prelude story worship home social 15 minutes 25...

N O V E M B E R G R A D E S

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PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME

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Statement of Faith

ABOUT GODGod 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 SCRIPTURESGod reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100% accurate, reliable, and authoritative.

ABOUT PEOPLEPeople 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 SALVATIONThat’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.

Chief Executive OfficerReggie Joiner

Creative TeamKristen IvyMike ClearMolly BoylanElloa DavisElizabeth HansenJessica McKeeBrandon O’DellGreg PaynePhil PierceDan ScottJon Williams

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SOCIAL15 MINUTES

GROUPS25 MINUTES

B I B L E S T O R Y

B O T T O M L I N E

M E M O R Y V E R S E

L I F E A P P

B A S I C T R U T H

PA G E 2©2015 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com

If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).

The Giving Whisperer (Give in secret) Matthew 6:1-4

I need to make the wise choice.

Service—lending a hand to help someone else.

“Let your light shine so others can see it. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will bring glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16, NIrV

Lend a hand without looking for applause.

PRELUDE: Setting the tone for the experienceFor Leaders OnlyCreate the Environment

SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interactionIdeas for Early ArriversSecret Slide

STORY: Communicating God’s truth in engaging waysOpenerWorshipBible StoryPrayerCloser

WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God“Look at Me” from Walk This Way“Better Than the Best Thing” from Turn It Up

GROUPS: Creating a safe place to connectShiny and SparklySecret Sticker TagSpace Corps Stealth Service Unit Induction CeremonyPrayer

HOME: Prompting action beyond the experienceGodTimeParent Cue


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PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOMESOCIAL15 MINUTES

GROUPS25 MINUTES

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10 MINUTES

25 MINUTES

15 MINUTES



GETTING READY

SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION (Choose one or both of these activities.)

Early Arriver• An interesting offering container, such as briefcase or a “disappearing coin”

bank.

Secret Slide• A long piece of yarn, enough to make a circle that all of your group can hold

with both hands • A toy ring, wing nut, or metal washer

GROUPS: 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 #3.

1. Shiny and Sparkly (memory verse activity) • Plastic “stained glass” ornaments (available at craft stores and online:

http://www.orientaltrading.com/christmas-ornament-suncatchers-a2-48_7142.fltr?prodCatId=550186+1240

• Craft paints• Water cups• Paintbrushes• Paper towels• Bibles

2. Secret Sticker Tag (review the Bible story / application activity)• Small stickers• Prizes (each kid will win quite a few, so keep them pretty small)

* 3. Space Corps Stealth Service Unit Induction Ceremony (application activity)• Option 1: o Print the “Space Corps Stealth Service Unit Option 1: Buttons”

Activity Page on cardstock and cut apart; 1 page for every 5 kids


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PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME

B I B L E S T O R Y

B O T T O M L I N E

M E M O R Y V E R S E

L I F E A P P

B A S I C T R U T H

The Giving Whisperer (Give in secret) Matthew 6:1-4

I need to make the wise choice.

Service—lending a hand to help someone else.

“Let your light shine so others can see it. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will bring glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16, NIrV

Lend a hand without looking for applause.

SOCIAL15 MINUTES

GROUPS25 MINUTES



o Pin-backed round buttons such as these: http://www.amazon.com/Package-pieces-Design---Button-Plastic/dp/B001685KSM/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1434986623&sr=8-21&keywords=craft+buttons o Markers o Scissors o Camera (or phone with camera)• Option 2: o Print the “Space Corps Stealth Service Unit Option 2: Certificates” Activity Page on cardstock; 1 for each kid o Markers o Camera (or phone with camera)

Prayer• A string of Christmas lights and a place to plug them in• The ornaments from activity #1

Additional Resources:• Make copies on cardstock of 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.


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PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOMESOCIAL15 MINUTES

GROUPS25 MINUTES



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. Today’s topic is probably one of the hardest for elementary kids to master. Especially at this age, everyone wants to be recognized for hard work or for going the extra mile. Pray for your kids to understand why they should serve without letting praise be their only motivation. Ask God to do the same for you—to give you a servant-hearted attitude that isn’t solely motivated by recognition. Thank God for the opportunity to serve this group of kids.

1. EARLY ARRIVER IDEAWHAT YOU NEED: An interesting offering container, such as a briefcase or a “disappearing coin” bank

WHAT YOU DO:• Welcome kids as they arrive and encourage them to place their offerings in the container.• Talk about applause. When do we usually hear it? How do you feel when someone applauds you?• Clap in a lot of different ways: golf clap, two-finger clap, the “We Will Rock You” stomp-clap, cupped-hands clap,

standing ovation, etc.

2. SECRET SLIDEWHAT YOU NEED: A long piece of yarn; a toy ring, wing nut, or metal washer

WHAT YOU DO:• Instruct kids to stand in a circle and then grab the yarn with both hands. • Thread the ring/nut/washer on one end of the yarn, and then tie the ends of the yarn together to form a big loop. • The object of the game is for one kid to be in the middle of the circle as the “Guesser” and the other kids to stealthily

move the ring around the circle from hand to hand without the Guesser figuring out who has the ring. • The Guesser gets three guesses. After each guess he has to spin in place twice to give the kids a chance to move the ring

to a new position. • The ring must always be in motion. No one can hold it for longer than 10 seconds. • If the Guesser guesses correctly, the person caught with the ring is the new Guesser and must go to the center of the

circle, spin in place two times while the other kids start the ring moving, and then play another round.

WHAT YOU SAY:“It’s tricky to move the ring when everyone is watching! [Transition] Let’s go to Large Group to hear about something that we should do when NO ONE is watching.”

Lead your group to the Large Group area.


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PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP GROUPS HOMESOCIAL15 MINUTES



GROUPS: 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. SHINY AND SPARKLY (memory verse activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Plastic “stained glass” ornaments, craft paint, paintbrushes, water cups, paper towels, Bibles

WHAT YOU DO:• Give kids each an ornament and let them paint it however they’d like. • Set aside to dry.• Look up the memory verse (Matthew 5:16) one last time and read it together.

WHAT YOU SAY:“We have been working on this verse for five weeks! But it takes us our whole lives to really let our light shine. We’ll never get it completely right and be able to stop working on letting it shine! This verse says that we do ‘good things’ so that others will bring glory to God, not that we do ‘good things’ so that other people will think we’re so awesome. That can be a tricky line to walk.

“One of the ways we can do that is to serve in secret—to do good things for others in a way that can’t be traced to us, like getting up early to tidy something in the house, leaving an encouraging note on your teacher’s desk but not signing your name, or sneaking flowers into your mom’s office when she’s doing something else. There are a lot of ways to [Bottom Line] lend a hand without looking for applause.”

2. SECRET STICKER TAG (review the Bible story / application activity)WHAT YOU NEED: Small stickers, prizes

WHAT YOU DO:• Give everyone a sheet of small stickers. • Announce that the game ends when everyone has emptied their sticker sheet by tagging each other with stickers, without

being caught by the person they’re tagging. • Some ground rules: no tagging in hair, on faces, in inappropriate areas, etc. • Shout, “Go!” and let them run around and sneak up on each other and tag each other. • At the end of the game, let kids pick prizes according to how many stickers they have—either some kind of leveling

system (more than 5, more than 10, etc.) or a little prize for each sticker.

WHAT YOU SAY:“Whew! Let’s sit down for a minute. In this game, you’d think the winner would be either the one who emptied their sticker sheet first or the person with the most stickers, right? But that’s not how it works. The prizes you got were because someone else served you and tagged you with stickers. The server got no prizes for serving.


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PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOMEGROUPS25 MINUTES



“When we don’t care about getting applauded because we are the most awesome server ever, the people we serve can thank GOD for what was done, not US. If we’re hanging around, waiting to be noticed and thanked and applauded for helping out, do you think anyone notices God’s love motivating us to serve? No! They notice us, and MAYBE they’ll think we’re great for lending a hand, or maybe they don’t notice us at all and we feel terrible and unappreciated. That’s not about serving like Jesus at all! [Make It Personal] (Share about a time when you served for a thank you or a reward—we’ve all done it—and what happened when that recognition either came or didn’t. How did you feel if you were thanked and how did you feel if you weren’t? What did the people you served notice—your own goodness or God’s or neither?)

“We’re coming up to a time when we will get a lot of opportunity to serve others—to give gifts and clean houses and offer snacks and prepare guest rooms and entertain family and friends and think of others who don’t have what we do and share with everyone. One fantastic way you can do that right now is by participating in our service project this season! (Insert info about the specific project your church is doing. If you’re participating in the BiteBack campaign, tell kids that they can really serve in secret by helping purchase mosquito nets for kids who are at risk for getting bitten by malaria-causing mosquitos at night. They can donate some of their allowance or ask a parent if they can earn some extra money by doing chores or helping with something that needs to be done at home. Then they can donate the money to Compassion to purchase mosquito nets.) This is a great way you can [Bottom Line] lend a hand without looking for applause.

“It would be easier to serve if we thought it meant more presents under the tree or extra cookies and eggnog, or if our relatives would be impressed with us, or if our friends would turn around and share their new Double Action Pump Overdrive Action Hero Fist Gloves of Doom. But that’s not why we serve. We serve to follow Jesus. We serve to [Bottom Line] lend a hand without looking for applause.”

* 3. SPACE CORPS STEALTH SERVICE UNIT INDUCTION CEREMONY (application activity)WHAT YOU NEED: Option 1: “Space Corps Stealth Service Unit Option 1: Buttons” Activity Page, empty pin-backed buttons, markers, scissors, camera; Option 2: “Space Corps Stealth Service Unit Option 2: Certificates” Activity Page, markers, camera,

WHAT YOU DO:• For Option 1: Give each child a button from the Activity Page, markers, scissors, and an empty pin-backed button. o Let them color the button page, fill in their name, cut it out, and put it into the empty button. • For Option 2: Give each child a certificate Activity Page and markers. Let them color the certificate and fill in their name. • For both options, gather the buttons/certificates and gather the group for the Induction Ceremony.

WHAT YOU SAY:“Okay, cadets! In the tradition of Captain [Host’s name], we are inducting you all into the Space Corps Stealth Service Unit. (Note: If you used Feature Presentation: Story for the Bible story this entire month, say, ‘In the spirit of Captain Sadye the Production Assistant …’ in place of the reference to the Host.) When I call your name, stand and raise your right hand.

“[Kid’s name], do you promise to lend a hand to help someone else, to serve because Jesus served you, to use what you have to serve, to serve with a good attitude, to ask God for what you need to lend a hand, and to [Bottom Line] lend a


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hand without looking for applause? If so, please answer, ‘I do.’ (Allow for answer. Then pin badge on kid or hand out certificate and repeat for each kid.)

“This is a good day, cadets! Now remember, your first assignment is to serve in secret somehow this week; you don’t even have to report in to me next time we meet. Just find a way to [Bottom Line] lend a hand without looking for applause. Maybe you’ll deliver cookies to a neighbor or do the dishes while your mom is out shopping. Maybe you’ll quietly help your little cousin to another helping of mashed potatoes and clean it up when he dumps it straight onto the dog. Maybe you’ll spread some holiday cheer to your teacher by leaving a card on his desk, or maybe you’ll shovel someone’s walkway before they come outside. Whatever it is, I have every confidence that the new Winter 2015 class of the Space Corps Stealth Service Unit is up to the job.” (Take a picture together with the kids and their certificates or badges.)

PRAY AND DISMISSWHAT YOU NEED: Christmas lights, the ornaments from activity #1

WHAT YOU DO: • Plug in the lights.• Gather the group in a circle.• Hang their ornaments on the Christmas lights so that the lights shine through them.• Close in prayer.

WHAT YOU SAY:“Dear God, thank You for being with us as we’ve learned about service this month. Especially in this busy season, help us to [Bottom Line] lend a hand without looking for applause. We want everyone to notice You, not us. Amen.”

Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up, and make sure they see the ornaments and the Space Corps Stealth Service Unit certificates or buttons. Encourage them with how proud you are of the way their child has served this month. Mention/update them on the service project if appropriate.


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