John Newton

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John Newton, Amazing Grace, Olney Hymns, slave trade, the Church, slave ship, St. Mary, church of England, William Wilberforce, Henry Newton

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views:: 3
posted:: 3/5/2011
language:: Spanish
pages:: 5

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Document Sample

Assembly
John Newton

Set all free – Teacher’s Resource
Aim:
• To consider what makes it possible for people to change

Resources:
• Either images to project showing yourself as a baby, child, teenager
• Or a wig, school jumper or tie, ponytail scrunchie, lipstick, and two boys and
two girls, one with long hair, to help out by ‘transforming’ themselves
• Five sheets of A3 or A2 card with one statement on each side, as follows:
Card 1: Live for myself/Live for God
Card 2: Don’t work too hard/Be dedicated
Card 3: Get drunk!/Stay in control
Card 4: Slavery is good business/Slavery is wrong
Card 5: I’ve sinned/I’m forgiven
• Five pupils to help with the cards
• Optional: CD of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’

Introduction
Either: Show an image of yourself as a baby. Without revealing who it is, talk
about some of the things that babies like, dislike and are able to do. Then show
the picture of yourself as a child and talk about changes that had taken place in
terms of what a child likes, dislikes and is able to do (compared to the baby).
Do the same with the picture of you as a teenager. Then reveal, if they haven’t
guessed it already, that this person is you and talk about how you are different
now from when you were a baby, child or teenager, with different likes, dislikes
and abilities. If possible, pick out things that you once believed or did which now
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you don’t believe or wouldn’t do.
Assembly Outline

Or: Before the assembly, explain to the two boys and two girls what you want
them to do, so that they will be able to transform themselves quickly. At the
beginning of the assembly, call them out in front of everyone and invite pupils to
have a good look at them. Then send them out of the room, or behind a screen, to
transform themselves. One boy should put on the wig; one boy should change his
school jumper or tie for another that looks identical; one girl should tie up her long
hair into a ponytail using the scrunchie; and the other girl should put on lipstick.
You may want to have a colleague on hand to help them.

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While they are doing this, talk about makeover programmes on TV, such as
‘What Not to Wear’ or ‘10 Years Younger’. Say that, while you are talking, your
helpers are undergoing a radical transformation outside and you want pupils

Set all free – Teacher’s Resource
to see if they can spot the difference when they come back. Invite the four
helpers back and ask what is different about them. Reveal the four changes
that have been made!

To follow up either introduction, talk about how we change as we grow up, or
talk about the ways in which we transform ourselves on the surface. These kinds
of changes are natural and easy, although some people do go to extraordinary
lengths to change their appearance. Some changes are obvious from the outside;
others are more difficult to detect unless you know someone really well. Ask:

Is it possible for someone to change completely their outlook on life? To go from
believing one thing is right to campaigning for its opposite? And if so, how can
that happen? What brings about that kind of change?

Looking deeper
During this section, pupils hold up the cards in turn to show the statement
indicated, representing John Newton’s beliefs at that time. At the appropriate
point during the second half of the story, the pupils turn the cards over to show
the other statement.

John Newton was born in England in 1725. His father was a ship’s captain and
John first accompanied him on a voyage when he was 11 years old. John’s father
left the sea when John was 17 because he was determined that his son should
have a different career, on land. But John didn’t follow up the opportunities
that his father set up for him.

Pupil holds up Card 1: ‘Live for myself’.

When he was 19, John was press-ganged into the Royal Navy. He had a troubled
early career as he didn’t work hard and was often late back from leave.

Pupil holds up Card 2: ‘Don’t work hard’.

A year later, he began work on a ship involved in the notorious triangular slave
route, his first introduction to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Ships sailed from
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Britain [and other European countries] to Africa, where they traded their cargo and
bought African men, women and children as chattel slaves [the term chattel means
Assembly Outline

possessions or goods, indicating that these slaves had no rights or possessions
of their own]. The slave-traders crammed these people onto their ships, keeping
them shackled in awful conditions and sailed to the ‘New World’ – North and South
America and the West Indies. There the slave-traders sold the Africans as slaves and
loaded their ships with produce from the plantations where enslaved Africans were
working – sugar, rum and tobacco. The slave-traders then sailed back to Britain.

Pupil holds up Card 4: ‘Slavery is good business’.

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In 1748, John Newton worked on a ship called the Greyhound as it returned to
England. On the voyage, John was lazy and often got drunk.

Set all free – Teacher’s Resource
Pupil holds up Card 3: ‘Get drunk!’

These cards represent what John’s beliefs might have been at that time in
his life if he had put them into words. But they were about to undergo a
change.

On board ship, John started reading a book based on a spiritual classic The
Imitation of Christ, by Thomas A Kempis. He was inspired by the life and example
of Jesus, and started to think about his own life and to pray to God for help
to sort it out. The Greyhound was caught up in a huge storm and the ship
was nearly wrecked. John realised how fortunate he was to have survived and
believed that God had heard and answered his prayers. Over a period of about
a month, as the Greyhound limped back to port, John committed his life to God
and became determined to live his life for God.

Pupil turns over Card 1: ‘Live for God’.

Back in England, John got a job on another slave-ship as first mate, which
meant he was responsible for buying slaves in Sierra Leone in Africa. After that
he became the captain of a slave-ship, completely in charge of everything that
happened on board. His Christian faith began to affect his behaviour. He no
longer got drunk …

Pupil turns over Card 3: ‘Stay in control’.

… and he began to treat the slaves on board his ship in a more compassionate
way. It was noted that, on one voyage to St Kitts, all the enslaved Africans
survived the voyage, which was almost unheard of. But he was still involved in
the terrible trade.

In St Kitts, he met another sea captain who was a Christian but who was
not involved in the slave trade – Alexander Clunie. Alexander spent time
with John explaining the Christian faith, consequently John’s Christian
understanding developed. He read his Bible and prayed, and read other
Christian books. He wrote to friends who he knew were Christians, asking
them questions about their faith and about the Bible, and he found their
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answers really helpful.
Assembly Outline

Gradually he began to see the horrors of the slave trade for what they were. He
believed that God had created all people equal and that as a Christian he should
have no part in the slave trade.

Pupil turns over Card 4: ‘Slavery is wrong’.

So he left his career at sea, became a surveyor of tides in Liverpool and began
to study.

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He eventually became a priest, first in Buckinghamshire and then in London. The
more he grew in his Christian faith, the more he realised that what he had done

Set all free – Teacher’s Resource
as part of the slave trade was a terrible thing.

Pupil holds up Card 5: ‘I’ve sinned’.

He wrote a hymn called ‘Amazing Grace’, which explained the transformation
that God had made in his life:

‘Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see ...’

He struggled to believe that God could forgive someone who had treated others
as badly as he had, but he had to accept that God did forgive him.

Pupil turns over Card 5: ‘I’m forgiven’.

While he was in London he was visited by a young politician called
William Wilberforce. William was a Christian, but he was wondering if
he should leave politics and work in the Church as a clergyman. John
persuaded William that he could do great work for God where he was, in
Parliament. During the next 20 years, John Newton served as a mentor
to Wilberforce as he led the political fight in Parliament to change the
law and abolish the slave trade and slavery.

John’s first-hand knowledge of the slave trade proved really useful to the
abolitionists who were campaigning against it. He was able to give them accurate
information about life on board the slave-ships and the terrible things that went
on. He did all that he could to assist the campaign to abolish the slave trade.

Pupil turns over Card 2: ‘Be dedicated’.

So, throughout his life, John Newton underwent some dramatic changes in his
beliefs and actions.
• Some of those changes took time; they weren’t immediate.
• He attributed those changes to his Christian faith, and coming to understand
and receive God’s love and forgiveness.
• Having been actively involved in the slave trade, he became actively involved
in the campaign to abolish it.
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• He wasn’t afraid to admit that he was wrong.
Assembly Outline

Reflection
Invite pupils to reflect on the changes that happened in John Newton’s life. What
inspired and sustained those changes? What good came out of those changes?
Invite pupils to reflect on what they would like to change about themselves, or
what they would like to see change in the world. Where might the power to change
those things come from? How can they be agents for change in the world?

page 4 of 5
Either play a CD of John Newton’s best-known hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’, or read
some of the words for further reflection:

Set all free – Teacher’s Resource
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I’m found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Prayer
Lord God, we thank you for the life and example of John Newton, who was
changed by your love and forgiveness. Help us to be agents for change in the
world around us. Amen.

Sources:
www.mkheritage.co.uk/cnm/htmlpages/newton1.html
www.setallfree.net/john_newton.html
Faith in Action Series

Assembly Outline

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