PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Chief Executive Officer Reggie Joiner Creative Team Kristen Ivy Mike Clear Molly Bell Elloa Davis Elizabeth Hansen Jessica McKee Brandon O Dell Greg Payne Phil Pierce Dan Scott Jon Williams Contributing Writers Jodi Blackwell Becky Jarrett Cara Martens Kelly Nishi Julie Tiemann Mike Tiemann John Tillman Adam Walsh Editors Molly Bell Elloa Davis Dana Wilkerson Illustrations & Graphic Design Brian Bascle Mike Davis Joe Goode Technical & Web Support Hadley Brandt Orange Specialists Amy Grisham Abbey Carr Amy Fenton Leslie Galema Misty Phillips Stephanie Porter Courtney Templeton 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. 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. 2017 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 Pass It On The Great Commission/Ascension Matthew 28:16-20 Acts 1:6-11 BOTTOM LINE I can out others first by doing what Jesus said. MEMORY VERSE Don t do anything only to get ahead. Don t do it because you are proud. Instead, be humble. Value others more than yourselves. Philippians 2:3, 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 Simon Says, Pass! STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways Opener Worship Bible Story Prayer Closer WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God Go from Kidmin Worship Vol. 5 I Will Follow from Zapped : Creating a safe place to connect What Jesus Said Telegraph Score! Prayer HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience GodTime Parent Cue Humility putting others first by giving up what you think you deserve. BASIC TRUTH I should treat others the way I want to be treated. PAGE 2
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Pass It On The Great Commission/Ascension Matthew 28:16-20 Acts 1:6-11 BOTTOM LINE GETTING READY SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION (Choose one or both of these activities.) Early Arriver An offering container Simon Says, Pass! Plastic Easter eggs; 1 for each kid I can out others first by doing what Jesus said. MEMORY VERSE Don t do anything only to get ahead. Don t do it because you are proud. Instead, be humble. Value others more than yourselves. Philippians 2:3, NIrV LIFE APP Humility putting others first by giving up what you think you deserve. BASIC TRUTH I should treat others the way I want to be treated. : 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 #1. *1. What Jesus Said (application activity / review the Bible story / can be environment-wide) Print the What He Said Cards Activity Pages onto cardstock and cut apart; place in an opaque bag Small container of Play-Doh HINT: If your area is carpeted, be sure to use fresh Play-Doh. Older dough gets crumbly and is more likely to end up on the floor not a happy sight! Also, if kids sit on the floor in your environment, provide a bandana, smooth placemat, wax paper, or other surface for kids to work on. World map or globe Paper OR small dry-erase board Marker (dry-erase marker if using a dry-erase board) Bibles Stopwatch or 30 to 45-second hourglass timer 2. Telegraph (application activity) Paper Markers or pens 3. Score! (memory verse activity) Use the plastic Easter eggs with Memory Verse Strips in them from last week If you did not save the eggs or didn t use them last week, you will need: o Print the Memory Verse Strips Activity Page and cut the strips apart; 1 set for every 2 kids PAGE 3
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME o Plastic Easter eggs; 8 for every 2 kids; place a Memory Verse Strip inside each Print the Goal Activity Page; 1 for every 2-4 kids o Follow the instructions on the page to create mini goals using: 2 bendy straws; for every 2-4 kids 2 straight straws; for every 2-4 kids 4 chenille stems; for every 2-4 kids Prayer Plastic Easter eggs; 1 for each kid Small pieces of paper; 1 for each kid Pens Additional Resources: Make copies on cardstock or email 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. Pray that kids would be inspired by today s message to take on the challenge of telling others about Jesus. Ask God to put friends in their path who need to hear His story, and that He would give your few the courage and humility to tell it! 1. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA WHAT YOU NEED: Offering container Invite the kids to place their offerings in the container. Ask: When is it easy to do what your parents/teachers/coaches tell you to do? When is it hard? 2. SIMON SAYS, PASS! WHAT YOU NEED: Plastic Easter eggs Guide kids to stand in a circle. Give each child an egg. Lead kids to pass the balls in a Simon Says game. At various times give the command to Freeze! Your sequence might be: o Simon says pass to your right. o Simon says pass behind your back. o Pass over your head. o Simon says freeze! o Simon says pass over your head. o Freeze! o Simon says pass to your left. o Simon says pass to your right. o Simon says freeze! o Simon says pass to your left. o Simon says pass under your legs. o Switch directions. o Simon says switch directions. o Simon says freeze! Keep a quick pace to keep the challenge high. PAGE 5
PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME SOCIAL Great job! [Transition] In our Bible story today, we ll hear about someone who gave His friends the command to go to a certain place and WAIT before they did anything else. Let s go to Large Group to learn more. Lead your group to the Large Group area. PAGE 6
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. WHAT JESUS SAID (application activity / review the Bible story / can be environment-wide) WHAT YOU NEED: What He Said Cards Activity Pages, Bibles, Play-Doh, paper and markers (or dry-erase board and markers), world map or globe, hourglass timer or stopwatch Lead kids in a Cadoo -style game power-packed to review and reinforce today s lesson. Guide kids to sit in a circle. Set the Play-Doh, map, paper, and markers in the center of the circle. Choose a volunteer to reach into the bag, pull out a card, and read the challenge aloud. Cue kids to begin the challenge when you start the timer or stopwatch. (If you use a stopwatch, allow 30 to 45 seconds to complete the challenge.) Play the game with the kids! Play until the kids complete each challenge. Note: If you make the activity environment-wide, guide each small group to circle up as above. Invite volunteers from each group to take turns drawing cards from the bag. Cue the groups to complete each challenge simultaneously. Before He returned to heaven, Jesus told His friends to spend the rest of their lives telling others about Him. He told them to tell their neighbors, people in their hometowns, people in other cities, and even people in other countries! Jesus wants you to tell others about Him, too. You can tell people in [your city], people in [your state / province], people in [your country], even people in (name the S and B countries the kids found)! Telling people about God and showing them how Jesus lived is an incredible way you can put others first. But you also put others first when you do the other things Jesus told His followers to do. When you [Basic Truth] treat others the way you want to be treated, you put others first. When you comfort someone who is sad or sick, you put others first. When you take the time to pray for someone, you put others first. What are some other ways you can put others first by doing what Jesus said? (Pause.) Whenever you put others first, it s a WIN in God s eyes! So the one thing to remember today is: [Bottom Line] I can put others first by doing what Jesus said. 2. TELEGRAPH (application activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Paper, pens or markers Guide your group to line up front to back and be seated. Give the first child in line a piece of paper and a marker, and then sit behind the last child. PAGE 7
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Begin Telegraphing JESUS.LOVES.YOU up the line: o Finger-write a capital J on the back of the child in front you. o That child will, in turn, write J on the back of the child in front of her, and so on. o When the letter reaches the first child, he writes it on the paper. o As soon as the child in front of you passes the J up the line, write a capital E. (Be sure to wait until the child in front of you passes the letter or symbol up the line before you write the next character. This will help avoid confusion!) After the human telegraph transmits the message, check to make sure that it s accurately received. Guide the receiver to read the telegraph to the group. HINT: If you have second graders, do one or two practice runs with simple words like CAT or DOG before you transmit the main message. Jesus told His friends to spend the rest of their lives telling others about Him. He told them to tell their neighbors, people in their hometowns, people in other cities, and even people in other countries! Believe it or not, you just did what Jesus said and told others about Him! What are some other ways you can tell others about Jesus? (Pause to let kids respond.) [Make It Personal] (Tell kids a way you share about Jesus with others.) Telling people about God and showing them how Jesus lived is an incredible way you can put others first. So remember: [Bottom Line] I can put others first by doing what Jesus said. 3. GOAL! (memory verse activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Prepared Easter eggs, soccer goals Guide kids to get into groups of two to four and lead each team to line up at one end of your environment. Set the goals 8-10 feet away, with one goal opposite each team. Give each team a set of eggs. At your signal, guide kids to take turns using ONLY their noses to roll the eggs from the starting line and to/through the goal, run back to their teams, and tag the next kids in line. When a team scores all eight eggs, guide them to work together to put the verse in order. Invite kids to read the verse aloud with you. Philippians 2:3 says: Don t do anything only to get ahead. Don t do it because you are proud. Instead, be humble. Value others more than yourselves (NIrV). Who is the FIRST person you should value more than yourselves? (Pause.) Yes, Jesus! How can you show Jesus that you value Him? (Pause.) One of the best ways you can show Jesus that you value Him is by doing what He said. Jesus said it this way: If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching (John 14:23, NIV). So as you think about Philippians 2:3 and valuing others more than yourself, don t forget that the first person you should value is... who? (Jesus!) Yes, Jesus! PAGE 8
PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME PRAY AND DISMISS WHAT YOU NEED: Easter eggs, small pieces of paper, pens Guide kids to gather around you. Use the conversation below as a guide to lead kids into prayer. Before Jesus went back into heaven, He told His followers: Go and make disciples of all nations.... Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19 NIrV). The disciples did EXACTLY what Jesus said and spent the rest of their lives sharing about Him with everyone they met. Because the disciples obeyed Jesus and told others about Him, and because those people told others, and THOSE people told others, you and I know that Jesus is God s Son, that He died for our sin, and that if we believe in Him we ll have life forever with God. So who is someone you can tell about Jesus? It could be someone in your family, a friend, someone you know at school, or even a neighbor. (Give each kid a piece of paper, a pen, and an Easter egg. Guide them to write the name of someone they can tell about Jesus and then tuck the paper inside the egg. [Make It Personal] (Print the name of someone you can tell about Jesus, too.) So take your eggs home and let them remind you to pray for the people you want to tell about Jesus. Because telling others about Jesus is the best way you can put others first. So remember: [Bottom Line] I can put others first by doing what Jesus said. Let s pray. (Lead the kids in prayer, thanking God for everyone who has done what Jesus said and told others about Him. Ask God for the courage and the faithfulness to tell others about Him, too. Encourage kids to pray silently for the people they want to tell about Jesus.) As adults arrive to pick up, encourage kids to tell parents the Bottom Line: [Bottom Line] I can put others first by doing what Jesus said. Encourage kids to read Matthew 5 7 to learn some awesome things Jesus said. PAGE 9