Bible Truth: (Lydia) Acts 16:11-15 Social: Setting the Tone for the Experience (9:00, 10:15, 11:30) I Love You Scroll Much Quarter sheet of construction paper; one piece for each child Crayons Ribbon; one roll for each prayer group Scissors; one set for each prayer group Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (9:15, 10:30, 11:45) Bible Presentation in Large Group Prayer (9:50, 11:05, 12:20) No supplies needed Dismiss (10:00, 11:15, 12:30) 1
Bible Truth: (Lydia) Acts 16:11-15 Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s Bible Truth. Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group for the first time. Pray for kids as they learn how God wants them to love others. Thank God for giving all of us the capacity to love others and for giving us so many opportunities to do it. Ask God to help kids use their unique abilities to love those around them in a way that only they can! I Love You Scroll Much What You Need: Construction paper, markers, ribbon, scissors What You Do: Have kids make a love note for one of their parents. Cut the construction paper into quarters and let kids write a note to their parent or draw them a picture. Then help them roll up the note like a scroll and tie it with a ribbon. Talk about how one way to show people how much we love them is by writing them a note, but today we are going to learn about someone who showed her love in another way. What You Say: I bet your parents are going to love those notes you wrote them. Love notes are one way to show people how much you care. [Transition] Today in Large Group, we are going to hear about a woman who showed her love in another way. Lead your group to the Large Group area. 2
Bible Truth: (Lydia) Acts 16:11-15 Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 35 minutes) 1. Opener/Closer What You Need: Host GETTING READY 2. Bible Truth What You Need: Historyteller 252 Story 3. Worship What You Need: Power Praise Team Music and Sound Effects (SFX): Get Down Generation for You I Will Follow 3
Bible Truth: (Lydia) Acts 16:11-15 Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 35 minutes) Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible Truth, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. CG: Gadgets and Gizmos Theme Slide Host enters. Opener HOST: Hey, everyone! How are you doing on this fine Sunday morning? (Pause for response.) That is awesome to hear! This has been a summer full of cranks and levers, wires and widgets, gadgets and gizmos! And today is no different! We have a unique gizmo to kick us off. But before we get to that, let s take a look at our definition for uniqueness. CG: Uniqueness Slide Uniqueness is discovering who God made you to be so you can make a difference. Yes, and today we ll discover more about how God used someone with unique skills to show love to others. But first, let s stand and sing some praises to God, the one who loves US most! Host joins the audience as the Power Praise team enters. Worship POWER PRAISE: Yes, God loves us so much. And I know a bunch of you kids love God so much too. A great way for us to show our love to God is by singing and giving Him our worship. Let s do that now. Everyone stand up to your feet let s sing together. SFX: Get down Yeah, give it up for our God. That was awesome. Our prayer is that we and all generations of believers will be known as generations of people who are For God. SFX: Generation for You Awesome job everyone. Let s sing another worship song today and really commit who we are and what we do to being obedient to what Jesus asks us to do. When Jesus recruited His first disciples, He said 4
to them, Come and follow me.... I will send you out to fish for people (Matthew 4:19 NIrV). Jesus is still inviting us to fish for people. We do that by showing them love and pointing them to Him. Let s commit our lives to following Jesus and giving Him all that we are. Let s sing I Will Follow. SFX: I Will Follow That was beautiful. Have a wonderful and safe week and we will see you soon. Power Praise team exits as Historyteller enters. SETTING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: Hey, everyone! Sounds like you guys are having an AMAZING day today! Well, let s keep the fun going with an incredible Truth from the book of Acts. (Hold up the Bible.) Acts is in the New Testament of the Bible and talks about a lot of the things that happened as the first followers of Jesus started creating the first churches EVER! God gave a HUGE mission to a guy named Paul. After he accepted Jesus as his Savior, God sent Paul all over the world to tell others about Jesus, and Paul set out to do the good works God had planned for him. CG: 252 Story WRAPPING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: Lydia turned out to be an incredible example of what it means to love others. Who knows just how many people were impacted because of how she treated them with hospitality and love. When we show love to others, it s like a chain reaction. When we show love to other people, their lives are changed and we make a difference. And then they show love to someone else and their lives are changed. Before long, by one simple act of love, we ve made a difference in the lives of more people than we even know! Many, many years ago someone told someone else about Jesus. And that person went and told someone else. And they went and told someone else. And then that person told ME about Jesus. Today I get to share stories about Jesus love with you. And as you learn more about Jesus, you ll get opportunities to share Jesus love with people you meet, and the chain reaction will go on and on. That s why it s super important we remember this. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] God made you to love others. We can make a difference by showing love to others. One way to do that is by telling people about Jesus who He is and what He has done for us. But even if you don t have the words to say, you can live your life in a way that helps others see who Jesus is! Helping others is part of the good works we were created for. Read this month s verse with me. CG: Memory Verse Slide For we are God s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 5
Let s pray together and thank God for this great Truth and for creating us to help Him love others. Pray HISTORYTELLER: God, thank You for putting people in our lives to teach us about Jesus and His love for us. Help us to see ways we can be like Paul and Lydia and show others Your love. God, give us the courage to act and show people love even when it isn t easy. Thank You for making each of us special and using us to make a difference. We love You and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. If you brought an offering with you this morning, raise your hand and we ll bring the bucket over to you. Historyteller exits as Host enters. Closer HOST: What an amazing true example of people showing love to others! Paul loved people so much he was willing to travel miles and miles by boat to tell them about Jesus. And Lydia loved people by inviting Paul and his friends into her home. Because of their actions, people had the chance to believe in Jesus! And you know what? God made you to do the same thing! Let s take another look at our Bottom Line. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] God made you to love others. God made you to love people in a unique way to make a difference. Paul and Lydia showed others love in very different ways. But how can you show love to those around you? You can show your parents the love of Jesus by being obedient and respecting the rules they give you when it comes to your electronic gizmos. Instead of keeping your little brother or sister out of your room, you could show love to them by inviting them to play with you. When you re at the pool, you can show love to others by allowing them to jump off the diving board first or by sharing your toys with a friend. You ll talk more about how you can show love to others in Small Group. Have a great time with your group and a great week ahead! We ll see you next time! CG: Prayer Group Slide Dismiss children to their Prayer Groups. 6
Pray and Dismiss (10 minutes) What You Need: No supplies needed What You Do: Have kids stand in a circle. Ask each person to think of some ways they can love others. Go around the circle and invite each kid to list one way they can love others. When everyone has had a chance to share, stand up and link arms in the circle. Close with the prayer below. What You Say: God, thank You for the examples You have shown us in the Bible of people loving others. By seeing how these people loved You, we are reminded that You made us to love others. Help us this week to love our friends, our family, our teachers, and everyone around us the way You would so that they can know what you are like. We love You and thank You for everything You have given us. Amen. As adults arrive to pick up, tell them to give kids a big hug and ask what love has to do with what they learned today. 7