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
1. Vision and Goal
2. Decoration Ideas
3. Supplies
4. Day-By-Day Instructions
5. Video Guide
6. 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 subSaharan 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?
1. Determine how many lives you will save with your VBS
team
2. Ask if the church or a committee/small group will match
what kids bring (ex. $200 match)
3. 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
www.imaginenomalaria.org/resources
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 www.imaginenomalaria.org/resources)
- 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 www.imaginenomalaria.org/resources
- 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
could do this 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 www.imaginenomalaria.org
- 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
- Give $1 for every
mosquito bite you get this
week
- Host a yard sale
- Basketball shoot-a-thon:
have family and friends
sponsor you for every
basket made!
- Have your
soccer/volleyball/basketb
all team ask friends and
family to donate for every
“net” scored
- 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: Ministry Overview
Script for stage leader
- Raise your hands if you’ve gotten the flu?
- Malaria causes people, especially kids, to have really bad symptoms like the flu. If you don’t
get treatment in time children can die from malaria. 75% of people that live in sub-Saharan
Africa get malaria every year. We want to comfort our friends that get sick every year.
- Why does God care about people that have malaria?
- Why do you care about people with malaria?
Daily Challenge: Tonight, we want you to go home and write a prayer for people sick with
malaria.
- You could pray for pregnant moms that are sick and scared that they feel better. You can pray
for the hospitals to have medicine and doctors to help people. And you can pray for the families
that are losing their kids today from malaria.
- We know that God has the power to comfort (Hold on!). We want to pray for that comfort
tonight for our friends in Africa!
Day 3: God Heals
Introduction
Script for stage leader
- Okay, who wrote a prayer and brought it in?
- I need two people to tell me how they prayed for our friends with malaria last night.
- Today we’re learning about how God has the power to heal (Hold On!), and how Jesus tells us
that we can heal the same way He did! That’s what we’re trying to do with malaria, is help heal
people from this disease.
- Malaria is 100% treatable, what does that mean?
- It costs as little as $5 to heal someone from malaria. So $10 can buy a bed net and prevent
malaria, and $5 can help heal someone if they do catch it!
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
AFRICA
90% of all malaria deaths are in sub- Saharan Africa.
Label or color the countries below and bring it back to Day 2 of G-Force!
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: http://shop.umc.org/product/productinfo/imagine-no-malaria-faith-in-action-a-video-collection/1203?cid=257
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
This short video shows the facts about malaria in an easy-to-absorb format
Recommended for: Sunday Worship, Wednesday night program, Community Outreach, Small
groups, Youth group, Social Media and Website Promotion
“Ministry Overview” (1:50) / Watch here
This video shows a short version of what Imagine No Malaria does to prevent and treat malaria
Recommended for: Sunday Worship, Wednesday night program, Small Groups, Youth Group
“Ted Talk: 3 Reasons We Still Have Malaria” (15:18) / Watch here
This informative TED talk has informed people all over our denomination
Recommended for: Small Groups, Youth Group, Church Staff
“The Winged Scourge” (9:42) / Watch here
This Disney short from 1943 is extremely eye-opening as it looks out how to prevent malaria in
the United States before we were able to eradicate it in 1950.
Recommended for: Adult Small Groups, Youth Group
“Leo and Kya” (3:27) / Watch here
This short video is a perfect way to introduce kids to malaria and why it’s important to stop
Recommended for: Children’s Ministries, VBS
Donations
Thank you so much for saving lives from malaria at your 2015
VBS! Here is the easiest way to turn in your monetary
donations:
If anyone writes a check, please have them write it out to your church
with “Imagine No Malaria” in the memo line. Please contact Laurel at
LaurelOConnor@unyumc.org with any questions.
1) Mail
Please mail donation and make it out to “Upper New York Annual
Conference” with the memo “Imagine No Malaria” and mail it to:
Upper New York Annual Conference
c/o Imagine No Malaria
324 University Ave., 3rd Floor
Syracuse, NY 13210
If you got permission from parents, we’d love to see pictures of your
Imagine No Malaria efforts! Please email LaurelOConnor@unyumc.org