STORY 25 MINUTES WORSHIP 10 MINUTES GROUPS 25 MINUTES

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1 PRELUDE SOCIAL 15 MINUTES STORY WORSHIP HOME Chief Executive Officer Reggie Joiner Creative Team Kristen Ivy Mike Clear Molly Boylan Elloa Davis Elizabeth Hansen Jessica McKee Brandon O Dell Greg Payne Phil Pierce Dan Scott Jon Williams Contributing Writers Matt Bell Kristy Hecht Kelly Nishi Adam Walsh Dana Wilkerson Editors Molly Boylan Elloa Davis Dana Wilkerson Illustrations & Graphic Design Brian Bascle Mike Davis Joe Goode Technical & Web Support Hadley Brandt Orange Specialists Amy Grisham Joy Bowen Abbey Carr Amy Fenton Leslie Galema Misty Phillips Stephanie Porter Courtney Templeton Statement of Faith ABOUT GOD God is the one and only true God, yet He exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is the Creator, so everything belongs to Him and is under His control. God is holy, so He is righteous, majestic, and loving. God is all knowing and purposeful, so He s at work to bring about His will. No person, thing, or idea compares to God. ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100% accurate, reliable, and authoritative. ABOUT PEOPLE People are made in God s image and for His pleasure. But everybody falls short of God s intention, or ideal, for people. In other words, everyone has sinned. As a result, we are all separated from Him, even though He wants an intimate relationship with each of us. ABOUT SALVATION That s why Jesus God s Son came and lived on this earth, died, and rose again. God offers His free gift of salvation to all who believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior the only way to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Anyone who accepts this gift is adopted as a son or daughter into God s family and will live with Him forever in heaven. User Agreement Orange gladly grants permission to churches, schools, and other licensees to tailor 252 Basics 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 Basics and the 252 Basics logo are trademarks of Orange and the rethink Group. Scripture marked NIrV is taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL READER S VERSION. Copyright 1996, 1998, 2014 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.

2 PRELUDE SOCIAL 15 MINUTES STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Extreme Makeover: Tabernacle Edition (Building the tabernacle) Exodus 28:1, 3; 31:1-11; 35: 21, 25, 34; 39:42-43 BOTTOM LINE We can work together to get God s work done. MEMORY VERSE Two people are better than one. They can help each other in everything they do. Ecclesiastes 4:9, NIrV LIFE APP 15 MINUTES 25 MINUTES 10 MINUTES 25 MINUTES PRELUDE: Setting the tone for the experience For Leaders Only Create the Environment SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction Ideas for Early Arrivers Shape It STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways Opener Worship Bible Story Prayer Closer WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God This Little Light from Living Inside Out Turn It Up from Turn It Up : Creating a safe place to connect Tabernacle Draw You ve Got Skills Road Verse Prayer HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience GodTime Parent Cue Cooperation working together to do more than you can do alone. BASIC TRUTH I need to make the wise choice. PAGE 2

3 PRELUDE SOCIAL 15 MINUTES STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Extreme Makeover: Tabernacle Edition (Building the tabernacle) Exodus 28:1, 3; 31:1-11; 35: 21, 25, 34; 39:42-43 BOTTOM LINE We can work together to get God s work done. MEMORY VERSE Two people are better than one. They can help each other in everything they do. Ecclesiastes 4:9, NIrV LIFE APP Cooperation working together to do more than you can do alone. BASIC TRUTH I need to make the wise choice. Note: This version of the curriculum is designed especially for churches with fewer leaders and kids. You may want to use it if you have just one or two leaders and if you combine all your kids in both Large and Small Group time. GETTING READY SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION (Choose one or both of these activities.) Early Arriver An offering container Shape It String or yarn; 5-foot length for every 3-4 kids; tie the ends together to form a loop STORY: COMMUNICATING GOD S TRUTH IN ENGAGING WAYS 1. Opener/Closer WHAT YOU NEED: Assistant Racecar driver costume for Assistant: o Leather jacket (or a jacket that looks like a racing jacket) o Racing gloves o Racing helmet (the type that covers the face) 2 sets of 9 boxes with 252 Racing Car Pictures affixed to them o 2 sets of 4 wheels o 2 sets of 2 doors, left and right o 2 sets of 1 hood o 2 sets of 1 trunk o 2 sets of 1 helmet Green flag, or something similar, to signify the start of a race Music and Sound Effects (SFX): High-energy, heavy-metal-type music Large Group Visuals (downloadable from the website): High Gear Slide Cooperation Slide Bottom Line Slide PAGE 3

4 PRELUDE SOCIAL 15 MINUTES STORY WORSHIP HOME Download the slides and have them ready to use. If you do not have CG capabilities, you have Orange s permission to enlarge and print the slides on paper. Download music from a resource such as itunes and have it ready to play. Download the 252 Racing Car Pictures and print them onto cardstock. Cut out and place them in sets for each group to use during the game. 2. Bible Story WHAT YOU NEED: Leader Assistant Moses costume for Assistant: o Robe o Long-haired wig and beard Blankets Pillows Chairs Bed sheets Masking or gaff tape (something that won t leave glue on the blankets) Enough of the above for the most epic blanket fort ever Large Group Visuals (downloadable from the website): Bottom Line Slide Download the slides and have them ready to use. If you do not have CG capabilities, you have Orange s permission to enlarge and print the slides on paper. 3. Worship WHAT YOU NEED: Leader(s) Music and Sound Effects (SFX): This Little Light from Living Inside Out* Turn It Up from Turn It Up* *Live lyrics video available from Download all songs (available on AmberSkyRecords.com) and have them ready to use. Download and print this week s tech sheet for everyone helping with Large Group. PAGE 4

5 PRELUDE SOCIAL 15 MINUTES STORY WORSHIP HOME 4. Additional Resources GET REEL: This month with Get Reel 2.0, we ll challenge the kids to cooperate with each other so they can do more together than what they can do alone. This week, we recommend playing the Discovery video to inspire the key faith skill of Navigate the Bible. Our Host literally jumps into the Bible to help us discover how God wants us to learn what He says and apply it to our lives. Also on Get Reel 2.0, you can enhance your environment with an M.C. Haggis video. M.C. Haggis and his sidekick Shamus McFamus tell us all about this month s widget. FEATURE PRESENTATION: We know that sometimes you want to mix things up to keep kids engaged with the most important thing you do every week in your Large Group: tell the Bible story. You also like having a back-up plan in case your Host or Storyteller cancels at the last minute. This is why our Large Group script is interchangeable with the Feature Presentation DVDs so you can plug and play the way you need to each week. Similar to the flow we create with our Large Group script, Feature Presentation also has weekly Intro and Outro videos with a Host. The Intros set up the Bible story and Life App, while the Outros smoothly transition from Large Group to Small Group. For the K-3 age group, we recommend playing 252 Story, which brings you the Bible story in a simple and direct way through a professional Leader accompanied by illustrations. Widget*: Family Mechanics * widg et [wij-it] noun 1. Something unspecific whose name is either forgotten or not known. 2. A device that is very useful for a particular job Origin: ; perhaps an alternative form of gadget I just need you to cooperate! Every parent has that instance, afternoon, entire day when getting everyone to work together seems like mission impossible. If only there was a way to make cooperation fun. Enter the FAMILY MECHANICS GAME! This creative card deck provides families in your ministry with ten supply cards instructing them to collect a certain type of item from around the house. (Think fruit, personal care items, office supplies, etc.) Once the family selects a card and race to find their supplies, they choose one of ten building cards that tell them what they get to construct together using the items they ve gathered! Challenge families to post their best creations on social media using the hashtag #familymechanics. PAGE 5

6 PRELUDE SOCIAL 15 MINUTES STORY WORSHIP HOME : 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 #2. Note: In week 3, there is a suggested service project, Acts of Service, to complete during Groups. There are many materials that will be needed to complete the project successfully. If your environment selects this activity, consider asking kids and parents to bring in materials to assist in the preparation of this activity. 1. Tabernacle Draw (application activity / review the Bible story) Print the Tabernacle Activity Page; 1 for each Small Group Whiteboard and markers; 2 for each Small Group (paper and markers will also work) 1 large sheet of butcher paper or 2 poster boards for each Small Group Markers Tape * 2. You ve Got Skills (application activity) Index cards; 1 for each kid Headbands; 1 for each kid (you can use real headbands, the ones from a Hedbanz game, or during Early Arriver, have kids make their own from strips of paper and tape) Pencils 3. Road Verse (memory verse activity) Print the Road Verse Cards Activity Page and cut apart; 2 sets for each Small Group Bibles Dice; one die for each kid and Small Group Leader Prayer No supplies needed Additional Resources: Make copies on cardstock of this week s GodTime and Parent Cue cards. Tell parents about our additional family resources: Studio252.tv, CUE Box, and the Parent Cue app. To find out more about these great resources, go to PAGE 6

7 PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME SOCIAL 15 MINUTES SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION (SMALL, 15 MINUTES) Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s story. Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group for the first time. Ask God to help kids understand why He wants us to cooperate with others and that He made us to live in community with other believers. Pray that God would give your kids opportunities to work together with others to get His work done, whether it s as big as a service project or as small as showing kindness to someone who needs it. 1. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA WHAT YOU NEED: An offering container Invite kids to put their offerings in the offering container as they arrive. Ask kids what they did to get ready for church today. Where did they get the clothes they are wearing? (Not necessarily which stores did the clothes come from, but who bought them and who actually went and got them?) What did they eat? How did they get the food they ate? The goal of these questions is to show the kids how much of what happens in their life involves people working together. For example, to have food to eat involves a group of people working together to provide it: your parents buying the food, the employees at the store or market where the food was purchased, the farmers growing it, etc. If you have mostly older kids: Ask them to come up with a few example processes of how the things they have make it into their lives. 2. SHAPE IT WHAT YOU NEED: Loops of string or yarn; 5-foot length for every 3-4 kids Divide kids into teams of three or four. Tell each team to sit in a circle, facing each other. Give each team a length of string. Put the string in the center of the circle. Tell kids to reach into the circle and hold onto string. Instruct them to close their eyes to keep them from peeking. Call out a shape, and tell the kids to work together to make their string into that shape without looking. Start out easy, with a circle, and get harder with a square, rectangle, and a triangle. End with a car shape. (They can look at their string to make the car shape.) WHAT YOU SAY: That was a tricky activity, but it would have been even harder if you d had to do it alone. Working together made it easier. [Transition] Let s go to Large Group, where we ll hear more about working together. Lead your group to the Large Group area. PAGE 7

8 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME STORY: COMMUNICATING GOD S TRUTH IN ENGAGING WAYS (LARGE GROUP, 35 MINUTES) Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible story, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. SFX: Play high-energy heavy-metal-type music as kids enter (continue to play underneath as Assistant greets the kids) OPENER The room lights suddenly go out. Assistant enters onto a darkened stage, outfitted with a leather jacket, jeans, racing gloves, and a racing helmet that covers his face. He sits in a chair and pretends as though he is in a racing car. The lights come up on Assistant, and he waves and gives a salute to the audience. ASSISTANT: Hello, everyone! Welcome to High Gear Assistant pretends to drive the car, miming a huge swerve while hanging onto an imaginary steering wheel. Where the cars are faster than the rush to [insert favorite local restaurant] after church. Assistant hops out of the car and takes center stage. He removes his helmet and gives a smile, a wink, and a-thumbs up as the music hits a final ending. He acts like Ben Stiller s character in Dodgeball fake tough, total workout nut, but instead of being over the top for working out, he s over the top for everything about cars. SFX: Cut/fade music (at a natural stopping point) ASSISTANT: (Out of breath, as if he s done some huge workout) Whew! Man! There is nothing like feeling the power of a ground-pounding, ear-shattering freakasaur, 8,000 horsepower 426 hemi extreme with quad overlays and a 4.5 inch stroke. I can go from 0-60 faster than a toupee in a hurricane! And you know what? I m going to take a few of you along for the ride! Are you ready to start your engines?! SFX: Start music again Assistant urges the kids to make some noise. Today we start a whole month learning what God has to say about cooperation. CG: Cooperation Slide Cooperation is working together to do more than you can do alone. And today, on High Gear, I need two teams to cooperate and build from the ground up your very own RACE CARS! I only have one question left for you kids. (Pause.) ARE YOU READY TO RACE?! PAGE 8

9 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Assistant selects four willing volunteers. One volunteer on each team will be building, and the other will be the driver around which the car will be built. Each team (who can be helped by a Small Group Leader), must assemble a car from nine pieces. The first one to finish the car wins! The pieces are oversized boxes. The boxes, will form a car around one of the volunteers, who will be kneeling on the floor. Assistant explains the game: Each team must race to put the car together. The last piece that signifies the winner is the helmet a box over the head of the driving volunteer. Note: If you have fewer than 10 kids, you may just want to make this an all-play game. Now that we ve got our teams set, let s get this race on! Who thinks that THIS team is going to win? What about THIS team? Assistant holds his hand over one team, encouraging the audience to cheer. Assistant holds his hand over the other team, encouraging the audience to cheer. He then pulls out a green flag (or something to signify the start of the race), and holds it up. Racers on the line and in three two one build! SFX: Increase music volume Assistant encourages both teams, revving up the crowd. He declares a winner. We have a winner! Put your hands together for [winners names]! Assistant high fives or fist bumps both teams. How cool to work together with your leaders to build something awesome! Now you all get to work together and sing some praises to God. Let s stand and sing together! Assistant exits as Leader enters. WORSHIP LEADER: Hello, hello, everybody. I hope you are ready to sing along with me today as we worship and give praise to Jesus for all the awesome things He has done in our lives. Stand up to your feet. We re gonna sing about shining our light. Let s work together and sing. SFX: This Little Light / track 9 from Living Inside Out PAGE 9

10 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Oh yeah, you guys know how to get loud and have some fun! We re going to talk about a really important verse today. Check it out: in John 13:35 Jesus told us, If you love one another, everyone will know you are my disciples. (NIrV) The way we love others shows that we love Jesus. It shows we are serving Him and honoring Him with our lives. Let s turn up the love in this place. C mon, sing along! SFX: Turn It Up / track 1 from Turn It Up SETTING UP THE STORY CG: Cooperation Slide LEADER: Great singing, everyone! Have a seat while we get start with our Bible story for today. This morning we introduced the idea of Cooperation! Cooperation is working together to do more than you can do alone! Think with me for a second here. How many of you know that things are easier with other people helping? Like chores? I know when my mom told me to clean my room it was a lot easier when my mom or dad or brother would help. Think of the tallest building you ve ever seen. Did one person build that tall building all by himself? (Pause for response.) Nope. The buildings you live in, the roads you drive on, the playgrounds you swing at they could never be built without help! When people work together, they can do WAY more than just one person working alone. In today s story, we re learning about a tent. Usually, when you go camping, tents are for one, two, or maybe even up to four or five people. But today s tent? It s WAY more than just a tent. This was a moveable, durable, huge tent called the tabernacle. And the Israelites carried it and reassembled it wherever they went! Let me tell you how this tabernacle this dwelling place for God was planned. Assistant enters dressed in Moses costume. God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and led them into the wilderness. Then God called to their leader, Moses. (In a booming God-like voice) Moses, come up to Me on the mountain! ASSISTANT: Whoa! LEADER: Moses climbed the mountain. Once he got up to the mountain, God spoke to him from inside a cloud that covered the whole mountain. God gave Moses instructions so the people would know the best ways to live, and God also told Moses about the unique way He had designed for His people to draw near to Him. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE TABERNACLE LEADER: (In a booming God-like voice) Have the people make a sacred tent for me. Make it exactly like the pattern I will show you. (Normal voice) God gave Moses every detail for the tabernacle, a beautiful home for God that could be packed up and reassembled exactly like a tent! ASSISTANT: It sounds amazing! It sounds incredible. It sounds absolutely impossible to build by myself. PAGE 10

11 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME LEADER: But God had everything worked out. (In a booming God-like voice) I have given ability to all the skilled workers. They can make everything I have commanded. ASSISTANT: Oh, that s good a group project! I m ready! Can we start? LEADER: Whoa, slow down, buddy! First, we re going to need a plan. (To the audience) And God gave Moses a great plan for getting it all done. God wanted Moses to gather all of the people together. ASSISTANT: Gather together, people! Assistant asks all the kids to scoot in to create one tight group. LEADER: Then, Moses told the group all about God s plan. ASSISTANT: God wants us to take up an offering. He wants everybody to chip in what they can. He wants us to contribute gold, silver, bronze, beautiful yarn, fabrics, olive oil, and spices. We re going to be building something awesome a tabernacle! It s like a huge, beautiful tent that He will dwell in, to meet with us and speak to us. It s going to be magnificent! LEADER: Moses went on to talk about the tabernacle, what it would look like, what kinds of things would be in it, but the people that s YOU, kids were wondering how in the world they were going to build all of this stuff. BUILDING THE TABERNACLE ASSISTANT: Wait! LEADER: What? ASSISTANT: I m Moses, right? God told me how He would do all of that stuff! God said that the people would have special skills to finish everything. LEADER: That s right. God said that among the people that s YOU, kids He had given gifts, talents, and abilities. So there were incredibly skilled builders, artists, people who could sew, people who could craft, and with everyone s help, through cooperation, the tabernacle would be built. And not only that, but God also asked Moses to find a man named Bezalel, because God had made Bezalel a talented craftsman, and Bezalel would oversee the construction. God knew that He had gifted certain people with specific skills. He knew that among the people, there were people who could do great work. And just like with the Israelites, God has given abilities to people here, too! There are kids here with some mad skills, too! I m guessing there are more than a few master LEGO builders in here or kids who love constructing on Minecraft or kids who love making jewelry, paintings, or inventions! ASSISTANT: Cooperation! Excellent! Let s build a tabernacle! PAGE 11

12 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Assistant points to the back or the side of the room, where there are piles of blankets, pillows, chairs, tape, and bed sheets enough supplies to make the most epic blanket fort imaginable. TABERNACLE GETS FINISHED LEADER: The people who were with Moses began to bring supplies. Some people brought pieces of gold and silver and bronze. Some brought spices and olive oil. Some brought fabric to make the walls. ASSISTANT: So let s get to it! People, bring the supplies! Assistant instructs some kids to bring up the blanket fort supplies and lay them out so everyone can see. LEADER: Moses instructed Bezalel to begin construction. Bezalel did begin the construction, but even more than that, Bezalel was a great teacher he taught others how to build things really well too. So let s build us a tabernacle! With Assistant and the Small Group Leaders help, have the kids fashion the biggest blanket fort ever! Use chairs to form walls, tunnels, and an entrance. If you have enough supplies, and your group is large enough, have two groups build two tabernacles and stress that everyone can help! As kids are building, Leader and Assistant are vocally pointing out when kids are working together one is holding a chair as the other drapes the sheet, and so on. When the group is finished, Leader continues. LEADER: God s people came together, offering their skills and their possessions. They did the work, just as God had commanded. When it was finished, Moses put the final touches on it by placing the furniture as God had instructed. Then he took the grand tour. ASSISTANT: It s perfect! Down to the smallest golden almond blossom on the lamp stand. Let s pretend we re Moses and go inside and take the tour! Assistant leads the kids into the blanket fort and if possible, Leader finishes the rest inside the fort. WRAPPING UP THE STORY LEADER: The tabernacle was complete. Once Moses was done setting it up, God Himself came inside to live among His people. With God s guidance, His people had created an amazing place to draw closer to Him. CG: Bottom Line Slide When God gives you a big job to do, He ll also help you find people to help you finish the job. It s like our Bottom Line says: [Bottom Line] We can work together to get God s work done. Who knows what God might ask you to do for Him? But remember, when God gives you that job to do, you can find people around you and work together to get it done! Let s pray. During the prayer, Assistant can sneak out and take off the Moses costume. PAGE 12

13 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME PRAY LEADER: God, You didn t create us to be alone. You didn t create us to be a solo act, a single rider, or a party of one. You created us to love You and to love the people around us and I thank You for the spirit of cooperation in this room right now. I pray that You will help all these kids and adults find ways to cooperate with each other and I thank You that Your Word taught us about the tabernacle and how it was built. We love You and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. Leader exits and Assistant returns to the blanket fort, if possible. CLOSER ASSISTANT: What a cool story from the Bible! You know, just like we built the cars at the beginning, God s people gathered together, cooperated, and built an amazing tent the tabernacle a place for God to dwell and a place for the people to draw closer to God. And you know what? God still has a mission for all of us you and me included! There s great work to be done for Him, and for His Kingdom, and He s asking us to jump in, cooperate with others, and get the work done. We can t do everything God wants us to do alone or without His help. Let s peek outside of our tabernacle and take another look at the Bottom Line for today. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] We can work together to get God s work done. Can you say that with me? ASSISTANT and KIDS: [Bottom Line] We can work together to get God s work done. ASSISTANT: Great! Now, you kids were so good at building, maybe you can get my old Chevy up on the rack and re-pin the undercarriage, flush out the coolants, overhaul the 380, and make sure the axle housings aren t grinding the chassis plates. (Beat.) You have no idea what I m talking about, do you? That s okay. Neither do I, really. BUT I m so crazy about cars, I m going to learn everything I can about them! And next week oooh, next week it s on like Donkey Kong. But for now head to Small Group, where you ll talk more about what it means to work together to get God s work done! The kids exit the blanket fort and head to their Small Groups. SFX: Play high-energy music (the same as the High Gear intro) as the kids exit. PAGE 13

14 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME : CREATING A SAFE PLACE TO CONNECT (SMALL, ) Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible story applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions. 1. TABERNACLE DRAW (application activity / review the Bible story) WHAT YOU NEED: Tabernacle Activity Page; 1 for each Small Group, 2 whiteboards with erasable markers (or paper and markers), a large piece of butcher paper, markers, tape Divide the group into two teams and give each team a whiteboard and an erasable marker. Hang a piece of butcher paper on the wall in front of the teams. Using a marker, divide the paper in half and label the sections Team 1 and Team 2 (or each team can come up with their creative team name). Read a Bible story review question and each team will write their answer on their whiteboard. If you have mostly younger kids: Let the older ones do the writing. If you don t have any kids who can write well enough, skip the writing part and ask each team to pick a representative to whisper their answer into your ear. The key is that neither team hears or knows the other s answer, so they re not influencing each other. Review the correct answer. For each team s correct response, they can draw one straight line on their section of the butcher paper. The first team to construct the tabernacle as shown in the Tabernacle Activity Page wins. Note: If you finish all questions and neither team has finished the tabernacle, you can have kids draw a line for each example of ways to work together to share God s love. Bible Story Questions: - What is a tabernacle? (A huge portable tent that could be taken down and set up as the Israelites moved from place to place) - Why did God ask the Israelites to build a tabernacle? (So God could come and live with them; it was a place set apart for God to meet with His people) - Building a tabernacle required many different people with many different talents. Name three jobs or talents God requested in His instructions to build the tabernacle. (Foreman/overseer, construction workers/builders, stone workers, people who could sew fabric for the priests clothing, people who gave offerings or money to fund the project, artists, teachers, Bezalel, woodworkers, metal workers) - Name one of the main workers who helped build the tabernacle and what skills God had given him. (Bezalel: carve things, make patterns out of cloth and yarn, sew) - What is the definition of cooperation? (Working together to do more than you can do alone) - Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our hearts. Name two ways we can work together to share God s love with other people. (Sing worship songs together, pray together, help others, etc.) WHAT YOU SAY: The Israelites definitely had to show cooperation when they built the tabernacle; no one person could have done it alone. God wanted people with different skills and talents to build the tabernacle, and God wants people with different skills and talents to show His love to others. You did a great job working together in this game and I know [Bottom Line] we can work together to get God s work done. PAGE 14

15 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME * 2. YOU VE GOT SKILLS (application activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Index cards; 1 for each kid, headbands; 1 for each kid, pencils Hand out index cards and pencils, and ask kids to each write down a skill they have. Tell them not to let anyone else see what they write. (Note: You may need to help younger kids come up with something and help write their skill.) Collect the cards, and tell kids to put on the headbands. Slip an index card into each kid s headband, making sure the others can read what it says. Let kids take turns asking yes-or-no questions to figure out what skill is in their headbands. After a skill is guessed correctly, allow kids to guess whose skill it is. At the end, challenge kids to think of ways those skills could be used together to do God s work. There could be many options for this. Basically, anything they could do together to help someone else would work. WHAT YOU SAY: We all have skills God has given us. There s nothing wrong with using them alone. Sometimes that s what we need to do. But we can often accomplish more when we use our skills together, like the ways you just described. Let me tell you about a time some friends and I used our skills to work together. [Make It Personal] (Tell kids about a way you worked together with people at church or in the community to get God s work done. Make sure to mention the various skills that were used.) [Bottom Line] We can work together to get God s work done. 3. ROAD VERSE (memory verse activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Bibles, dice, 2 sets of Road Verse Cards Activity Page; 2 sets for each Small Group Look up the memory verse and read it together. Finding verses with kindergartners: Guide kids to open the Bibles to the marked page. Point to the word Ecclesiastes at the top of the page as you say Ecclesiastes aloud. Then guide kids to find the big number 4 on the page. Explain that this is the chapter number. Finally, guide them to look under the big 4 for the little 9; this is the verse number. Tell them to leave their finger on the verse as you read the verse aloud. Then lead everyone to say the verse together. Finding verses with 1st graders: (Hold up a Bible opened to the table of contents to show the kids what the page looks like.) When the kids find the table of contents, lead them to find Ecclesiastes in the list under Old Testament. You can help by telling them that Ecclesiastes starts with the letters E-C. When the kids find Ecclesiastes, lead them to look at the page number beside the word. Explain that the number tells them on what page they can find Ecclesiastes. Help the kids find the page. When they find the book, explain that the big numbers on the page are the chapter numbers. Help them find chapter 4. Explain that the small numbers are verse numbers. Help them find verse 9 in chapter 4. Tell them to leave their finger on the verse as you read the verse aloud. Then lead everyone to say the verse together. Finding verses with 2nd and 3rd graders: Guide them to open their Bibles to the front and find the table of contents. (Hold up a Bible opened to the table of contents to show the kids what the page looks like.) When the kids find the table of contents, PAGE 15

16 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME lead them to find Ecclesiastes in the list under Old Testament. When the kids find Ecclesiastes, lead them to look at the page number beside the word. Explain that the number tells them on what page they can find Ecclesiastes. Help the kids find the page. When they find Ecclesiastes, explain that the big numbers on the page are the chapter numbers. Help them find chapter 4. Explain that the small numbers are verse numbers. Help them find verse 9 in chapter 4. Finding verses with 4th-5th graders: Our verse is from Ecclesiastes. Ask kids to tell you whether that s in the Old Testament or the New Testament. (Old). When they find Ecclesiastes, explain that the big numbers on the page are the chapter numbers. Tell them to find chapter 4. Explain that the small numbers are verse numbers. Tell them to them find verse 9 in chapter 4. For this activity there will be two teams. One team will be your Small Group of kids and the other team will just be you! Each team gets a set of Road Verse Cards. The goal is to be the first to make a road with the cards, making sure the verse is in the correct order. Tell the group to spread the cards out and turn them face down. Give everyone a die. Explain that our verse says, Two people are better than one, so for every 2 someone rolls, they get to flip a card over. Once the group has enough cards turned over, kids can start putting them in order. The winner is the first team to complete their road (by flipping over the entire verse and putting it in the correct order). Note: Because the kids have more people rolling the dice, they should be almost guaranteed to complete their road before you do. WHAT YOU SAY: You did a great job working together to get the road complete. Let s say the verse together: Two people are better than one. They can help each other in everything they do, Ecclesiastes 4:9. (NIrV) That was certainly the case in this game; the more people on your team the better chance you had of rolling a two and completing the road. The same is true when we are working for God. [Bottom Line] We can work together to get God s work done and when we cooperate we can do more than we could working alone. If you lead mostly older kids, consider asking these discussion questions: What are examples of God s work and how have people s lives been changed because someone did God s work? (Treating others as you would want to be treated, loving others, being kind, showing God s love, etc. Challenge them to think of examples in their lives where they have seen people work together to do God s work.) [Make It Personal] (Be prepared to share an example when you witnessed people working together to do God s work.) What s one specific way you can do God s work this week? What are some reasons we don t cooperate sometimes? (We want the praise, we don t value others input, they can t do it as well as we could, it is faster if we just do it alone, etc.) Sometimes it IS true that we can get something done faster if we do it alone. What s a reason to work with others anyway? (To build relationships, to give a younger sibling a boost of self-confidence) What are some reasons why we should cooperate? (God asks us to, we should treat others the way we want to be treated, God gave us unique skills so we could work together just like in our story today when the Israelites were building the tabernacle, etc.) PAGE 16

17 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME PRAY AND DISMISS WHAT YOU NEED: No supplies needed Divide the kids into pairs again. They can be the same as before or different pairings. Tell kids to each tell their partner one thing they need prayer for. Instruct kids to take a minute to each pray about the things both partners need prayer for. They can pray silently or aloud. WHAT YOU SAY: Prayer is something that we can cooperate on. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus said, Where two or three people gather in my name, I am there with them. (NIrV) If Jesus says it s a good thing to gather together to pray, then I think we should listen. This week, I want you to choose at least one time to pray together with someone, whether it s a parent, a sibling, or a friend. Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up. Tell parents that kids are learning about cooperation this month. Encourage them to ask their kids about the skills they talked about today and how they can use those skills to work together with others to get God s work done. PAGE 17