Lesson Introduction

We live in a world filled with dark places.Today s generation of children are in dan-ger of being destroyed by the powers ofdarkness. Often in danger while living closeto sources of the Light. The church has tra-ditionally been known as a lighthouse. Thesad truth is that many of these Lighthouseshave become meeting places primarily forthose who posses the Light.Children used to come to church with theirparents. Today we see families abandon-ing their children at home to watch TV,which becomes an electric baby-sitter fromthe land of darkness. On behalf of the chil-dren, the statistics to be addressed andovercome are the high percentage of adults

in the church, and the absence of match-ing percentages of children.Examine who attends your church. If youhave less than a 50% child to adult ratioyou may be guilty of causing a stumblingblock to the least of these . Check it out inMatthew 18. Starting a Kids Club is an ex-cellent way to begin providing Light for chil-dren to find the Way.

Flash Point

18

PREPARATION LISTPrepare all songs and story pictures. Trace andcolor the songs and pictures onto transparenciesor larger pieces of paper. If any items are not avail-able, attempt to locate acceptable substitutions.

Welcome: J-E-S-U-S letters

National Anthem: National flag

Game #1: Marker pen, newspaper, cassette

player

Game #2:

Special Emphasis: Poster of pig, 2 pig tails,

prizes

Offering: Containers for the offering

Announcements: Flyers for next meeting

Lesson Introduction: Puppet

Memory Verse: Bible & flashlight

Bible Story: Props for drama

Object Lesson #1: Flashlight and banknote

Object Lesson #2: Flashlight

Object Lesson #3: Candle, matches, bucket

Object Lesson #4: 2 potted plants

Welcome:

KIDS Rules

Prayer

National Anthem

Theme Song

Praise Songs

Review Questions #1

Game #1 Newspaper Tear

Review Questions #2

Game #2 Human Chair

Special Emphasis Light and Darkness

Offering

Worship

Special Ministry

Announcements

Lesson Introduction Puppet Time

Flash Point:

Memory Verse John 8:12

Bible Story Blinded by the Light

Object lesson #1 In the Way

Object lesson #2 Revealing a Problem

Object lesson #3 All Wet

Object lesson #4 In the Dark

Story Time Pedro Sees the Light

Ending Prayer

LESSON ONE

Jesus said; I am the light of the world.Whoever follows me will never walk in

darkness, but will have the light oflife. John 8:12

Memory Verse

Flash Point

19SEEING THE LIGHT

Welcome

Props: Poster paper and marker pens or paint.Preparation: Make posters or signs with theJESUS cheer.Leader: Hello boys and girls, today is a specialday. Today we officially start our Kids Club. Yes!As a member of the Kids Club we are part of anInternational Kids Club, which is a growing groupof kids around the world who are excited aboutserving God.Let s join with the thousands of other children aswe begin the countdown of the Kids Club Cheer!Lead the children in the following cheer.Kids: (Clapping & Shouting) 1...2...3... 1...2...3...1...2...3... (Spelling & Shouting) J...E...S...U...S...J...E...S...U...S...J...E...S...U...S...Leader: (shouts) What does it spell?Kids: (Shout) JESUS!!It s time for us to start our Kids Club so let sreview the KIDS Rules.

Opening Prayer

Involve your children in the spiritual life and lead-ership of the Kids Club. This is the training groundto develop leaders for the King. Each week en-courage a different child to assist in the openingprayer of the day. Some of the best prayer forchildren matches their age and height. Theshorter the child the shorter the prayer.

Sample prayer: Dear Jesus, We invite you tobe with us today. We ask for you to help us tosee Your Light and to shine Your Light. In Jesusname we pray. Amen.

National Anthem

Select a child to hold the flag and another childto lead the children in singing the National An-them or pledge.

Praise Songs

Suggested songs:

1. Kids Club Theme Song - Bum, Bum, Bum2. Like the Bible3. Who s the King of the Jungle?

Listen to the Kids Quarter One Praise andWorship tape until you feel comfortable withthe songs. Then when teaching the children,sing them several times until they becomefamiliar with the songs. Avoid singing churchysongs during your Kids rally. This is a kidsmeeting not an adults .

Review Questions

Since this may be your first official Kids Clubmeeting start out by teaching your kids the FourRules of Life. Make a game out of it. You willwant to have some prizes on hand as the chil-dren demonstrate their ability to memorize thesefour very basic and important rules for a Chris-tian life.

Game #1Newspaper Tear

Props: Newspapersand a pencil.Preparation: Pencil inthe outline of the letters JESUS. These are theletters the children will be tearing out of the news-papers.

20 LESSON ONE

Players: Select five boys and five girls from thosewho successfully memorized the Four Rules ofLife.Playing: Each team lines up facing the audience.Place five pages from a newspaper in front ofeach team. On the signal they are to take a news-paper and tear out the marked out letter to spellthe name JESUS. Upon the completion of thecontest the team that has completed tearing outtheir letters and have the name Jesus easily rec-ognizable first are declared the winners . The win-ners are to lead the kids in the JESUS cheer.

At the signal from the leader both teams quicklysit down forming the human chair. The group thatfirst completes the human-chair-circle is the win-ner.

Review Questions #2

Continue reviewing the Four Rules of Life. Se-lect two children who can successfully quote theFour Rules of Life, to be the team leaders. Se-lect six to twelve other children to join them. Forthis game the more the merrier. Feel free to in-clude your entire class.

Game #2Human Chair

Each team stands forming acircle. They stand facing theback of the person in front ofthem. Tell them that they willbe a human chair. The personin front of them will sit on theirlap and they will sit on the per-sons lap behind them. If youhave a cassette player avail-able, play fun children s songsduring the game.

Special EmphasisLight & Darkness

Props: Drawing of a pig and two sepa-rate pigs tails attached with tape orpush pins.Participants: Have one older boy andgirl come up. Cover their eyes so thatthey can not see. Check to see that they are com-pletely in the dark. Instruct the two to follow di-rections very carefully and for them to not attemptremove their blindfold, but to wait for you to re-move it for them at the close of the game.Playing: Announce the contest. State what thewinning prize will be. Encourage the audience tocheer for the contestants. First, turn the boy in acircle, two or three times to disorient him. Afterhanding him the pigs tail attached to a push pin,point him towards the enlarged drawing of thepig. Allow him to pin up the tail where he thinks itis appropriate. Do not remove the blindfoldfrom the boy until after the girl has had herturn. When it is the girls turn, right before

shepins up the tail, remove her blindfold. Encouragethe spectators to continue cheering but motionthem to be quiet about the blindfold s removal.Allow her to pin up the tail in its proper location,meanwhile cheering for her as if all was normal.Afterwards, remove the blindfolds and ask, Whowas the winner? Grandly agree that the girl isthe winner and give her the prize. Kids, we hadfun in our game and it was especially funny whenwe saw (insert the girls name) as she easilypinned the tail on the pig.

Key To SuccessKids Club has no losers, only win-ners. The enemy of the kids willcall them losers. Neither Jesus norHis true followers will call a child aloser, as long as they are still seek-ing Him. A true loser is one who

abandons Jesus, not one who plays a gameslower than another.

21SEEING THE LIGHT

Why was she able to do it? We spun her aroundjust the same as the boy. How did she do it?(Allow the children to respond). Kids, you have alot of good answers, but the real reason she coulddo it was because she saw the light. The Biblesays, The eye is the lamp of the body. If youreyes are good, your whole body will be full oflight. But if your eyes are bad, your whole bodywill be full of darkness. If then the light within youis darkness, how great is that darkness! (Mat-thew 16:22 - 23). (Give both equal prizes.)Kids, its time to take the offering. As you give toJesus be sure to thank Him for the light.

Offering

Ask the children to par-ticipate in both prayingover the offering and in thereceiving of the offering. Sta-tistics show that the averagechurch is supported by thetithes of 30 percent of the attending members.As high as 70 percent of the members are notregular tithers. The best time to teach giving toGod is when the child is young. The amount re-ceived in the offering is not as important as thelesson they are learning by giving.

Worship

Worship time for kids should be different thanthatof the adults. During the kids worship time re-frainfrom singing the really active songs, such asWho s the King of the Jungle as you are nowentering the Bible Story time. Please avoid sing-ing slow church songs during your Kids meet-ing.

Suggested Songs:1. I Like the Bible2. Bum, Bum, Bum3. Your selection

*Children in Special Ministry

*If children are prepared for special ministry.

Announcements[Keep them short]

Lesson IntroductionPuppet time

Presentation: Puppet enters, Hello! Repeat thehello until the puppet gets the desired response,

an enthusiastic hello back from the children.Have your puppet say his name. Next have himencourage the children to repeat his name, threetimes each in the following manner. Very FAST,Very LOUD, Very SOFT, lastly Very SLOW.

Have your puppet ask the children to all tell himtheir names on the count of three. Hopefully, hewill be able to catch a couple of them and afterrepeating the names he thought he heard havehim ask for the children to loudly call their namesout to him again, on the count of three, so thathe can remember them for the next Kids Clubrally. Use your puppet to assist in learning theFour Rules of Life.

TEACHER S NOTE:When bringing a puppet inand out of a ministry site, al-ways have them covered ina non-see through container.Do not allow untrained adults orchildren to play with them.They are powerful toolswhen used properly.

Memory Verse

Jesus said; I am the light of the world. Who-ever follows me will never walk in darkness,but will have the light of life John 8:12Prop: Bible and flashlight or candle.Presentation: Display the memory verseand help the children to say and recite it.

22 LESSON ONE

After practicing the verse with the children, holdup the flashlight and explain that it representsthe Light. Ask, Who is the light? Give them timeto reply, Jesus. Point to your Bible and havethe audience copy you and say together, Jesussaid. Then shining the flashlight say, I am thelight of the world. When motioning to follow theycopy and say, Whoever follows me crossingyour arm make a downward no gesture at thesame time walking in place, upon which theywould copy and say, will never walk in darkness,shining the flashlight again they would say, butwill have the light of life Together say, John 8:12.Practice several times.We need the light don t we? Without it we wouldhave no sun to help the plants to grow, and withno light we would have no food to help us live. Inthe same way the Light is important to us. Whois the Light? (Allow for a response.) We all havetwo days just exactly the same. What are they?Here is a hint... One of the days is the day we areborn, birthday. What is the other day? (Encour-age a response.) Yes! The day we die. If we donot have the Light when we die it will be a verysad dark day. All together let s say the FlashPoint: To see the Light and shine the Light.

Bible StoryBlinded bythe LightActs 9

P r e pa r a t i o n :Have children practiceacting out the story of Saulon the road to Damascus.Make it as fun and dramaticas you can.Props: Welding mask.Presentation: Have you ever seen the bright lightthat comes from a welder? Did you know, If youlook directly at the light from a welder it can per-manently blind you. The same thing can happenif you looking directly at the sun.Demonstrate this story with the welding mask.One day a welder was very busy and forgot toget his dark glass. Instead of getting the protec-tive covering he needed, he squinted his eyes

and did his work. After the job was done his eyesbegan to feel like they were full of fire. All thatnight his eyes watered and burned. He was veryfortunate because he could have been blindedfor the rest of his life. This time his eyes wereonly burnt and he was blinded for about 24 hours.It happened because he was not careful with thelight.In today s Bible Story we find a man named Saul,who looked at God s light and was blinded forthree days. Have the actors enter while you nar-rate the story. Saul was traveling on the road toDamascus. He was going to that town to kill thepeople who were followers of the Way. Who isthe Way? Allow for a response. How many herelove Jesus, raise your hand. All of us would havebeen Saul s enemies and he would have tried tokill us if we had been there. Because he wantedto kill all those who follow the Way. Even if thereare people who do not like the Light, we shouldstill live in the light. Flash Point: To see the Lightand shine the Light.

Object Lesson 1In the Way

Props: Flash-light and banknote.Preparation :Prepare the flashlight by checking to see that ithas good batteries. Insert a bank note betweenthe battery and the contact point causing it to mal-function.Presentation: We use lights for many purposes.Show the children your flashlight and ask, If youhave ever used a flashlight raise your hand.What did you use it for? (Encourage a re-

sponse.) Show the children your flashlight andask, What are some other uses of a light?Attempt to turn on the flashlight. When it fails towork say, Can someone help me to check outwhat s wrong with this. Ask for a child to assistyou in discovering the source of the problem. Withthe child s assistance open it to discover the banknote placed inside causing it to fail to operate.

23SEEING THE LIGHT

Ask the child, Should the bank note be takenout or not? When they agree, remove the banknote (perhaps giving it to the child as a rewardfor helping) and continue talking about the vari-ous needs for light.The money was in the way. There are manypeople in the world who allow money to get inthe way of the Light. Let s see what the Bible saysabout light. Open the Bible and read the wordsof Jesus in Matthew 5:14 You are the light of theworld. Explain that we all need to not only seethe Light Jesus. We also need to shine the Light,showing people Jesus. Everyone repeat theFlash Point: To see the Light and shine theLight.

Object Lesson #2Revealing aProblem

Props: Flashlight.Participants: One unwilling helper, and one will-ing child.Preparation: Find a child willing to help completethis lesson. You also need a helper who under-stands they are to refuse to open their mouthwhen you ask to see if they have any cavities.Presentation: We use lights for many purposes.Invite a helper to come forward and ask if it is allright for you to check and see if they have a cav-ity. When the helper comes forward shine the lightas if to check. The helper keeps their mouth shuteven when you ask several times. Ask the audi-ence, How can I check without the volunteeropening their mouth and letting the light in? Dis-miss the helper and invite a willing child to comeforward. Ask if it is all right for you to check tosee if they have cavity. When the child agrees,and opens their mouth, shine the light and com-plete the examination. Add appropriate commentson what you discover. Without an open mouthand proper light it would be very difficult to seethe problem. Many people are the same way, theyhave problems, but they don t want to open theirheart to let the Light shine in so they stay awayfrom the Light. Kids who is the Light?

(If you discover that the child has a problem withtheir teeth, take it as a special assignment fromthe King to see what you can do for them.Matthew 5:14 says We are the light of the world.Kids, God has a job for all of you. You are to be alight in your home. Hold up the light and ask,What does a light have to do to be a light? Does

it have to do fifty push-ups everyday? No, it justdoes what it was created to do, shine. Kids,opening your heart and allowing Jesus inside,the first step to being a true light. Once Jesus isin your heart, and you obey Him, that is how youshine. Just like this flashlight. When I turn it on itshines. Flash Point: To see the Light and shinethe Light.

Object Lesson #3

All Wet

Props: Candle, plate, matches, bucket, and wa-ter.Preparation: Fill the bucket with enough waterto cover the candle when it is standing insideKeep it a secret from the children. Stick the candleto the plate with wax.Presentation: (Throughout the object lessonstress the word light.) We use lights for manypurposes. There are many kinds of lights. Showthe children your candle and ask, Have you haveever used a candle? if so raise your hand. Whatdid you use it for? (Encourage a response.) Hold-ing out the candle ask, What are some otherkinds of lights? Walk out to the children and askif they would Like to help you blow it out. Ex-plain to the children that in the same way thereare many people in the world that like to put outthe light of those who have The Light, Jesus.Give some examples how someone would try toblow out a child s Light. Example, they wouldencourage the child to disobey their parents orto do something they knew was wrong.

24 LESSON ONE

Some would even discourage a child from attend-ing a Kids Club meeting, knowing that at the KidsClub we are learning about Jesus. Ask, Do youknow who is the True Light? When they say,Jesus confirm that it is true. Call a helper to comeforward and give him some matches, or a lighterand ask him to relight the candle after you care-fully put it into the bucket, which has been filledwith water. The helper lights the matches andattempts to light the candle but the match goesout. After two or three tries, when it fails to light,you say, Let s check out what s wrong with this.Ask for a young child to come up and figure outwhat is the problem. They discover the matchesfloating on the water, and responds that thecandle is under the water, and cannot be lit. Askthe children how to light the candle and give timefor their suggestions. With the proper sugges-tion remove the candle and once again ask ei-ther the child or the helper to relight the candle.Upon successfully lighting the candle, explain thateven a child has the ability to recognize a prob-lem and can know the solution. If you see some-one without the Light you can help them to findthe Light . Take time now to ask the children tostand with you and bow their heads, repeatingafter you this short prayer to invite the Light in.

Dear Jesus,I do not want to live in the dark and I know thatyou are the Light. Please forgive me of all thebad things I have done. Come into my heart.Please help me to shine your light. In Jesusname. Amen.

Object Lesson #4In the Dark

Props: Two small potted plants,and a light proof container.Preparation: This object lessonwill be completed at the next Kids Club meeting.One potted plant will be covered during your ob-ject lesson. The other plant, will be allowed tohave light as normal.Presentation: Holding up the two potted plantsexplain to the children that you are going to coverthe one plant and not allow it to see the light until

next weeks Kids Club meeting.Next week we will see what happens to the cov-ered plant. What do you think will happen to theplant in the dark? Encourage the children toguess. Then make comparisons to our lives ifwe live without the Light, Jesus. Next ask, Whatdo you think will happen to the plant that is al-lowed sunlight as normal? Once again makecomparisons to our lives if we live with the Light.Who is the Light. (Jesus). All together Flash

Point: To see the Light and shine the Light.

Story TimePedro Sees the Light

Picture 1:1 Todayis a special day. Itis Pedro s 13thbirthday. Pedro sfather is a fisher-man, and he hashis own fishingboat. Pedro hasbeen waiting forthe time when hecan use hisfather s boat all byhimself. As long as he can remember, he haswanted to go to the sea by himself. But he couldnot. It is a tradition in their village that a boy can-not go out fishing alone in a fishing boat until heis thirteen years old. That s the way it was withPedro s father and his father s father. Today wasthe day Pedro dreamed about.

Picture 2:2Pedro s so ex-cited because, atlast, he can nowuse his father sfishing boat. Hesays, Father! Fa-ther, You prom-ised! Can I nowuse your fishingboat... remem-ber?

25SEEING THE LIGHT

Did I say that, son?, asked his father. Oh, comeon father, you promised me, said Pedro. Oh,yes! I remember. Today is your 13th birthday!Okay, son, you can have it but be very carefulwhen you sail. Pedro excitedly answered, Oh,thank you, father! I promise to take care of theboat and I ll try to bring back many fish.

Picture #1-3:Pedro sailed outvery eager andexcited. He sailedas fast as hecould and soonhe reached aplace where hewas sure therewould be fish. Un-known to Pedrofrom a distance,his father, motherand sister saw astorm coming and they started to worry aboutPedro. His mother said, Oh, Papa! We must dosomething to help him come back! I m so wor-ried about Pedro! Pedro s father replied, We lldo something. The sun is still shining here. We llflash a mirror so that he sees a light from hereand can return to us.

Picture #1-4:Pedro had beenconcentrating onbringing fish backto his family. Hewas surprized bythe the storm.Here he was onthe deep sea andin the storm allalone. He was veryfrightened. He sawthe lightning andheard the loud thunder. Oh! I m so frightened!What am I going to do? Oh, how I wished I neversailed or that I forgotten that today was my birth-day. Lord, look at the big waves! It s like they regoing to eat me up! Help me Jesus!, he prayed,Help me please!

Picture #1-5:Pedro s family wereworried and beganto pray. Oh, Lord,please help ourson, Pedro. Bringhim back heresafely. It s his birth-day today. Please,help him. Pedro sfather continued toflash the mirror,praying to God thathe would see it andknow the direction to come home. The family ofPedro have Jesus in their home as their Lord andSavior. And every time they are faced with a prob-lem, they turn to the Lord and seek His help.Jesus never failed them. Yes, they have prob-lems, but God always helps them, and gives thempeace in their hearts.

Picture #1-6:Pedro was veryfrightened by thestorm. He sawsharks, and thewaves continued togrow stronger. Thelightning and thun-der became evenlouder. He criedout to the Lord,Jesus, please,

save me! Then heremembered the story his father told him aboutthe disciples of Jesus when they sailed with Him,on the middle of the sea, a big storm appeared.They also were frightened. They cried to Jesusand Jesus calmed the storm. Jesus calmed theirfears away. Oh, Jesus, please take my fearaway, he prayed.

Picture #1-7: Suddenly he saw the reflection fromhis fathers light. He knew his family was prayingfor him. The storm was just a bad and the sharksstill continued to surround him, but he no longerfelt alone.

26 LESSON ONE

He breathed deepand told himself, I m going to keepon trusting Jesus.I ll paddle towardsPapa s light andJesus will help meget home. Soon,I ll be home withPapa Mama andmy sister.

Picture #1-8:Pedro s father,mother and littlesister continuedto pray for him.His father contin-ued flashing themirror for Pedro tosee that theyknew where hewas and wereconcerned forhim. Jesus to usis like that mirror.He continues toflash his light to us so that we ll see Him in themidst of our storms in life. He is the light whoguides our way back to God.

Picture #1-9:Pedro saw thelight from the dis-tance. That mustbe home! Fatherloves me so muchI know he is flash-ing that light tohelp and show methe way home! Iwon t give up. Heprayed, Lord,help me get backhome. Thank youJesus for papa s light, and your light. Pedro,paddled as hard as he could.

Picture #1-10:Filled with trust inJesus, he reachedhome safely. Oh,yes! Jesus helpedme do it! I m home!We re going to cel-ebrate my birthdaytogether!, Pedroexclaimed happily.With Mama s tear-ful, but joyful greet-ing she huggedPedro tight. His fa-ther hugged him too. Oh! They were very happyto have Pedro back home! And together, theypraised Jesus for helping Pedro in the stormysea. Pedro, personally thanked Jesus for calm-ing his fears, and for being his light in the storm.The whole family celebrated Pedro s thirteenthbirthday. It was the most unforgettable birthdayexperience he ever had. Pedro proved that Jesuswas there even in a storm.

Closing Prayer

After the story, close in a simple prayer, onceagain emphasizing the children s need to see thelight and shine the light. Here is a sample prayer.

Dear Jesus,We thank you for being our light. Please help usto be your light, and to shine for you. In Jesusname. Amen.

Close with Theme Song