PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP GROUPS HOME USER AGREEMENT. Used by permission of Biblica.

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1 Undercover Christmas: Make Others Your Mission WEEK CEO Reggie Joiner DIRECTOR OF MESSAGING Kristen Ivy DIRECTOR OF CHILDRENS STRATEGY Mike Clear CREATIVE TEAM Molly Bell Elloa Davis Elizabeth Hansen Brandon O Dell Greg Payne Phil Pierce Dan Scott Mike Tiemann Jon Williams TEAM WRITERS Jodi Blackwell Sharon Carey Bill Hughes Becky Jarrett Erin Mashaw Julie Tiemann Dana Wilkerson EDITORS Molly Bell Dana Wilkerson ORANGE SPECIALIST Abbey Carr Amy Fenton Leslie Galema Amy Grisham Barbara Graves Terri Jones Misty Phillips Stephanie Porter Annette Stickney Courtney Templeton Gay Tucciarone USER AGREEMENT Orange gladly grants permission to churches, schools, and other licensees to tailor 252 Kids materials to fit their unique leadership requirements, locale and format preferences, and physical environment needs. However, if you wish to edit the content substantively, including Bible stories, learning activities, scripts, and any other content in which biblical principles and concepts are presented, you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines we ve expressed in our Statement of Faith. These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work is a direct violation of US copyright laws The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 252 Kids and the 252 Kids logo are trademarks of Orange and the rethink Group. Scripture marked NIrV is taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL READER S VERSION. Copyright 1996, 1998 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica. Scripture marked NIV is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide The rethink Group. All rights reserved.

2 PRELUDE: Setting the tone for the experience For Leaders Only Create the Environment Monthly Overview 15 MIN 25 MIN 10 MIN 25 MIN SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction Early Arrivers Jingle, Anyone? STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways Opener Bible Story Prayer Closer WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God Love One Another from Every Beat Go Tell It from Jingle Jam: Wrapped Up GROUPS: Creating a safe place to connect Jesus Ad Collage Hot Sheep Good News Bookmarks Prayer HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience GodTime Parent Cue 2018 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 2

3 GETTING READY SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION CHOOSE ONE OR BOTH OF THESE ACTIVITIES. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA Made to Reflect: an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application An offering container Smart phone or tablet with Internet access (optional) Note: If you show videos, make sure your church has obtained licensing rights to show videos. You can obtain a license from Motion Picture Licensing Corporation ( Christian Video Licensing International ( or Christian Copyright Licensing International ( JINGLE, ANYONE? Made to Create: an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing Paper Two half sheets of poster board Markers Pencils GROUPS: CREATING A SAFE PLACE TO CONNECT CHOOSE AS MANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES AS YOU LIKE. * If you don t have time to do all these activities, be sure to do activity #1. * 1. JESUS AD COLLAGE [LIVE FOR GOD APPLICATION ACTIVITY] Made to Connect: an activity that invites kids to share with others and build on their understanding Paper Half sheets of poster board; one for every three or four kids Markers Pencils Tape 2. HOT SHEEP [TALK ABOUT GOD REVIEW] Made to Move: an activity that increases the oxygen in the brain and taps into the energy in the body Music player Stuffed sheep 3. GOOD NEWS BOOKMARKS [HEAR FROM GOD ACTIVITY] Made to Create: an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing Print the Bookmarks Activity Page on cardstock and cut apart; one bookmark for each kid Markers Decorative supplies such as: ribbon, buttons, sequins, Christmas stickers, glitter glue, etc. Music player (optional) PRAYER [PRAY TO GOD PRAYER ACTIVITY] Made to Reflect: an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application Note: We recommend you make this an environmentwide activity. Music player with a Joy to the World lyric video cued up. You can find the Amber Sky Lyric video here: bit.ly/2ms2oce Note: Make sure your church has obtained licensing rights to show videos. You can obtain a license 2018 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 3

4 GETTING READY, CONTINUED from Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (www. mplc.com), Christian Video Licensing International ( or Christian Copyright Licensing International ( ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Make copies on cardstock or this week s GodTime and Parent Cue cards. Tell parents about our additional family resources: Studio252.tv and the Parent Cue app The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 4

5 15 MINUTES REFLECT an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s story. Before kids arrive, take a few moments to pray for them. Ask God to help kids understand why it s important to share what He s done for us. Pray that kids would have opportunities to share with others, especially in the coming new year. Pray that kids would take those opportunities, as daunting as it may seem. 1. EARLY ARRIVER Offering container, phone/tablet (optional) Talk about Christmas songs and how some are about Jesus and the true Christmas story and others are not. Encourage kids to think of Christmas songs that are about Jesus, and sing them together. Optional: Use a smart phone or tablet to show lyric videos for some Christmas songs so kids can easily sing along. (Note: Save Joy to the World for the Prayer activity at the end.) ú ú Away in a Manger ú ú Silent Night ú ú O Little Town of Bethlehem The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 5

6 15 MINUTES 25 MINUTES CREATE an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing 2. JINGLE, ANYONE? Paper, poster board, markers, pencils Divide kids into groups of three or four. Assign a gift to each group. These should be gifts that the kids in your group would like to receive this Christmas. It might be a new game console, a new action figure from their favorite recent movie, a movie, or anything else you can think of. Explain that each group will get five minutes (or more or less, depending on your time constraints) to come up with a jingle, a TV commercial, or a poster ad for that item in order to try to convince someone they should buy it. Note: Try to guide groups to choose different options, so they re not all doing the same type of promotion. When they re finished, allow time for them to share their creations with the rest of the group. Note: If you don t have time for the presentations here, you could do them after Large Group. WHAT YOU SAY: Wow! Now I want to buy all of those things! You did such a great job promoting those items and sharing the news about how amazing they are. [Transition] Let s go to Large Group to hear about something even more amazing that we can share with others. Lead your group to the Large Group area The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 6

7 25 MINUTES LIVE FOR GOD APPLICATION ACTIVITY CONNECT an activity that invites kids to share with others and build on their understanding * 1. JESUS AD COLLAGE Paper, poster board, markers, pencils, tape Put kids back into their groups from Social. If groups were unable to share their promotions before Large Group, allow them to quickly do so now. Explain that while the items they promoted earlier were great, now they re going to promote something much greater: Jesus! Tell kids to use the supplies to create a collage of ads to share the good news about Jesus. They can do this in whichever way they choose: put the boards in a line, make them into a square/rectangle, etc. Encourage them to work together to decide what each group will focus on. úú Maybe they ll divide up the Christmas story. úú úú Perhaps they ll each focus on one thing about Jesus. It s up to them to work it out, but remind them that the goal is to effectively share the good news about Jesus with someone who might see the collage. When they re finished, tape the collage together. If possible, attach it to the wall where parents can easily see it when they come to pick up. WHAT YOU SAY: There is no better news we can tell than the news about Jesus. We can tell them about... (point out some of the things kids drew and wrote on their collage of ads). We can tell them how God loved us so much that He chose to send Jesus to us to meet our greatest need. This is a message not just for Christmas but also for the whole year long. It s great to tell others about Jesus at Christmas, and I hope you do. But I also hope you will share the good news about Jesus the rest of the year too. [Make It Personal] (Tell kids about the last person with whom you shared the good news about Jesus. What did you say? How did they respond? If they didn t respond all that positively, that s okay to share, because it is a very realistic outcome.) It s not always easy to tell people about Jesus, and they don t always respond the way we would want to. But it s still important to share the good news whenever we have an opportunity The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 7

8 25 MINUTES TALK ABOUT GOD REVIEW MOVE an activity that increases the oxygen in the brain and taps into the energy in the body 2. HOT SHEEP Music player, stuffed sheep Direct kids to sit in a circle. Hand the stuffed sheep to one kid. Explain that you will play Hot Potato with the sheep. When the music stops, the kid holding the sheep gets to answer a review question. If the kid gets it wrong or doesn t know, he can toss the sheep at any other person, who has to answer. Make things more interesting by telling kids to pass the sheep in various ways: over/under, skip a person, one handed, and so on. Review Questions: Where were the shepherds? (in the field) Who appeared to them? (an angel of the Lord) How did the shepherds react to the angel? (they were terrified) What did the angel tell them had happened? (a Savior had been born) Where had the Savior been born? (in Bethlehem) How would they know Him? (he would be wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger) Who joined the angel of the Lord? (a large group of angels) When the angels left, what did the shepherds say to each other? (let s go see this baby) Who did they find? (Mary, Joseph, and Jesus) What did the shepherds do next? (went and told everyone about Jesus and what the angel had said) Then what did the shepherds do? (praised God) WHAT YOU SAY: The shepherds were so excited to hear about the message of Jesus, they couldn t wait to tell everyone what they had experienced. Take a minute to think about who you know that needs to hear about Jesus. (Pause.) Somebody tell me what you would say to that person. (Pause. Give guidance as needed.) Yes! Every single one of us can share the good news about Jesus The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 8

9 25 MINUTES HEAR FROM GOD ACTIVITY CREATE an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing 3. GOOD NEWS BOOKMARKS Bookmarks Activity Page, markers, decorative supplies, music player (optional) Give each kid a bookmark, and set out the markers and other supplies. Tell kids they should choose someone to give the bookmark to in order to share the good news about Jesus, and they should decorate it with that person in mind. (Note: Encourage them to think of someone who doesn t know Jesus.) While they decorate, feel free to play Christmas music. WHAT YOU SAY: Compassion is not about you. It is always about the other person. And the greatest act of compassion we can ever show to someone else is to tell them about God s greatest gift of Jesus. When you give this bookmark to someone, I want you to really tell them about Jesus don t just hand them the bookmark. You don t have to talk forever, but just tell them why Jesus is important to you. Share the good news about Jesus, and share WHY it s good news The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 9

10 25 MINUTES PRAY TO GOD PRAYER ACTIVITY REFLECT an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application PRAY AND DISMISS Note: We recommend you make this an environment-wide activity. Music player with Joy to the World lyric video Encourage kids to stand up and move to the music as you sing together. Play the Joy to the World lyric video. (If you are unable to play the video, you can play Joy to the World from the Jingle Jam CD from AmberSkyRecords.com.) Close with the prayer below. WHAT YOU SAY: God, thank You so much for sending your Son, Jesus, to earth to live and to die for our sins so that when we believe in Him we can live with You forever. Help us to share the good news about Jesus with the people in our lives who don t know and love Him. Give us the opportunity to do that this week. We ask this all in Jesus name, amen. As adults arrive to pick up, tell them to ask kids about their bookmarks and who they made them for The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 10