SEPTEMBER W-4 2 PRELUDE 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 Becky Jarrett Cara Martens Emily Meredith Adam Walsh Dana Wilkerson SOCIAL 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 STORY WORSHIP 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. 0 1 6 4-5 HOME 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. 2016 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.
SOCIAL PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Family Re-Ties Joseph Forgives His Brothers Genesis 42-45 BOTTOM LINE You can trust God no matter what. MEMORY VERSE Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5, 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 The Grand Finale STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways Opener Worship Bible Story Prayer Closer WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God God Is for Us from Living Inside Out All the Glory from Movin Me Good Good Father from Kidmin Worship Vol. 4 : Creating a safe place to connect Unexpected Elephant Toothpaste Lone Rider Big Top Scramble Prayer HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience GodTime Parent Cue Trust putting your confidence in someone you can depend on. BASIC TRUTH I can trust God no matter what. PAGE 2
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Family Re-Ties Joseph Forgives His Brothers Genesis 42-45 BOTTOM LINE You can trust God no matter what. MEMORY VERSE Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5, NIrV LIFE APP Trust putting your confidence in someone you can depend on. BASIC TRUTH I can trust God no matter what. GETTING READY SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION (Choose one or both of these activities.) Early Arriver An offering container The Grand Finale Print The Grand Finale Activity Page; 1 for each kid Markers : 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 #XX. * 1. Unexpected Elephant Toothpaste (application activity / review the Bible story) Clean, empty 16 oz. water bottle ½ cup hydrogen peroxide (you can use the kind from the grocery store at 3% peroxide, but a beauty supply store or Amazon will have a stronger 6% solution that will give a bigger reaction) 1 packet (1 Tbsp.) dried yeast 3 Tbsp. warm water Food coloring 1 Tbsp. liquid dish soap (any kind) Small bowl Tray or large bowl Funnel 2. Lone Rider (application activity) Print the Lone Rider Template Activity Page; 1 for each kid Scissors Tape Paper clips Check out this video for a demonstration of how the unicycle rider works: http://bit.ly/1srt41c PAGE 3
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME 3. Big Top Scramble (memory verse activity) Bed sheet or parachute Print the Verse Words Cards Activity Page on two different colors of paper; cut cards apart Prayer Optional: Ingredients to make Elephant Toothpaste again from Activity 1 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 http://www.studio252.tv/leaders. PAGE 4
PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME SOCIAL SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION 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 you wrap up this month by impressing on kids hearts that He is a trustworthy God who will never leave them and always wants and does what s best for them. Pray for kids who don t yet have a relationship with God. Pray that today s story and message would stir some questions in their hearts. Ask God to guide you as you answer those questions. 1. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA WHAT YOU NEED: Offering container Greet kids as they arrive and encourage them to place their offerings in the container. Ask them what they ve learned about trust so far this month. If you re feeling brave, repeat the trust fall activity from the first week. 2. THE GRAND FINALE WHAT YOU NEED: The Grand Finale Activity Pages; 1 for each kid, markers Hand out the Activity Pages and markers and encourage kids to be creative about how the circus acts could end. (Try to discourage violent/inappropriate endings.) If you have extra time, let kids come up with new acts to draw on the back of the page. They can draw the first two panels and then trade with a friend to finish the final panel. You never can tell what will happen next in the circus! [Transition] Let s head to Large Group to hear who we can trust no matter what. Lead your group to the Large Group area. PAGE 5
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME : CREATING A SAFE PLACE TO CONNECT Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible story applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions. * 1. UNEXPECTED ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE (application activity / review the Bible story) WHAT YOU NEED: Clean, empty 16 oz. water bottle; ½ cup hydrogen peroxide, 1 packet (1 Tbsp.) dried yeast; 3 Tbsp. warm water; food coloring; 1 Tbsp. liquid dish soap (any kind); small bowl; tray or large bowl; funnel Gather the kids around and ask them what they think all this is for. Entertain answers. Place the bottle on the tray (or in the large bowl). Mix the warm water and the yeast in the small bowl. Using the funnel, pour the hydrogen peroxide, the dish soap, and 5-6 drops of food coloring into the bottle and swish around to mix. Again through the funnel, add the yeast mixture into the bottle and lean back from the reaction. Elephant toothpaste will start to foam out of the bottle and all over the tray/bowl. Adaptation: Do this activity with the entire room watching, if you aren t able to provide a set of supplies for every group. Then send kids back to their individual groups for discussion afterwards. That was pretty cool! Were you surprised at what happened? Why or why not? I was excited, but less surprised because I had the directions and I knew what would happen. There were a lot of twists and turns in our story, and a lot of weird stuff involved, just like these ingredients: chemicals and little living yeast fungus and water and soap and coloring. A lot of things happened in Joseph s life and in his brothers lives that seemed disconnected, too. How could these things ever come together into something amazing? But just like our experiment, God turned what seemed like crazy, random, sad, hard experiences into a plan to save His people. It doesn t just happen in the Bible, either. God works like that today. [Make It Personal] (Share an age-appropriate story about a time when God worked in mysterious ways in your own life.) There are times when things seem out of control, but you need to remember [Bottom Line] you can trust God no matter what. He always knows what s going on, and He always has a plan for us. 2. LONE RIDER (application activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Lone Rider Template Activity Pages; 1 for each kid, scissors, tape, paper clips Give each kid an Activity Page, and have them cut out the little rider and big wheel. Unfold paper clips once, so there is a hook on both ends. Tape the rider at the tab to one end of the paperclip, on the long side opposite a short hook. Thread the hook nearest the rider through the center of the big wheel. Move the wheel until it spins freely. Show kids how to push the paper clip and spin the wheel, moving the rider forward. Let them play with their riders for as long as interest holds. Check out this video for a demonstration of how the unicycle rider works: http://bit.ly/1srt41c PAGE 6
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME It looks like this little rider is on the loneliest transportation ever a unicycle! On a unicycle, you re by yourself and you have to hold yourself up and concentrate really hard on balance, and you can get thrown off balance by anything a rock, a bend in the road, wind, an untied shoelace, thinking about pizza, sneezing! But our rider has a secret: we re really the ones pushing him along. He s not actually alone, and he doesn t have to hold his balance all by himself. Life sometimes feels like we re on a unicycle with a lot of twists and turns on a bumpy path in a thunderstorm! There are lots of things we re trying to figure out, like why did my friend say that mean thing to me? Or why isn t my mom letting me watch this movie that everyone else can see? Or why did my teacher give the whole class extra homework just because one kid wouldn t stop talking? There is a lot we don t know and some things we just can t figure out! But even when life seems completely mysterious, [Bottom Line] you can trust God no matter what. God is with us even more than we are with this little rider. Just like we d never leave him alone to try and ride this unicycle, God would never leave us to try to figure out life by ourselves. 3. BIG TOP SCRAMBLE (memory verse activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Bed sheet or parachute, cards from Verse Words Cards Activity Page Separate kids into two teams on opposite sides of the room and give each team a set of cards. Instruct teams to crumple each card into little balls. Gather the teams in the middle of the room and stagger the kids around the parachute with kids from each team interspersed. Pile all the Verse Cards in the center of the parachute. Explain the rules: o The Big Top (parachute) has to keep moving. o Teams can only touch their color of cards. o The first team to retrieve their cards to their side of the room, smooth them out, and put them in order, is the winner. Start shaking the parachute while kids from each team grab their cards and run them to their sides of the room. If too many kids from one team drop the parachute and/or it stops moving, halt the game and have all kids return the cards to the parachute to start again. Play until one team has their verse in order. Adaptation: Instead of dividing one group into two teams, combine two or four groups together and let them compete against each other as Small Groups. That was tricky! But you kept going and did it. It was hard to figure out who should run with the cards, who should unscramble them, and who should keep the Big Top moving. It was a game with a lot of twists and turns (and even a few stops, if you stopped the game). When you don t quite know what s going on and you re confused about what to do next, it helps to remember [Bottom Line] you can trust God no matter what. PAGE 7
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME If you lead mostly older kids, consider asking these discussion questions: Read Philippians 4:12-13. What do you think Paul meant when he said he could do all things through Jesus? Why would that help him be content which means confident and calm no matter what? How did that show that Paul trusted God? Can you think of anyone you know who is having a hard time being content and trusting God in their situation? Don t name names, but tell us what they re going through. What would you tell that friend to help him trust God? What about you? What is hard for you to be content about right now? How could you trust God in that situation? PRAY AND DISMISS WHAT YOU NEED: Ingredients to make Elephant Toothpaste again from the activity above (optional) If you have the time/resources, repeat the Unexpected Elephant Toothpaste activity. As you put in the ingredients, let kids name (silently, if you d like) things in their lives that are mysterious. If you don t repeat the activity, gather around the previous experiment s leftovers and let kids think about or name things that are mysterious like the ingredients we used earlier. Close in prayer. Dear God, there are a lot of times it seems hard to remember [Basic Truth] I can trust God no matter what. Please help us, in all the mysterious times in our lives, remember that You are doing something fantastic in and through us because You love everyone and have a plan for all people. Thank You for hearing us and never leaving us. Amen. Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up. Engage parents to check out the remains of the Elephant Toothpaste experiment. PAGE 8