God s Generosity (Children's Ministry Material)

Transcription

1 God s Generosity (Children's Ministry Material) Waterworks for a Thirsty World wants to involve children in the act of grace giving. This lesson material teaches children about God s generosity and explains to them why God wants them to be generous. Children can raise money towards water projects by getting donations for doing water chores. Donations over $2 are tax deductible. To get started: 1. Sign up your group on (choose your water project and set your target). 2. Go to the 'resources' section of the website to access the water chores information information, and to print out the water chores participants forms. 3. Give out the participants form to each child (go to resources on the website). Spend some time explaining the sheet. Make sure that the children know what they are doing and why they are doing it.

2 Bible passages: Leviticus 23:22 (main text), 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 (for teacher s reflection and for older children) Key concept: Be generous because God is generous Supporting ideas: God wants us to be an intentional and cheerful giver We are motivated by God s grace to do this We will be enriched by our giving Our giving will result in thanksgiving to God Opening discussion 1. Who likes growing things in the garden? Here is a seed (show seed). How do you make this seed grow? What do you have to do to the seed to make it grow? (put it in the soil). Once it is in the soil, what else do you have to do? (water it). What else does the seed need to grow? (sun) 2. Why do people grow things? (you will get many correct answers, but the answer you want to finally get to is to grow food) Opening Activity Let s pretend we are farmers trying to grow a crop. We need to sow our seeds. Who knows what sowing means? (make the gesture of scattering seeds and get kids to do the same). Now the seeds are in the ground, what else do we need to do? (make a gesture of watering the seeds, and get the kids to the the same). We keep on watering it everyday, and slowly the seeds germinate and grow into plants. Now it is time to reap the harvest. Who knows harvest means? How do we reap a harvest? What actions can we do to show that we are reaping a harvest (make the gesture of reaping and get kids to do the same)

3 Optional for the above point: Go out to the garden and get the children to sow seeds, which could be just a handful rice grains. You could also let the children to pretend they are watering the seeds (use water cans) Leading in Question Now when we reap the harvest, you don t to leave of the crop behind, or it will be a waste. Do you agree? (Discuss) Bible Focus (Adapt the discussion on this Bible passage to make it suitable to the age group. For younger children, you may need to paraphrase and be more direct in your explanation): Listen to what God says to his people in the Bible (older children may want to read this out) Leviticus 23:22 (New Living Translation): When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God. Listen again, and pay attention to what they are told NOT to do. Who can tell me what they are not to do? What are they to do instead? Why? What do the poor people have to do to share in the harvest? What does this tell us about what the Lord God is like? What does this tell us about what God wants us to do? Why? Reflections (please modify language and concepts to the age groups)

4 What should be our attitude towards the poor among us? (Be intentionally generous, thoughtful, sacrificial) God tells his people to intentionally and deliberately provide for the poor( poor and foreigners ). We are not farmers, so we can t really leave bits of our harvest for the poor to pick up. Can you think of ways that we can help those who have less than us? (Broaden the discussion. Be practical. The poor includes those local to us and those further afield. The poor may also go beyond material poverty) By leaving some of the harvest behind, God wants us to not take and keep everything, so that the poor can also have something to eat. God wants us to share what we have. But notice that God didn t say to hand the harvest out to the poor. They have to actually work by picking and gathering the left over grains. This tells us that there is a good way to give and a bad way to give. The bad way to give is to give people hand outs. This does not teach people that they have to work to live, it makes them rely on others, and takes away their self esteem. The good way to give is to give in a way that encourages people to earn their way. This gives them pride and stops them from relying on handouts. Applications When we were pretending to plant our seed today, we said that one of the things that we need to grow a plant is water. Water is very important. What would happen to the plant if it doesn t get water? What happens to the farmer if the plant doesn t get water? What happens to the farmer s family? Not only does he not get a crop to eat, he also has nothing to sell. So what else might happen to his family? Water is very important to a society. We are very blessed to live where we are, where there are lots of water and we are never thirsty. However in other parts of the world this is not so. As a group, we are going to learn to be generous as God wants us to be generous. We are going to raise money for the poor, so that they can have enough water or they can do water projects to help their community.

5 Explain the Water Chore Challenge and what they are raising money for. Tell them that this is one way they can intentionally give to those who have less than them. Explain to the children the project they are supporting. The Waterworks projects focus on development, not on hand outs. (Except in cases where emergency relief is appropriate e.g in response to disasters). However most of the Waterworks project focus on teaching, equipping, and enabling people to have better health, life and communities. Go to resources under waterworks.org.au for other educational material, water facts, colouring in sheet, Ethiopia case study for supplementary resources. Practical Activity Allow the children to do a water chores together e.g some can water the garden, others can wipe down tables, others can wash and clean toys. Tell them that for their work, you will make the first donation to their chosen water project. Or prepare a seed germination experiment for each child Or get children to plant seeds in a pot plant and encourage them to nurture the growth by regular watering and care