rd 3 5 th January 11-12, 2014 The Woman at the Well John 4:1-42 (Pg.1168-1170 Adv. Bible) Jesus Knows Everything About Us Connect Time (15 minutes): Five minutes after the service begins, split kids into groups and begin their activity. Large Group (30 minutes): Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. And don t be afraid to redirect kids who aren t! Depending on how you decide to structure today s first activity, the kids could potentially mingle more than usual during Connect Time. Even if you want to keep kids in small groups, try to get them moving, so that they are physically active for part of the service hour. Small Group (15 minutes): Keep kids in small groups until parents arrive. If you all have extra time at the end, you can review the video and songs together. As kids leave, remind them to tell their parents about the postcard they made (scratched). Today, we re learning about how Jesus knew the woman he met at the well. And even though he knew her secrets, he loved her and told her he was the Rescuer she had been waiting for. Jesus knows every detail of our lives and hearts too!
GOAL: Connect Time is all about engaging kids in an activity that allows them to connect with each other right away while simultaneously piquing their curiosity for Large Group and preparing their minds for what they re going to hear. GET-TO-KNOW-YOU ICEBREAKER GAME Give each kid a slip of paper with these three questions: o What s your name (first, middle, and last)? o If you could be a character in any movie, who would you be and why? o If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it? Have kids get in pairs and ask each other these three questions. Tell them they ll need to try to remember everything they hear for Large Group. They can take notes if they want. Have kids switch so they have a new partner. They should ask each other the same three questions. Repeat as many times as you can. This is also a time for you to connect with kids: play with them, if that works with your group. While you transition, ask about the best part of their week or remind them of the expectations you have for Large Group behavior: (1) be kind, (2) listen when somebody speaks, and (3) follow the leader s instructions.
Goal: Kids will (1) recall he story of the woman at the well and (2) recognize that Jesus knows them individually, just like he knew that woman Why? It s hard to imagine that Jesus could know each of us on such a personal level but he does! Tip: Make sure you read through the activity instructions before small group starts to get a holistic idea of how the activity should work. Also, you may have extra time today, so prepare for that too! REVIEW THE STORY 1. Who told Jesus about the woman? 2. Why did Jesus talk to the woman? (He wants us all to know he is the Messiah) 3. What surprised the woman about her conversation with Jesus? (Jesus knew her and all of her secrets; Jesus told her he was the Rescuer; Jesus wanted to rescue her, wanted to give her living water) 4. How do you think the woman felt when she realized Jesus knew her? 5. How do you think the woman felt when she realized Jesus is the Rescuer? 6. Why do you think Jesus chose to announce that he was the Rescuer to this woman who was disliked by everybody and not following God at all? ACTIVITY Give each kid a scratch-off postcard. Remember our verse: I Samuel 16:7: The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. On this postcard, write down (with the scratching tool) THREE things people see when they look at you or meet you. (Ex. Brown hair, blue eyes, nice) STOP and have kids share with the group. (If it s a big group, have kids show one or two other people.) o Explain: People get to see a little bit of who you are. And as we get to know people better and better, they see more and more. There is still a lot of us that is unknown, like the black part of this postcard. Fortunately, God sees our true beauty underneath. Let s scratch off the black unknown to see how cool this postcard really is! Let kids scratch off the rest of their postcard. On the back, they can write the verse or a pretend note from God, addressed to them.
(Continued on the following page) KIDS MUST RETURN SCRATCH-OFF TOOLS TO THE SMALL GROUP BIN! As kids are finishing their post-cards: RELATE 7. Discuss: How does it make you feel to think about Jesus knowing every single detail about you? Do you feel like he sees you as beautiful? Does it surprise you that he loves you even though he knows everything about you? Why or why not? 8. Jesus invited one of the greatest outcasts to know he was the Rescuer. Think of somebody you don t like or somebody who s hard to talk to. What could you do to show them that Jesus is the rescuer? *Remind kids to look at their postcards this week to remember that God knows and loves them. Extra time? Play this get-to-know you game for fun (can break kids into two smaller groups if that s helpful): Tell kids to pretend they are going on a trip. They need to think of ONE thing they would take, and that thing must start with the first letter of their first name. For instance, you might say I m Johnny. I m taking jell-o. The second person has to remember what the first person said. They will repeat what that person said and add what they are taking: e.g. Johnny is taking jell-o. I m Penny, and I m taking a pillow. See how far you can go. As parents arrive, stop and remind kids of how hard it is to remember even a few details but Jesus knows every single teeny tiny thing about us. Then play until all the parents have arrived!
Preview the video kids are watching today by watching this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7innvnhrlg (First 3:33 only). It ll help you better understand how to set it up and debrief afterwards. There are many truths in today s story. We are focusing on the way Jesus knows us and loves us. Feel free to encourage kids to reread the story again at home. Hi everybody! Welcome to Kids Club. I m thrilled to see you all here. You guys have just spent Connect Time really getting to know each other, and I want to hear about how that went. Does anybody want to come up here and share as much as you can remember about your new friends? (Let 1 or 2 kids come up and try to repeat everything they hear. That should be difficult for them. Play that up a little bit): What? That s all you guys remember? Didn t you just ask these questions like 5 minutes ago? OK, I m just giving you guys a hard time! It s hard to get to know a person by asking three questions. And it s even harder to remember all that. Think in your head of the person who knows you best. (Let kids think.) Anybody want to share? (Let kids share.) How do we get to know people? (Let kids share things like spend time with them, ask them questions, etc.) That s right! Today, we re going to hear a story about a woman Jesus met and how he knew her. Who s ready to hear it? OK, great! THE WOMAN AT THE WELL (Show map of path from Judea to Galilee.) So one day, Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee. It was a pretty long way (refer to the map). Often, Israelites traveled the red path so they could avoid this middle part, Samaria. See, Jews and Samaritans hated each other. They completely disagreed about many things, including where to worship God and whether there was one real God or lots of gods. Hundreds of years of disagreements built up so much bitterness that they rarely spoke to one another.
But on this trip, even though Jesus was an Israelite a Jew he was going to go through Samaria. And the woman he meets in today s story is a Samaritan. She s shocked that Jesus would even speak to her, because most Jews would never talk to a Samaritan. But that s not the thing that surprises her most... We re going to watch a video to try to picture exactly what happened. As you watch, keep in mind that even Samaritans knew that a rescuer another word for that is Messiah, which means savior was coming to help them understand how to worship God and be close to God. Now let s take a look and see what the woman Jesus met is most surprised about. Video: Woman at the Well clip Wow, a lot could have been surprising there, huh? What do you guys think the woman was most surprised about? (Let kids respond: they may say that Jesus knew her history or that he was the Messiah.) Yes, this woman was first unbelievably surprised that Jesus knew her secrets all her marriages and that she was living with a man who wasn t her husband. But then, she began to realize who Jesus was: the Messiah, the Rescuer! He even called himself living water. We need water to live, right? When Jesus rescued us, the Holy Spirit came to live in us and follow Jesus he s our living water. Remember, this woman was hated by almost everyone. She hadn t made good choices. And she probably worshipped other gods. But did Jesus want to rescue her anyway, so she could be in God s family and filled with the Holy Spirit? (Let kids say: YES). Yes, he absolutely did! In I Samuel 16:7, the Bible tells us this: SLIDE: Samuel 16:7: The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. People saw a dirty (this is in reference to her physical appearance in the video clip; make that clear to kids) woman who they didn t like. Jesus saw a woman who would be excited to know he was the Rescuer she was waiting for! JESUS KNOWS US The best part is, Jesus didn t just know that woman. He knows you. And me. In fact, the Bible tells us he knows how many hairs are on our heads. He knows every little thing we ve done, wrong or right. He knows what we re thinking. He knows everything we WILL DO in the future. And no matter what we have done, he loves us and wants us to accept his rescue and be a part of God s family! We re going to watch a quick video clip to imagine how Jesus feels about us. Pretend you are the guy out in the cold dark night in this clip. Why would the guy inside let you in? Video: Les Miserables clip (50 seconds)
OK, why in the world did that guy let the convict in? (Let kids guess.) Sure, he s a bishop, which means he s a church guy. But he s not just trying to be good. He s acting like Jesus. He knows who the man at the door is and he loves him anyway! Even though the man hasn t done anything nice and has nothing to pay or give him. Jesus is like that: He loves us because he created us and thinks we re wonderful! Wow, it s kind of hard to believe Jesus feels that way about us, isn t it? I know it is for me. The only thing I can really think to do is tell God thank you for knowing me and loving me. Let s stand together now and thank God for loving us and rescuing us. WORSHIP One way we can thank him is through worship. Our first song is all about how God loves us exactly as we are; the second song is all about how Jesus rescued us and now is alive in us. Music Video: Who I Am Music Video: Alive (new song from Hillsong; can preview at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ejynjkkmw) PRAY Ask somebody to come thank God for knowing and loving us!
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Per kid: 1 half-sheet of paper with these 3 questions printed on it: What s your name (first, middle, and last)? If you could be a character in any movie, who would you be and why? If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it? 4. Video: Les Mis clip (first 50 seconds of the Les Mis Trust Each Other video in Public>KC>Videos and Multimedia>Videos>Misc) Music Video: Who I Am Song: Alive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ejynjkk Mw) Adventure Bible (Pg.1168-1170) Markers 1 magic color scratch-off postcard per kid: OT IN-57/6269 1 scratch-off tool per kid (must be re-used per service!) Adventure Bible (Pg.1168-1170) 1. 2. 3. Image: map of path from Judea to Galilee Video clip: Woman at the Well (Use the first 3:33 of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7innvnhrlg) SLIDE: Samuel 16:7: The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. Tell me about the woman at the well. What does Jesus see when he looks at us? Today, we talked about the time Jesus met the woman at the well. He knew everything about her, and she realized he was the Rescuer. Jesus knows every detail of our lives too! And when he looks at us, he sees our hearts (I Samuel 16:7). Ask your kids to tell you about that using the postcard they made. Then read the whole story together in John 4:1-42 in the Bible. 5. 6.