Youth Activity:
Where in the world are we?
See the “Where is your treasure?” map of the world
and its accompanying insert. Below is a suggested
use of the map and its vignettes for youth. Though
designed for youth, the activity can be adapted for
use with other age groups. Its purpose is to help
personalize what gifts to One Great Hour of
Sharing accomplish. The insert wording is: God’s treasure is God’s children, sprinkled in great
quantity (over 6.6 billion of us!) throughout the world. In the accompanying map entitled “Where
is your treasure?” we see the “lay of the land” and some of the people whose lives have been
positively affected by One Great Hour of Sharing. Please hang the map and a copy of the
vignettes where many in your church will see it and make connections between the money they
give and actual people they help.
Does this map look unusual?
The earth is shaped roughly like a sphere. About 70% of its surface is covered by water and
30% is covered by land. It is very hard to accurately represent the surface of this ball on a flat,
rectangular sheet of paper! A globe, which is more accurate than a two-dimensional map, has
the drawback of allowing us to view only about half the earth at any time.
Many in the current parent and grandparent generations grew up using the Mercator projection
map, developed in the 1500s to aid marine navigation. It became the widely published standard
for many years. Its strengths include showing the true direction from one point to another and
accurately representing small shapes. However, it greatly distorts size. On a Mercator map, for
instance, the island of Greenland appears larger than the continent of Africa. In reality, Africa is
13 times the size of Greenland! Likewise, the state of Alaska appears on Mercator maps to be
about the same size as the country of Brazil. Brazil is actually more than five times bigger.
The “Where is your treasure?” map uses the Gall-Peters projection, developed in the 19th
century and introduced widely to the world in 1974. This projection results in an “equal area”
map, showing areas of equal size on the globe, whether land or water, as equal size on the
map. Thus, one can more accurately understand the comparative size of countries and the
proportions of features like deserts. The Gall-Peters projection can help us examine the
sometimes unconscious pattern of thinking that “bigger is better” and “small is insignificant.” It
may be unsettling for some to see a fairly different looking map of the earth than the one they
have grown used to. Remember that this map has its unique strengths and challenges, as other
projections have their own, differing strengths and challenges.
The faces on this map
The best way to look at the earth is still a globe or pictures of the planet taken from space. The
best way to look at people is as children of God, each of whose life is important and treasured
by God. Along the bottom of the map are pictures of just a few of the people, out of hundreds of
thousands, who have been helped by One Great Hour of Sharing. May their stories,
summarized in vignettes elsewhere on this paper, help us better understand our call as
Christians to care for all of God’s treasures, no matter where they live.
Bringing stories to life
We can become almost numb when faced with the incredible amounts of suffering in the world.
Focusing on one person or one family whose lives have been changed by One Great Hour of
Sharing may help connect our hearts and deepen our compassion more than thinking about
“anonymous millions” in deprivation.
Divide the participants into clusters and give to each a vignette and the picture of the person(s)
in that story. Each cluster will have about five minutes to decide how to bring their story to life
for the full group—dramatization? reading? charades? song? poem?—and to practice their
presentation.
After each cluster’s presentation, pose several of the questions below to the full group:
• If you were in this situation, what evidence would show you that God treasures you?
• How would you find hope in the situation?
• If you could visit in person, what would you like to ask, say to, or do with this
person/family?
• If you could visit this person/family two or three years from now, what specifically would
you hope has happened?
• What can you do to positively affect this life/these lives, and the lives of other people in
similar situations? [Giving to One Great Hour of Sharing is an excellent way!]
As the discussion concludes about that particular story, the cluster attaches the picture of their
person/family to their “home spot” on the map.
Optional discussion:
Study the One Great Hour of Sharing logo (below). What strikes you about it in shape, color,
figures you see? How does it visually show some of the concepts of sharing and caring that you
have discussed?
Closing prayer:
God, you who know each of us so well and care about each of us so completely that you even
know how many hairs are on our head. We lift up our concern about these brothers and sisters
we have just learned about to you. Thank you for their lives and their incredible perseverance.
Thank you for your abiding presence even in situations so trying they are hard sometimes to
comprehend. Thank you for the support and help that has come to these children of your
through the One Great Hour of Sharing offering. Please powerfully bless the work that this
year’s offering will do. Open our hearts and guide us to live lives of justice and compassion, so
that your will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.