Tyre and Tarshish appear many times in the Bible and have a modern counterpart in the sea-trading nation of Britain, which was instrumental in the revival of Israel in the Holy Land. Britain now has a significant role in the Middle East and, when Christ returns, will help with the regathering of the Jews into his Kingdom.
A Tarshish family night is a great way to teach children about historical Tyre/Tarshish and how it relates to Bible prophecy. Originally this family night was done as a going away party when an ecclesial member moved to England – however it could be used for lots of different reasons.
Why not send out invitations to the members of the ecclesia to get into the spirit of sailing to Tarshish? We included one coin per family member to pay to “board the ship.” Any passenger caught trying to stow away got put on galley clean-up after the meal!
Although not mandatory, many people got into the spirit of the evening by coming dressed in sailing or British themed clothing.
A lot of decorating ideas for a ship/sailing theme can be found online, but we’ve included a small collection here. Most of our supplies were purchased at stores like Wal-mart, Target & Dollar Stores. The felt nautical flags were time consuming but well worth it for the final effect on “the ship.”
What would a family night be without food! In keeping with the theme of the evening, we had all the sisters bring dishes that were typical “British” fare. Here is a list of possibilities:
Traditional British Dinners
- Bangers & mash (sausage and mashed potatoes sometime with fried onion)
- Cobbler
- Beef Wellington
- Cottage Pie
- Fish & Chips
- Kippers (smoked herring)
- Pease pudding (split peas/lentils cooked until soft and thick)
- Steak & kidney pie (meat & gravy in pastry shell)
- Roast beef & Yorkshire pudding
- Toad in the hole
- Bread & butter pudding
- Sticky Date Pudding
- Trifle
- Scones with clotted cream
Last but not least we can not forget the activities! We had the ecclesia arrive with enough time before dinner to do a series of short games to help the children learn the identity of Biblical Tarshish.
Each participant was given a clue card (see pdf attachment below) and a golf pencil. As they went from station to station they would learn a new clue to help them identify Tarshish.
After dinner a brother gave a short 15 minute talk using all the clues to help the children identify Britain as Biblical Tarshish.
This PDF document is the Tarshish clue card.
This PDF document is the Family Night Game details.
This PDF document is the Mining in Tarshish coin printables.
This PDF document is the rules for the Merchants of Tarshish station.
We hope these ideas can be useful in helping you and your ecclesia make the Bible living and powerful in these last days.
For more information on identifying Biblical Tarshish you can watch this video from Christadelphian Watchmen or read this issue of the Bible Magazine titled Merchants of Tarshish: Daughter of Tyre in the Latter Days.