Exegetical Aim: The best leadership seeks to help people not burden them to point of despair. Key verses: 4 and 11. Props: One small bag of dried uncooked noodles—bow tie pasta works best. Hide the bag of candy. Lesson: What is today? (Halloween) What do we do on Halloween? (response) I happen to have something for you. Reach in and get a prize but you only get one. Allow each child to reach in th...
Object: A rock (as large as possible)
Good morning, boys and girls. A missionary in Africa was traveling with two African friends. They came to a pile of stones and each of his friends picked up a stone. They advised him to do the same. "Why should I pick up a rock and carry it," I asked. "You'll need it," replied one of his friends. "I can't see any use of carrying a burden like that," said the ...
Object: A set of ear plugs
Good morning, boys and girls. How do you and I communicate with each other? Usually, we do it with our mouths, don't we? We talk to each other. Suppose, however, I put these ear plugs in my ears so that I couldn't hear what you said. Could we communicate then? Yes, we could. We could gesture to each other. There are people who cannot hear who do a great job of communica...
Object: a T-shirt with Christian symbols, a few WWJD bracelets, some large cross necklaces (Either have these items yourself, or ask a member of the congregation to dress in these items the more Christian clothing items the better and serve as your visual aid)
Good morning, boys and girls. I want to ask you a question this morning: how do you know if the people around you love God? How can you te...
Object: A red flag.
Lesson: Truly, I say to you, all this will come upon this generation.
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought with me this morning a flag to share with you. (Show them the flag.) How many of you have ever seen a flag like this? (Let them answer.) Do you know what country has a flag like this? Is it the American flag? We call the Russians "Reds," so do you think that this may ...
Object: Very pretty ribbon and some plain old string.
Lesson: Whoever exalts will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought along some friends with me this morning and I know that you will enjoy having them here with us. As you can see they are quite different looking, but they both hang around the same drawer at my house. First of all I wou...
Concept: Just as television and commercials can mislead us, our behavior can mislead others concerning our relationship with the Lord
Preparation: Watch Saturday morning television geared toward children and familiarize yourself with some of the commercials with outlandish claims designed to entice youngsters.
What is a commercial? (Children respond.) It's an advertisement about something that s...
Object: A pea pod.
Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to take a look at one of the things that God makes. It grows in a lot of gardens. We hope that by looking at this, we will learn something about God and the way that he works in our lives. I brought with me a pea pod to show you this morning. How many of you have ever seen a pea pod before? (Let them answer.) Inside of this pea p...
Object: a large box of chocolates
Good morning, boys and girls. Do you like chocolate? I do too. Each of these chocolates is pretty much the same on the outside. But on the inside, each one is different. Some have nuts on the inside, some have jelly on the inside, some have creme or caramel on the inside. Can you tell which one is which just by looking at the outside? No. I can't tell either. Som...
Object: Some ordinary rocks and pebbles
Lesson: "Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves."
Well, boys and girls, we’re together for the last Sunday in July. It seems as if the summer months just started yesterday and now we only have one more month of summer before school starts again. That doesn’t sound so good at first to all of you who go...
Exegetical Aim: To demonstrate how Christ brings Jew and gentile together.
Props: A shoe box and some building blocks.
Lesson: This morning I want to teach you about worship. When we want to worship God, where do we usually go? (church) Yes, we go to a church. It wasn't always like that. When Jesus was alive on earth, he was a Jewish person. And the Jews could only go to one place to worship God...
Exegetical Aim: The church exists because of the hard work of many.
Props: Any old pictures of the church, an old bulletin, old church newspapers, etc. If yours is a new church, you will have to adapt this by talking about another church.
Lesson: Do you know how old this church is? Take a guess. (response) That's a long time ago, isn't it? Look at some of these pictures and articles about the ch...
Exegetical Aim: To remind the children that the existence of the church is owing to the hard work of many.
Props: Any old pictures of the church, an old bulletin, old church newspapers, etc. (If yours is a new church, you will have to adapt this.)
Lesson: Do you know how old this church is? This church was founded in 1826. substitute your info That’s a long time ago, isn’t it? Look at some of th...
Exegetical Aim: To demonstrate the gentleness with which we should share the gospel.
Props: A baby doll
Lesson: Show the children a baby doll. “Coo” over it and discuss how to properly treat a baby, i.e. the necessity of feeding him/her, changing diapers, bathing, dressing, holding, comforting, teaching, correcting, etc. Would you ever want to yell at a baby? (response) Of course not, because a ...
Object: None
Our word for today is “encouragement.” (Show your sign.) What does “encouragement” mean? How can you encourage someone else?
I am going to give you two examples and when I am done, I want you to tell me which one is more encouraging. Number 1 is: “Go in there and clean your room, right now.” Here's number 2: “I need some help. Grandma is coming to stay for a few days. We need to cle...
Object: None
Lesson: Persevere
Have you ever tried to learn something new that was very difficult? (ride a bike, read, play an instrument) Did you ever feel like giving up? Or did you just keep trying? There is a word for that. It is persevering. It means that you don’t give up. You just keep on keepin’ on. Is that easy?
In our Bible lesson today Paul is reminding his readers how hard it was fo...
Object: Have children choose partners to give each other piggyback rides; sweeper, dust rags, cleaning supplies.
Good morning, boys and girls. Today is a super day. Here we are in church on a wonderful fall Sunday morning, and we are sharing our love with one another. That means that almost everything is right in the world. Today I want to pick up a partner and we will learn something about shari...
Object: A bandanna large enough to wear as a mask.
Lesson: Being yourself; friendship; self-esteem.
"Good morning, children! Some of you are laughing. Why is that?"
"Because you're wearing a handkerchief on your face!" says one little girl as the others giggle.
"Because I'm wearing a handkerchief on my face ... Is that funny?" Several of them nod. "Haven't you ever worn a handkerchief?" I ask ...
Exegetical Aim: To remind the children that Jesus was in the form of God, but became like the image of us to prove the love of God for us.
Props: A picture of you as a baby, a small mirror.
Lesson: Good morning. I want to show you a picture this morning. What is this picture of? (response) Do you know this baby from our nursery? Who might this baby be? Play with this awhile until they guess it i...
Object: Shirt (off your back) candy, handshake or dollar bill
Good morning, friends. You are my friends, aren’t you? That sure makes me happy. The other day I started to wonder how many friends I have. Do you know how many friends you have? What kind of friends are they? You don’t know what I mean, do you? Well, a friend is someone who would do more for you than simply spend some time with you. D...
Exegetical Aim: We need to be of one Spirit in Christ.
Props: A balloon that is blown up with air, not helium.
Lesson: Choose two volunteers. Today I want to play a game with you. It involves this balloon. Do you want to play? (response) In order to play, you have to follow some rules. Rule 1 is that you must stay on your knees where you are. You cannot get up and move around. Okay? (response) A...
Object: a compass.
Who knows how to use a compass? (If you have volunteers willing to explain its use, have them point to the four directions: north, south, east, and west; or do it yourself. Be ready to name one place in each direction and ask in which direction it is from where you are.)
Do any of you attend family reunions? (Look for a response.) If you do, do other people come here or do you...
Object: Some string that easily twists and untwists, or a necklace or chain.
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you hove ever played with a chain or a necklace like this and watched it get all twisted up, and then untwist itself? Oh, that’s good, a lot of you have done this. That means that you will understand what I am talking about in our little experiment. It is important that you watch...
