witch hazel to fill almost to the top

3. Optional: Add ½ tsp of vegetable glycerin

4. Add 30-50 drops of the essential oils to desired scent

- Ask for Imagine No Malaria donations for your birthday instead of a gift

- Basketball shoot-a-thon: have family and friends sponsor you for every basket made!

- Have your soccer/volleyball/basketball team ask friends andfamily to donate for every “net” scored

- Give $1 for every mosquito bite you get this week

- Host a yard sale

- Make cookies or brownies and sell them to your neighbors or at camp

- Collect spare change from family and friends and donate it to save lives!

Day 2: God Comforts

Introduction

Script for stage leader

- Today at VBS we’re going to learn how God has the power to comfort(Hold on!). When we’re sick, or scared, or confused, we can turn to God to comfort us and give us peace. We learned where people live in Africa that suffer from malaria. We want to help comfort them.

- One person dies every minute from this disease. There are many ways we can help, but what do you think are ways we could comfort our friends in Africa? (suggest prayer if they don’t respond)

- Think of praying for our friends today. We’ll learn more later about who to pray for!

Closing

Suggested Video: Imagine

Script for stage leader

- God has the power to heal (Hold on!). We learned yesterday that God comforts us when we need it. Today we learned that He heals us and calls us to heal others.

- How much does it cost to treat malaria again? ($5!)

- We can end malaria for good. Imagine getting rid of the oldest infectious disease since the beginning of time, because you cared.

- Most people in sub-Saharan Africa get malaria every year, 75% of people. Can you imagine 3 of every 4 people in your family or your friends getting really sick from a preventable treatable disease every year?

- Daily Challenge: Tonight, we want you to fill out the reasons why we should heal those with malaria. Maybe because it’s we follow the example Jesus set. Or that you wouldn’t want your little brother or sister to be sick with no way to heal them.

- If your parents have a Facebook, ask them to take a picture of you and share with their family and friends! Bring your sign in tomorrow so we can share our reasons.

- If you want some more facts about malaria, ask your parents to google it with you and write down some reasons why we heal friends with malaria!

We should heal friends with malaria because

Day 4: God Forgives

Introduction

Script for stage leader

- Alright, who filled out their sign? Why do heal our friends with malaria?

- Today we’re going to learn more about the people that have malaria. You know, you probably know more about malaria then most of the people you know! You’re the expert for your family and friends.

- When we take time to understand people, then we can care for them more. Because the people that suffer from malaria are in some of the hardest to reach and poorest places on the earth, they don’t have the resources to get rid of malaria like we did in the United States

- So we’re learning about them to pray and give money so they know they aren’t alone!

Closing

Script for stage leader

- Has anyone studied geography in school?

- What’s a country other than America you learned about?

Daily Challenge: We want to learn about the people that are affected by malaria. On your way out you are going to get a map of Africa where 90% of malaria deaths are.

- Tonight, we want you to color or label the different countries. You can ask your parents to look at a map or go on the internet with them to help.

- You can color the countries different colors or you can write their names on them.

- There are 55 countries in Africa! The student that names the most countries on their sheet and brings it back tomorrow gets a special prize!(Optional)

Pass out sheets to each child on the way out

If students are collecting an offering on the last day, have them bring their money in tomorrow

Day 5: God loves

Introduction

Script for stage leader

- Alright, raise your Africa maps if you colored or labeled them last night! (kids raise them)

- Did anyone label all of the countries? (cheer them on if they did)

- Can anyone name three countries of Africa without looking at their map? (one or two answers)

- Pass down your maps to your leader. We want to show our church what you’ve learned this week along with everything else during Everest VBS!

- So far this week we’ve sacrificed our money, we’ve prayed for those with malaria, and learned why we should care about them.

- We do all of this because God’s love compels us to love others. We love people even if we don’t know them, and we pray for them because they’re God’s children. We try to heal them because we love God. We learn about where they live because we want to know more about them!

- It might be our last day at Everest, but the lessons we’ve learned this week about providing, comforting, healing, forgiving, and loving are lessons we will keep learning for the rest of your life! We’re grateful that God has the power to love us forever(Hold on!)!

Closing

Suggested Video: Bring Change (click for link)

Script for stage leader

- We’ve learned a lot about how to grow closer to God this week. One of the ways we can do that is through Imagine No Malaria.

- What is something you know about malaria?

- What are ways to raise money for Imagine No Malaria? What can YOU do to save lives?

- How can we pray for those that have malaria?

- We can always make a difference. We care about malaria so those that suffer aren’t alone. Please join me in praying

Lord, thank you for giving us the chance to learn how to impact our world for You. You are a healer who cares about your children, and we will pray, raise awareness, and give our money to stop malaria. If one person is suffering from this preventable disease, then we also suffer. Give us your empathy so we can be a voice for those that suffer in silence from malaria. We praise You that the United Methodist Church has raised $67 million to fight this disease! Keep us interested and involved, thinking of others rather than ourselves. In Your name, Amen

Video Guide

Use these videos to explain and excite about Imagine No Malaria

(To open videos, right-click on the word “here” below and select “Open Hyperlink)

“A Killer In the Dark” (52:00) / Watch here

Order for free:

A Killer in the Dark is the UMC-produced documentary which shares the story of malaria and how Imagine No Malaria is saving lives.

Recommended for: Wednesday night program, Small Group Study, Youth Group, Special Awareness night, Missions Meeting

“Bishop Carter’s Welcome to Imagine No Malaria” (1:51) / Watch here

Bishop Carter introduces Imagine No Malaria and invited your church to participate

Recommended for: Sunday Worship, Wednesday night program, small group

“Imagine” (2:16) / Watch here

An inspiring video which shows the urgency and hope of Imagine No Malaria

Recommended for: Sunday Worship, Wednesday night program, Community Outreach,

Small Groups, Youth Group, Church Meetings

“Malaria By The Numbers” (0:53) / Watch here