Let There Be Peace on Earth Bible Story: Let there be Peace on Earth (God Made Peace with Us) Colossians 3:15 (Colossians 1:20, supporting) Bottom Line: We can make peace with others because God made peace with us. Memory Verse: So let us do all we can to live in peace. And let us work hard to build up one another. Romans 14:19 (NIrV) Life App: Peace Proving you care more about each other than winning an argument Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated. 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 story. Before kids arrive, take a few moments to pray for them. Thank God for first making peace with us by sending His only Son to pay the consequences for our sin. Ask God to guide you as you unpack the reasons behind why we should work toward peace with others. Pray that God would open kids hearts to receive what He has for them today. 1. Early Arriver Idea Made to Connect: an activity that invites kids to share with others and build on their understanding What You Need: Offering container Invite kids to place their offerings in the container. Ask kids to think of a time when they or someone they know was lost or needed help in some way. Who came to their rescue? Invite your group to name people they know whose job involves rescuing, such as firemen, lifeguards, tow truck drivers, animal shelter workers, etc. Let them tell you why rescuers are important. 2. Island Rescue Made to Explore: an activity that extends learning through hands on experimentation and discovery What You Need: No supplies needed Ask one of the kids to stand at one end of your meeting area and the rest of the group to stand at the opposite side or at least 15 feet away if possible. Tell the kids to pretend that their friend is stranded on an island. o In between the group and their friend, there are crocodile infested waters. o They need to work together to build a bridge or path that spans across the floor in order to rescue their friend. o They must use only items they can find in the room to build the path. 1
Warn kids that when they hear you clap your hands three times, that s the sound of a crocodile snapping its teeth. They must run back to their side of the room and count to 10. After that, it s safe to return to work on the bridge. Encourage creativity and ingenuity to come up with bridge-building supplies. If kids need help, suggest using shoes, their own bodies, pieces of paper, Bibles, hair ribbons, chairs, sweaters, etc. Make sure they know that what they use doesn t literally have to serve as a bridge; they just have to have an item of some sort that makes a path between the group and their friend. Let kids know ahead of time if there are items or areas that are off limits for them to retrieve supplies. Tell the child on the island that he can contribute ideas and supplies but must remain in his designated spot until the bridge is done. Great bridge building! You made a way to get to your friend and rescue him. That took a lot of help from one another in order to reach across the room and make a way to get across the crocodile waters. [Transition] Today we ll hear about a different kind of rescue. The best one ever! Let s go to Large Group. Don t step on any crocodiles along the way! Lead your group to the Large Group area. Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (Small Groups, 25 minutes) Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible story applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions. * 1. Shape It [Talk about God Bible Story Review Application Activity] Made to Explore: an activity that extends learning through hands on experimentation and discovery What You Need: Bible, Play-Doh Give each child a container of Play-Doh. Read Colossians 3:15 to the kids. Follow the steps below to help kids better understand the verse from Large Group and today s Bottom Line. Tell the kids to watch carefully as you shape the Play-Doh and then follow your lead by shaping their dough as closely as they can to match yours. 1. Form the shape of a heart as you share how God made us and loves us. Ask kids to name some things they love. For everything they mention, add that God loves them even MORE than that. 2. Separate the heart into two pieces as you share the sad truth that everyone God made and loves has sinned. Ask kids to name things that are sins (anything we say, think, or do that s bad). 2
3. Place the two pieces of Play-Doh a short distance apart as you explain that our sin has separated us from God because God is perfect and does not sin. Sin and God are enemies. 4. Reshape one of the pieces back into a heart and remind kids that even though we sin, God continues to love us. He doesn t want us to be separated from Him. 5. Reshape the heart into a cross as you explain how God made a way for our sin problem to be taken care of. Since sin deserves punishment, God sent His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment that should have been ours. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid our punishment. He made a way for us to have peace and be friends with God instead of enemies. 6. Reshape the cross into an arrow and point it at each child as you say their name and remind them that God loves them and sent Jesus to save THEM. 7. Combine the two pieces of Play-Doh to form a heart as you share the good news that we don t have to be separated from God anymore. Jesus made a way for us to be forgiven and have peace with God. And not only that, but [Bottom Line] we can make peace with others because God made peace with us. Without Jesus, people can t have a forever peace with God. They are separated because God is perfect and people are not. Even though we didn t deserve it, God loved us and sent Jesus to die on a cross to pay for our sins. Jesus died so we can have peace with God even when we didn t deserve it. Now He wants each of us to show that same kind of love to others. He wants us to look for ways to make peace whether someone deserves it or not. [Make It Personal] (Give the kids an example of how you work at keeping peace daily in your own life at home, at work, or with a neighbor.) 2. Name Game [Live for God Application Activity] Made to Reflect: an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application What You Need: Stopwatch Ask everyone to sit down in a circle. Explain that every kid will say his or her full name (first, middle, last) one at a time, going around the circle. Tell kids that they cannot begin saying their name until the person before them has finished. Point to someone to go first and show which direction to go. Do this a couple times so kids can get the hang of it. If possible, time how fast they go without them knowing that you re timing them. Then do it again, but this time, challenge the kids to see how fast they can go, and record the time it takes. Tell them how fast they said all the names and congratulate them on being so speedy! Next, ask kids to think of the name of someone they can show peace to this week. Ask them to share one way they can do so. For example: by not arguing, by being kind, by remembering Jesus example, by letting go of my way, being easy to get along with, and so on. 3
Play the game again, but this time let kids say the name of the person they will show peace to this week. We all know the names of many, many people. Some are friends in this room. Some are the people in our family. Some are the names of people we know that others here do not know. There are lots and lots of names of many, many people we can show love to this week. God knows their names too! And He loves them even when they are not very lovable. If you ask for His help, God will help you love them that way too. Remember, [Bottom Line] we can make peace with others because God made peace with us. 3. Hoop Maneuvers [Hear from God Memory Verse Activity] Made to Play: an activity that encourages learning through following guidelines and working as a group What You Need: Hula Hoops, Romans 14:19 Activity Page Form teams of three or four kids and give each group a hoop. Then assign them one of the colors you used for the Romans 14:19 Activity Page. Scatter the Romans 14:19 sheets around the room in random order and various areas. Ask the teams to step inside the hoop together and hold it waist high. Tell them to stay in their hoops as they move around the room to collect the two verse cards in their team s color. When they have collected their verse cards, they must bring them to you and say the verse as a team. One way to live in peace and build others up is to work together without fighting or arguing just like you did in this game. You ve done a great job learning how to be peacemakers this month. Peacemakers show they care about others by not tearing them down with hurtful words or doing mean things. Always remember [Bottom Line] we can make peace with others because God made peace with us. God showed us the greatest kindness of all when He sent Jesus to make a way for us to be His friend. Pray and Dismiss [Pray to God Prayer Activity] Made to Connect: an activity that invites kids to share with others and build on their understanding What You Need: No supplies needed Say the Bottom Line together: [Bottom Line] We can make peace with others because God made peace with us. Let the kids take turns praying their own prayers of thanks in their own words to God for sending us Jesus and showing us how to be peacemakers. Be aware of any children who may not feel comfortable praying aloud. 4
Consider giving them a sentence prayer to complete such as God, I m glad you sent Jesus because. Jesus made a way for us to have peace with God so that we could show peace to others. It s great to hear you tell God thank You for sending Jesus. Let s ask Him to help us keep learning how to follow His example and become peacemakers like Him. Dear God, I pray that You will help each of us to be known as a peacemaker. We need Your help when we feel like arguing or when thigs seem unfair. Help us to walk away from fights and let go of having things our way all of the time. Thank You for caring for us so much that You sent Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to sacrifice Himself for us. Thank You for showing us what it looks like to be peacemakers. In Jesus name, amen. Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up. Guide kids to tell what they remember about the Play-Doh shapes they made during the Bible story review. 5