Session 2 Jesus Feeds Thousands John 6:1-15 Worship Theme: God provides for our needs. Weaving Faith Into Life: Kids will thank God for his provision. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing He Is Powerful (track 15) Standing on the Promises (track 18) Jesus Loves Me Rock (track 7) Those Who Hope (Isaiah 40:31) (track 14) How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13) (track 11) KidsOwnWorship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver Bible, rock, newsprint, markers, tape, piece of bread, plastic snake, CD player Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Jesus Loves Me Consider what a doll needs and will realize that Jesus gives them good things. How Much Is 5,000? Hear the story of the feeding of the thousands. Cotton Ball Story Cards Make a craft and learn a rhyme about the Bible story. Doll, sack, doll clothes, baby blanket, baby toy, bottle Bible, 5,000 cotton balls Colored 3x5 cards, double-sided tape, cotton balls 18 FaithWeaver Spring Quarter
Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies * Five Thousand Fed Hear the Bible story. Bible Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * Five Thousand Kernels Count out 5,000 kernels of popcorn to understand how many people Jesus fed. * Morning, Noon, and Night Discover that God provides for them all the time. Popcorn, plastic bags KidsOwn Worship Kit: Kaleidoscope Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts, as well as one-word prayers, to God. Popcorn Praise Praise God with a fun prayer. Closing Prayer Thank God for his good gifts and will ask him for help. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Doxology (track 10) CD player, offering bowls Plastic bag of popcorn kernels * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Let s Learn the Point! Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 19
Bible Background for Leaders Jesus Feeds Thousands John 6:1-15 The events in this passage took place at the height of Jesus ministry. The people following Jesus around the lake on foot after Jesus and the disciples had crossed in boats were now a great crowd. The number 5,000, which is usually associated with this event, included only the men. The crowd could easily have totaled 10,000 to 15,000 if women and children had also been counted. Jesus apparently had crossed the sea to be alone with his disciples for a time. From Matthew 14:13, we learn that Jesus had just learned of John the Baptist s execution, and he may have been thinking about what was to come in his own life. However, once the crowd arrived, Jesus focused on the people s needs. John doesn t record that Jesus was teaching and healing, but the other Gospels do. John s focus is on the miracle that took place with the bread and the fish. Though this event is the only miracle besides the Resurrection that is recorded in all of the Gospels, the dialogue between Jesus and Philip is recorded only here, in the book of John. Jesus knew that there was no place close by to buy food for this crowd and that doing so would cost more money than they had, but he was trying to get the disciples to think bigger, to trust him more. He likely directed his question to Philip because Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, which was in the area. Jesus didn t make a big production of feeding the crowd. He simply had people sit down, thanked God for the food, and then began to distribute it. Only those who were nearby would have seen what was happening at first. But the disciples knew they were the ones who gathered the 12 basketfuls of leftovers! And the word certainly spread quickly through the crowd. Philip s earlier statement indicated that just a bite of bread for everyone would have cost eight months wages. Jesus provided enough food for each person to be filled, and there were basketfuls left over! Jesus abundantly met the needs of those who came to him. In the end, Jesus chose to slip away again, as he didn t want to become too popular. He wasn t there to build an earthly kingdom or to begin a revolt. His priority was to build the kingdom of God. This event was one more lesson in the disciples schooling. Jesus was constantly trying to show them that they could trust him to take care of them. It was a lesson that the disciples learned slowly and that we need to learn, too! Devotion for Leaders When hope seems impossible, Jesus sees an opportunity to grow our faith and enable us to do his good work. Just as he did with Philip, Jesus invites us to think bigger and consider how God can make the impossible possible. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: What s the large, hungry crowd in your life right now? Are you struggling with your finances? your marriage? your job? your health? What if Jesus responded to you as he did to Philip and asked, What should we do to pay your bills this month? It s only natural to respond like Philip, with an exclamation of how impossible the problem is. Instead, bring your concern to Jesus. Trust him to provide you with just what you need maybe he ll even surprise you with abundant leftovers. 20 FaithWeaver Spring Quarter
Why We Worship for Leaders God is a God of limitless resources and riches. And because God is so good and so loving, he promises to provide for all our needs. In fact, Scripture tells us that God knows exactly what we need, exactly what is best for us. The Bible portrays God as the perfect parent who delights in giving good gifts to his children. Use this worship session to teach kids to worship the God who promises to provide for us so abundantly. Help children learn that all God s riches are available to them whenever they need them. Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Place sheets of newsprint where kids can write on them and place markers nearby. Morning, Noon, and Night Put together the kaleidoscope from the KidsOwn Worship Kit. Take the plastic covers off the three mirrors. Insert the three mirrors into the cardboard tube to form a triangle (see the margin illustration). Place the eyepiece on one end of the cardboard tube, and place the viewing chamber on the other end. Place the kaleidoscope and the packet of colored plastic beads at the front of the room. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. Web Help Get bonus leader tips and ideas at kidsownworship.com. Let s Praise God! Have Songs From FaithWeaver, Spring 2011 playing while children are arriving. Also ask some children to stand at the door and welcome everyone who comes into the room. Hello, everyone! I have good news for you again today! There is no God like our God! He is with us here right now. Let s stand and sing about his power. Sing He Is Powerful. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 15 In the Bible, God is sometimes compared to a rock. Hold up a large rock. This rock is strong. It can t be broken easily. Things made out of rock are solid and strong, and they last a long time. Why would the Bible compare God to a rock? (He is too big for us to move; he will never go away.) Rocks are strong, and so is God. No one is stronger than our God. We can depend on him. Today we re going to learn that God promises to provide for our needs. Listen to Philippians 4:19: And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. What does according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus mean? (It means he has everything he needs to take care of us; he has the whole world s riches.) This verse is saying that God has everything we could ever need, and he s ready to give us what we need. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 21
The Bible also says that every good thing we have comes from God. Let s praise God for the good things he s already given us. Think of something good that you have. Then write it on one of the sheets of newsprint. You ve got two minutes. Have older children help the nonreaders write down the good things God has already provided them with. After two minutes, have children return to their seats. Look at all the good things God has already given us. We can praise God because we know that he ll continue to provide us with good gifts the good things we need. We can trust God to keep his promises. Let s sing about that. Sing Standing on the Promises. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 18 Let s trust God to meet our needs this morning. Do you need God s help this morning? Do you need God to cheer you up? heal you? Does your family need money or food or a job this week? Do you need help loving your family? Do you need help in school? Tell me some things you need God to do for you. As children mention things, write them on the newsprint. Then designate one half of the children as Group 1 and the other half as Group 2. God wants to know about our needs. Let s say these things back in the form of a prayer to God. I ll start by mentioning one of the things from our list. Group 1 will say the first part of the Bible verse I read earlier: And my God will meet all your needs. Then Group 2 will say, According to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Use words you listed to say a simple prayer. For example, if you wrote job because a child said his dad needs a job, you could pray, Lord, for all our family members who need jobs. Then have kids answer with the two parts of the verse. It s true God will take care of us when we trust him. Did you know that God wants to give us joy all the time? He promises to take care of us in good times and bad times because he loves us. Let s sing a song about Jesus love for us. Sing Jesus Loves Me Rock. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 7 Great singing! I know you made God happy with your singing. He loves you so much. He wants to take care of you, and he can do anything. We can hope in him. Let s sing Those Who Hope (Isaiah 40:31). While you sing, worship God and put your hope in him for what you need today. Sing Those Who Hope (Isaiah 40:31). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 14 Hold up a piece of bread and the rock. 22 FaithWeaver Spring Quarter
If you told your parents you were hungry, which of these things would they give you? (The bread.) Hold up the plastic snake. If you were hungry and asked for a tuna sandwich, would your parents give you this? (No.) Of course your parents wouldn t give you a rock or a snake when you re hungry! Listen to this verse from the Bible. Read aloud Matthew 7:9-11. What does this verse tell us about God? (He knows what we need; he gives us what s best.) God loves us so much that he wants to provide everything we need. Let s remember how Jesus taught us to pray and thank God in our hearts for loving us so much. Sing How You should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 11 God, who is love itself, promises to provide for us the things that we really need. All we need to do is ask for his help. Let s pray. Thank you, God. Thank you for helping us, loving us, and providing for us. Help us to trust you to take care of us. We thank you for being our Father in heaven, and we want to make you happy. We love you, God. Amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages 25-26 At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They will work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities * Five Thousand Fed Open your Bible to John 6:1-15. Today s Bible story comes from the book of John. One day John and his friends were with Jesus. Lots and lots of people had gathered to see Jesus; the Bible says more than 5,000 were there! That s a lot! The people wanted to see Jesus perform miracles because they heard he had been healing sick people. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 23
When the crowd of people got hungry, Jesus told his disciples to feed them. Now imagine that you were one of the disciples. How are you supposed to feed so many people when you have no food with you and very little money? The disciples just couldn t figure out a way to feed them. But then a little boy gave his lunch to Jesus. It was just a little bit of food: five small pieces of bread and two fish. It wasn t very much for so many people! But Jesus did an amazing thing. He took the little boy s lunch, blessed it, handed it to his friends, and told them to pass it out to everyone. The disciples started to distribute the food. Every time they gave some away, there was more to give! To everyone s surprise, there was not only enough for everybody to eat as much as they wanted, but there were also 12 baskets of food left over! Why do you think the disciples were so surprised about this miracle? (They probably didn t think Jesus could do that; they might have thought he just did healing miracles.) Why do you think Jesus did this miracle? (To show them he was God; because they were hungry.) What can we learn from this Bible story about God providing for us? (He cares if we re hungry; he can take care of everything.) When you have asked God for help, how has he provided for you? (Answers will vary.) Jesus can do a lot with a little, can t he! God wants to provide for your needs the same way he took care of all those hungry people. He can do anything! We re going to do something now to help us understand how powerful he is. 24 ALLERGY ALERT Be aware that some children have food allergies that can be dangerous. Know your children, and consult with parents about allergies their children may have. Also be sure to read food labels carefully as hidden ingredients can cause allergy-related problems. FaithWeaver Spring Quarter * Five Thousand Kernels Have children form 10 groups (or 5 if your class is small) and sit in their groups on the floor. Give each group a bag of popcorn. It s hard for us to imagine how much 5,000 is, but let s find out. In your groups, count out five piles with 100 popcorn kernels in each pile (10 piles if you have five groups). Make sure there will be 50 piles of 100 when everyone s through. Circulate around the room and tell kids to be sure to have 100 kernels in each pile. When everyone is finished counting, there will be 5,000 kernels of popcorn. Each group has counted out five piles of 100 kernels of popcorn. How many is that in your group? It s 500. We have 10 groups in the room, and each group has 500. So how much does that make? It makes 5,000! Now that we know we have 5,000 kernels throughout the room, let s bring them all together and see what 5,000 looks like. (continued on page 27)
Preschool Activities Worship Theme: God provides for our needs. Easy Prep for Leaders Jesus Feeds Thousands John 6:1-15 Jesus Loves Me You ll need a baby doll with no clothes on. Collect a sack of baby items such as doll clothes, a blanket, a baby s toy, and a toy or real baby bottle. Using Theo Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have the preschoolers determine what Theo needs and pretend to provide it for him during the Jesus Loves Me activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Session 2 Jesus Loves Me Gather the children in a circle around you. Show them the doll with no clothes on. Keep the sack next to you, but keep it closed. If this were a real baby, what would this baby need? The first thing this baby needs is some clothes. Take the clothes out of the sack, and have one or two children dress the doll. Continue asking what the baby needs. As the children name other things such as a blanket, a bottle, and love, bring out items to give to the doll. Choose various children to give the doll the things it needs. Pass the doll around the circle, and give everyone a chance to hold and cuddle the baby. Babies need lots of love. Thank you for your great hugs. You knew just what to do to make our baby happy. He s sleepy now, so let s give him a nap. Babies need rest, too. Set aside the doll and baby items. What do you need when your tummy growls? What do you need when you re sad? What do you need when your toes are cold? What do you need when you re sleepy? God gave us parents to take care of us when we re little, just as you took care of our little baby doll. God knows just what we need. God promises to take care of everything we need. What other things can you think of that we need? When we believe in Jesus, we become a part of God s family. God takes care of everything we need! God is good. Let s sing the song Jesus Loves Me, but let s sing a few words differently. Listen while I sing the song to you with a few new words. Sing the following version of Jesus Loves Me. Then encourage the children to stand with you and sing, doing the hand motions. Jesus loves me, this I know (point toward heaven on Jesus, then place your hands over your heart), For the Bible tells me so. (Open your hands like a book.) He ll take care of you and me. (Point up on he ll, at others on you, and at yourself on me. ) He ll take care of all our needs. (Point up on he ll, then spread your arms wide with palms up on all our needs. ) Yes, Jesus loves me. (Shake your head yes, point up, then point to yourself.) Yes, Jesus loves me. (Spread your arms out with palms up.) Yes, Jesus loves me. (Spread your arms out with palms up.) The Bible tells me so. (Open your hands like a book.) What wonderful singing! God loves us and promises to take care of our needs. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 25
Preschool Activities How Much Is 5,000? Have the Bible and cotton balls with you, and gather the children around you in a circle. Open your Bible to John 6:1-15, and show the page to the children. Our Bible story for today is from the book in the Bible called John. It s called that because it was written by a man named John. He was one of Jesus friends. One day John and his friends were with Jesus. Lots and lots of people came to see Jesus. The Bible says there were more than 5,000! That s a lot! When the people got hungry, Jesus told his friends to feed the people. They couldn t figure out any way to feed so many people. But then a little boy gave his lunch to Jesus! It was just a little bit of food: five small pieces of bread and two fish. Take out a handful of cotton balls wadded together to look like a small loaf of bread. T hat wasn t very much for so many people. But Jesus did an amazing thing. He took the little boy s lunch, blessed it, handed it to his friends, and told them to pass it out to everyone. I m going to give you each a cotton ball. Pretend it s a piece of bread, but don t eat it! Distribute a cotton ball to each child. To everyone s surprise, there was enough for everybody to eat as much as they wanted! Not only that, but they also filled 12 baskets with food that was left over! Can you count to 12 with me? As you count, pull out 12 handfuls of cotton balls and place them in the middle of the circle. Jesus took care of their needs and fed them all. We counted to 12 good job! We can see how many 12 is, but I wonder what 5,000 looks like. Spread out the cotton balls so they re not in piles, and have children add their cotton balls to them. Empty the bag of remaining cotton balls on the floor in the middle of the children so all 5,000 are there. Have children help you spread them out. Wow, look at that! Five thousand is a lot! If you pretend that each cotton ball is a person, you can see how many people Jesus fed with one little boy s lunch! God can do that! He can give you what you need, too. What are some things you need God to help you with? God wants to take care of all those things for you, big and small. Let s stand up and make a circle around our 5,000 cotton balls. If your circle isn t big enough to surround all the cotton balls, push them into a pile that fits inside your circle. Let s hold hands and move around our cotton balls while we say, God can do anything. God gives us what we need. Say the phrase several times. Then have children help you scoop up the cotton balls and put them into the bag. Keep the cotton balls for craft activities. Cotton Ball Story Cards You ll need colored 3x5 cards, glue or double-sided tape, and the cotton balls from the previous activity. Help each child count out five cotton balls, and give each child a colored 3x5 card. Help children attach the cotton balls to the cards. We re going to learn a rhyme to remind us that Jesus will take care of all our needs. Listen to the words as I say them. As you say the following rhyme, touch cotton balls as you say one thousand, two thousand, and so on. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four, Five thousand people went out the door. They came to hear Jesus; he fed them that day. He ll care for us all in the same special way. Encourage children to repeat the rhyme with you until they can say it by themselves. Make sure they touch one cotton ball for each thousand. Preschool Leader Tip If 5,000 cotton balls are too many for your budget or your space, consider purchasing 500 cotton balls. But if possible, the visual impact of 5,000 cotton balls is really worth it. Don t worry that the cotton balls will go to waste; they can be stored indefinitely to use in craft projects. 26 FaithWeaver Spring Quarter
(continued from page 24) Give a plastic bag or bowl to each group. Put your 500 kernels into this bag. Have someone in your group bring the bag to me, and then go back and sit with your group. As kids bring you their bags of kernels, pour them carefully onto a table or a space on the floor in front of the class. Have children gather around the popcorn kernels. Wow, look at that! Five thousand is a lot! If you pretend that each piece of popcorn is a person, you can see how many people Jesus fed with one little boy s lunch! Now think about this. The writer of the Bible story only mentions the men who were there that day. Women and children were there, too. And Jesus fed them all! God is powerful! He can give you what you need, too. What are some things you need God to help you with? (Answers will vary.) God wants to take care of all those things for you, big and small. While we re standing here together, let s thank God that he s a God of miracles who can do anything. Give one or two children an opportunity to pray aloud. Thank you, Lord, for loving us so much that you ll help us with anything we need. Help us to ask you and to trust that you ll do what we truly need. In Jesus name, amen. If you want to, put the popcorn in plastic bags to send home with the children. * Morning, Noon, and Night Have children form small groups of about four or five. We ve been learning that God provides for our needs and that he can do anything. Does God hear your prayers only when you re at church? Why or why not? (No, he s everywhere; God always knows what we pray.) Does God hear your prayers only during the day when he s not asleep? Why or why not?(no, God doesn t sleep; no, he s always awake.) God never sleeps! You can talk to him anytime you want morning, noon, or night and anywhere you want! Assign each group a time of day: morning, noon, or night. In your groups, discuss what kinds of things you might need God for at your time of day. For example, if you re a morning group, think of things that happen to you in the morning that you need God s help with. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 27
Give children a few minutes to discuss the question with one another. Then pass around the plastic pieces from the kaleidoscope so each child has several. I d like for these pieces to represent needs God might meet for you during your assigned time of day. I m going to pass around a piece of the kaleidoscope. When it comes to you, I d like you to say what needs God can meet during your assigned time of day, and then add your pieces to the plastic chamber. Pass around the plastic viewing chamber, and allow time for each person to share. Then place the plastic viewing chamber back on the cardboard tube. Have the children pass the kaleidoscope around so they can all look through the eyepiece as they twist the kaleidoscope. When all the children have had a chance to look through the kaleidoscope, When God takes care of our needs throughout our day, it creates a beautiful life. We can thank him and praise him for all he does for us each day. Let s Pray! The Offering Gather children together. Praying is simply talking to God. He knows what we mean even when we have trouble telling him. Even if we use only one word, he understands. That s because he knows what we re thinking and feeling. He loves us. Close your eyes and think of something you need to ask God for. Now think of one word that represents your need. All you need is one word. Wait a few seconds. As the offering bowl comes to you, say your word out loud. It doesn t matter if anyone else understands; it s just between you and God. He understands. Say your word. Then continue through the group until each child has said his or her word. God heard our prayers and will take care of us. Let s sing an old song that praises God. While we sing, worship God for being such a good God. Sing the Doxology. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 10 28 FaithWeaver Spring Quarter
Popcorn Praise Let s praise and thank God in a fun way. This is called popcorn praise because you re going to pop up and down like popping popcorn! Without moving from your spot, show me how you can pop up and down like popcorn. Now show me how you can sit still like popcorn in the pan all quiet and waiting for the butter and salt. I m going to say some phrases to you, and you think of a word that fits. For example, I ll say, God, we praise you for and then you can take turns popping up and saying something to praise God. Use just one or two words, and then quickly sit down. Give children a minute to pop up with words to praise God for. Then repeat the activity with children completing the phrases God, we thank you for and God, we trust you for Closing Prayer Hold up the plastic bag of popcorn kernels. Look at this bag of popcorn and think about all the little pieces you see. Now think about all the good things God provides for you. Think about all the riches God has, and thank him for sharing his riches with you. If you want to, take some time to talk to God about something you need. We ll have a couple of minutes of quiet prayer, and then I ll close our worship time with a group prayer. Give the children a minute or two for quiet prayer. God, thank you for being such a good God. You provide for all our needs morning, noon, and night according to your great riches. Nothing is too difficult for you. Thank you for the beautiful lives you give us. Help us to trust you for the things we need. In Jesus name, amen. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 29