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Character

  • Being great - being a servant

    Lectionary 

    Sunday school lesson - Greatness - Being the Servant of all     Request of James and John

     

    Children’s Sermon idea: Invite the children to sit up front in the chairs used by the pastors, deacons or priests. Ask them if this makes them feel important, great, etc. Explain how James and John were concerned about sitting in the most important places and how Jesus told them that true greatness was about being a servant.
    servant of all
     
    Objects: Some chairs that are strategically located in a place of honour. Check this out with the pastor first!
     
    Full Children’s Sermon / object lesson:
    Good morning children. Our bible reading this morning is about the disciples James and John and how they were very concerned about sitting in the most important places. Where do you think are the most important places to sit in this church? Those ones there? O.K. Come up here and let’s see how they feel. (Let some of the children sit in the “important” chairs. Ask them how it feels. Does it make them feel important? Does it make them feel like they have lots of power? Compare chairs to see what one feels like it is the most important place.) These are nice chairs up front here. Our pastors pray and teach from up here and it is nice that they have comfortable chairs to sit in. They are not trying to be more important than others. However, James and John became very concerned about being in the most important places. So Jesus taught them about true greatness as a disciple. Jesus said that they shouldn’t worry about trying to be in the most important place. He said the real way to become great was by being the servant of all. In Gods eyes, being great is not about showing how important you are, it’s about being a servant. A servant doesn’t worry about looking important. A servant cares more about helping others in need even if it is never noticed. (You could discuss ways of being a servant, at school, at home, etc.) Of course Jesus was the greatest servant of all. He was even willing to give his life for us.
     
    Children’s Prayer: Thank you Lord for all the nice chairs we have in this church. Whether we sit in the back, up front, or over on the side, help us to care most about being a servant in our day to day lives. At school, at home, or at play help us to serve and help others following the example of Jesus. In his name we pray – Amen!
     
    Copyright Andrew Hewlett sundaychildrensfocus.com   Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking to this web site. Blessings, A.H.

  • children's sermon on Thanksgiving

     

    Children's sermon on Giving Thanks (Saying Thank you to God)

     

    Basic idea:   Thanksgiving flowers

    When the children are gathered up front say a brief word about the importance of saying thank you. Ask if there are any members of the congregation that know how to say “Thank you” in their native tongue. Ask them to say it out loud. (You could ask the children to try repeating the phrase) You could include ‘thank you” in sign language. After hearing from 4 or 5 individuals explain how God knows all languages and how we can say thank you to in any language in prayer.

    Objects needed – None

    Individual from different ethnic backgrounds could be approached ahead of time but you can also just do this spontaneously.

    Full Thanksgiving message for the kids:

    Good morning children. Do you know what is special about this Sunday? That’s right it is Thanksgiving Sunday. We want to give thanks to God every day, but on this Sunday we want to take time to remember all that things that we are thankful for in Life. What are some of the things that you are thankful for? (Spend a brief moment interacting with the children) Now, when I want to say “thank you” I just use my normal English language and say “Thank you God!”  But, in other countries they say “thank you” in different languages. Let see if there are any people in our congregation that can say “thank you” on a different language. (Ask individuals to stand up and say thank you in their native tongue. It might be fun to see if the children can repeat the phrases in the foreign language. Consider having someone share using sign language. Thank the various individuals who helped out.)

     Now, children as you can see there are many ways to say thank you. The good news is that God is very smart (in fact he knows everything!) and he can understand every language in the world. It doesn’t matter what language we use. The important thing is that we do say thank you to God for the many ways we have been blessed.  Join me now in saying thank you to God.

    Children’s Prayer: Dear God, there are so many things we are thankful for (perhaps mention some of the items the children mentioned) but above all we are thankful for your great love that you have for each one of us. Thank you also for sending Jesus to be our Saviour and our friend – In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

    (You could also close by having the group give a loud “Thank you God!”)

    Note: American Sign Language for Thank You – Place your open hand and fingers up against your closed mouth. Bring your hand out and down toward the individual with your palm facing up.

    Copyright 2015 Andrew Hewlett and Sundaychildrensfocus  - Feel free to use this message but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking your web site to this page. Thank you!    - Also...please "Like" this on facebook!

     

     

  • Clean and Unclean



    Sunday school story: Clean and Unclean– Mark 7 (Religious traditions and God’s commandment. )

     
    Object lesson props: Cup, dirt, water, cloth for cleaning,
     
    Gospel Story: Good Morning Children. This Sunday’s bible reading is about being “clean and unclean.” Some very religious people came to Jesus and asked him why his disciples did not do the special ceremonial washings that they did. (You might want to clarify that this is not really about basic sanitation.) It’s good to wash you hands but these religious leaders cared so much about doing special, fancy hand washing that they forgot about making sure they were clean on the inside – clean in their hearts! We can be nice and clean on the outside but if we have anger, jealousy, bitterness and hatred in our lives then we are really pretty unclean on the inside. Do you see this nice cup that I brought in this morning? I want you all to look inside now and tell me what you see. (Make sure there is some dirt and mud in the bottom). Yuck. It’s pretty dirty and messy. Now I’m going to pour in some water. And I’m going to stir it around. Who would like a drink of this? No? I don’t blame you. It is certainly unclean on the inside. But what if I get this nice clean cloth and clean up the outside of this cup. (Carefully wipe up the outside of the cup). It’s pretty clean now. Do you want to drink some now? (Let them respond) Perhaps if I use this fancy wiping motion that I learned from my grandfather. (Demonstrate a ridiculously fancy cleaning procedure). Wow! That must have really helped. Do you want to drink what is inside the cup now? No! How about if I use this very fancy towel that is hand embroidered – it’s very beautiful. You still don’t want to drink what is inside? Well, you are right. No matter what special hand motion or fancy towels you use it is still pretty yucky water on the inside.
    TRANSITION: Kids – Our lives can be a little like this cup. If we have the dirt of bitterness, greed, anger and jealously on the inside of our lives, making ourselves look good on the outside doesn’t help much. We could do many things that would make us look very religious but if we didn’t change on the inside it wouldn’t be very pleasing to God who knows everything about us.
     
    Pray: Dear God. We know that you want us to be clean on the inside our lives.
    Help us to forgive others that have done wrong to us. Help us to get rid of bitterness and anger and selfishness that can make us unclean on the inside. Thank you for giving us the example of Jesus and thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to help us live the way you want us to live. Help us to walk in the love of Jesus Christ and share that love to others. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen!
     
    Copyright Andrew Hewlett 2009 and Sundaychildrensfocus.com  

    Feel free to use this story on Sunday Morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider making a link to this page. A.H.  and please "like" this page!

     

  • God looks at the heart


    Theme: God looks at the Heart

    Text: 1 Samuel 15          God and Samuel select a King                 

    Props: Various plastic containers (such as juice bottles) filled with dirty water. One of the more “humble” containers should be filled with fresh clean water. A bowl the water can be poured into. (Note: you could use different types of juice or colored water. This would emphasize “different” as opposed to “good vs. bad.”)
    Basic idea: Line up various containers (different sizes and shapes) in front of the children. Give them the difficult task of trying to pick which one has the fresh drinking water. It is hard for us to do this because we can only see the outside of the container. Make reference to the O.T. passage where God (and Samuel) anoints David as King. Explain how God is able to see everything about us including the inside. God is able to see the heart.
    Full Story: Fill various containers with dirty colored water. Have one container with clean water. Place them in front of the children)
    Good morning children! Look at all these different sizes and shapes of bottles (or cups) that I have here this morning. All of them contain liquid but only one of them has clean drinking water. Which one do you think has the best water? (Let the children respond with various guesses. Let the children respond together so you are not forced (by chance) to reveal the clean water container at first guess) OK, let’s see if it’s this one. (pour out the contents onto a catching bowl) Does that look like the good water? Yuk! No. Let’s try another one. How about this big bright colored container. It looks like it would hold nice fresh water. (Pour it out) No, that’s not it. (Continue until you pick the right container)
    Transition: That was hard to do! Why was it so hard to choose the right one? (Let the children respond. Agree that we can’t tell what’s inside by just looking at the outside.)
    It’s the same with people. We can only see what people are like on the outside. However, the Bible says that God sees the real “us” on the inside – the heart. That’s what God said to the prophet Samuel. Samuel had to pick a new king for Israel. When Samuel saw a big and tall son of Jesse he was sure that this was the one God had chosen to be king. But God said no. God was looking at the heart (our innermost being) and not the outside. He actually chose the young shepherd boy David to be the king. Nobody thought he would be chosen. But God knew he had a heart after God. We always want to stand tall, brush our hair and look nice. But what is even more important to God is what we can’t see. What’s most important to God is the kind of person we are becoming on the inside. God sees the heart.
    Pray: God, although others can only see our “outside” appearance we know that you see everything about us. Through your son Jesus, help us to be transformed into the people you created us to be on the inside – in our very heart.
    Copyright: Andrew Hewlett   Sundaychildrensfocus.com
    Feel free to use this at your Sunday morning service but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and do consider linking to this web site. Thank you! A.H.

     



    Another story option:   Theme: God looks at the heart (Option #2 Spontaneous Drama)

    Text: RCL Old Testament 1Sam 15:34-16:13

    Props: 7 adults and one teen or younger child brought up from the congregation

    Basic idea: A short spontaneous drama of Samuel choosing a King. Highlight how God picked the young boy David because he “looked at the heart” and not just the outward appearance. (This is designed to be short, sweet and simple – about 5 minutes max. No prep needed for the helpers)

    Full Story: Good morning children! This morning I want to tell you about one of the bible readings that we have for today. It’s the story of the prophet Samuel choosing a new king for Israel. A person named Jesse brought seven of his sons to Samuel to see if one of them would be chosen as the new king. I need 7 volunteer men to help me. (Pick them quickly and get them to line up at the front of the church near the children.) Now, I need one other younger person to help with this story. (This will be David the shepherd. Ask this person to stand further off to the side but in view. – You could get them to hold a home-made shepherd staff.)
    (Stand in front of the 7 adults. Stand in front of each one as you consider who is to be chosen. Think out loud as if you were Samuel) First of all Samuel saw one of the tallest and impressive sons and thought to himself “This must be the one who is to be king!” But God spoke to Samuel and said, “No – he is not the one I have chosen.” Then Samuel went to the next son. (Continue down the line letting the children hear Samuel’s thoughts and also God’s direction. Show some disappointment when you come to the end of the line.) So there are no other sons? What! There is the youngest son who is tending the sheep out in the fields? Go get him and bring him to me. (Send one of the “sons” to go get the shepherd boy David. )
    When David was brought in front of Samuel God said “This is the one I want to be King.” (Get young “David” to step forward. You might “anoint” David or place a crown cut out of paper on his head. Get the congregation to give him a cheer!)
    Isn’t that amazing children. All these other people looked like they might be the one God was going to pick – but God picked young David. God told Samuel why he picked David over the others. God said that people can only see the outside but God looks at the heart. God saw something special in David’s heart that others couldn’t see. That’s important for us to know. We want to wash ourselves, wear nice clothes, and comb our hair so it looks nice, but these good things are still not as important to God as what we are on the inside – in our heart.

    Pray. God, you know everything about us. You know what we look like on the outside and the kind of person we are on the inside. Lord, through your son Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit, help us to be transformed into people that have a heart that is truly after your own heart. We ask this is the name of Jesus, Amen

    Copyright Andrew Hewlett 2009 Sundaychildrensfocus.com Feel free to use this story at your Sunday morning service but please give credit to Sundaychildernsfocus

  • kids sermon on being Clothed with Christ

     Children’s sermon on Galatians 3:23-29   

    “All those who have been baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ.”
     
    Idea for Children’s Sermon: Talk about (and act out) the importance of getting properly dressed in the morning. Explain how Paul encourages us to think as though we have clothed ourselves with Christ. (My first draft here is a bit choppy and needs proof reading. However, you’ll get the drift of things.)
     
    Object lesson items: Various items of (important) clothing. Consider using a big warm winter coat. You could also use a football or hockey jersey that shows who we indentify with.
     
    Full Kids sermon: Good morning children! What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? (interact). When I first get up I pull on my pants. Then I go to the cupboard and get some clean socks. I put those on. (Act out and consider asking the children to act this out with you.) Then I put on some shoes. Then I get a nice clean shirt. What do you think I put on if I’m going outside on a cold day? That’s right. I get a nice warm jacket and put that on too. On Saturdays, I put this team shirt on. It shows that I’m a member of my soccer club. It also shows others that this game is important to me.
     
    Putting on clothes is very important. Clothes protect us from getting scratched up. Clothes also keep us nice and warm. They also help us to look nice. When I put on my soccer shirt it shows others what my favourite sport is. One of our bible readings this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In the 3rd chapter of his letter, Paul says that followers of Jesus (actually, the baptized) have clothed themselves with Jesus Christ. Paul liked to think of actually “wearing” Jesus Christ, somewhat like we wear a piece of clothing. (If you think it’s helpful you could also explain how Paul thought in terms of having Christ “in us” and walking “with us.”) Kids, perhaps this is one way that we can think about Jesus Christ as well. When I get up in the morning I put on my shirt like this. Perhaps we can imagine clothing ourselves with Christ. Let’s pretend that we are putting on Christ. (Pretend to put on a coat.) At the same time we could say a prayer asking God to help us live for Jesus and for others to know we are on his team!
     
    Children’s Prayer for clothing ourselves with Christ:  Dear God, help us clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ every day of our life. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and help others see that we really do belong to Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

  • Kids Sermon on Pride- Take a look at yourself

     

    Children's Sermon on Spiritual Pride: Season of Lent

     

    Children's church- message for Lent


    Look at yourself –When you point at others there are three fingers pointing back at you.   
     
    Themes: sin, self awareness, self examination, repentance, finger pointing, pride, spiritual pride
     
    (The RCL scriptures for this day (Is 55:1-9, 1 Cor.10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9) seem to all contain warnings about out tendency to presume we are on a good footing because we are more righteous than others)
     
    Kid’s sermon idea: Explain to the children that some people love to point out the bad things that others are doing. Get the children to point with their index fingers. Examine your pointing hand and explain to them that when they point out other peoples mistakes there are always three fingers pointing back. We need to be honest with our own mistakes and failures before we point them out in others.
     
    Full Children’s sermon: Good morning children. I want to tell you something that I learned many years ago. I used to love to criticise others who were doing bad things. I would point my finger like this and say, “Look at that boy over there. He’s not being very kind.” Or I would say, “look at that person, he is being a bad person and he is making lots of mistakes.” But one day a friend of mine showed me something very interesting. (Hold out your pointing hand) She should me that whenever I a finger at another person I have other fingers pointing back at me. When I point like this, how many fingers are pointing back at me? Right! There are these three fingers pointing back at me. Try it yourself. That should be a good reminder that we need to look at our own lives. It’s more important to make sure we are living God’s way than spending too much time pointing our fingers at others. Remember, when you point your finger at another person there are three fingers pointing back at you!
     
    Children’s prayer: God, we know it is so easy to point fingers at other people when they do something wrong. Help us to remember that when we point at others there are three fingers pointing back at us. May that remind us to make sure we are living the way you want us to live. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

    Copyright sundaychildrensfocus.com  Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but give credit to sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider putting link to this site. A.H.

  • Mother's Day kids sermon

    Children’s object lesson /sermon for Mother’s Day

    Basic lesson idea:

    Short mother’s day object lesson:  Bring hats / objects (representing various rol)es) i.e.  Police hat, cook’s hat /stethoscope, nurses hat, hard hat, etc. Place them on various volunteers and explain what each does and how these are important roles /occupations. Then bring up a mother. Explain how mothers have a role that involves being skilled in all these areas!  (You may have to make up some hats / items if you don’t have them around the house)

    Full Children’s Sermon:

    Good morning children! Look what I have with me this morning. Do you know what this is? (Hold up a chef’s hat and place it on someone’s head) That’s right! It’s a hat used by cooks. Cooks are important because they cook up nice healthy meals to eat. What about this? (Hold up a stethoscope) Who wears this? That’s right, a doctor or a nurse. They have a very important role. If we become sick they help us to get better. They have a very important job! What about this hat? (Hold up a police hat and place it on someone.) That’s right. It’s used by police officers. They are very important for keeping the peace and making sure everyone behaves and gets along. (Continue on. You get the idea! )

    I am so thankful that we have people like this in our town. What would we do without them? However, do you know that there is someone who does all of those jobs? There is someone who is a police officer, a cook, a nurse, a taxi driver all in one! (Bring up a well-known mother and have her stand before the kids.) It is MOTHERS! Mothers keep the peace and break up fights when children aren’t getting along well. They cook meals to make us healthy. They are like a doctor or nurse when they help us get better or help put on a band aid. Mothers are amazing people!

    Today is mother’s day. We want our mothers (or whoever looks after us) to know how much we appreciate them. So make sure you tell them how much you love them and are thankful for all they do. Also, let’s thank God too. He is the one who made mothers!

    Children’s Prayer: Dear God, Thank you so much for giving us mothers (or whoever it is who looks after us). They are such wonderful people. Please bless them today and show us how we can show our love to them in return. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

    Copyright 2017 Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Feel free to use this on Sunday morning but please "like" this on facebook and consider linking to this web site. Thank you!  A.H.

  • Prophet without honor

    A prophet without honor Mark 6: 1-13  honor medal

    Children’s sermon idea: Show the children some visual symbols we use to honor people. Explain how Jesus was not always honored by those around him. Help the children understand how we are not always honored or understood when we share the love of Jesus with others.

    Props: Anything that we use to honor people. An Olympic medal, a fancy chair, large sign with the words “THANK YOU”.

    *(As an alternative / addition you could have the congregation give a cheer of approval or a frown)

    Full Children’s sermon: Good morning children! Do you see this medal? What sort of person would you give this to? That’s right, someone how won a race or did really well at some sports event. Who would you give a giant thank you card to? Yes, someone who did something that you really appreciated. Who might you get to sit in a really fancy chair like this? Sometimes people show their appreciation by cheering. I’m going to get the congregation to give you followers of Jesus a big cheer. (Prompt the congregation to rousing cheer.) Wow! That felt pretty good, didn’t it! We all like to be appreciated and we all like it when people say thank you for something we did. There is a word that explains how we might feel. It’s the word “honor” (You might want to unpack this a bit. You could also ask the congregation to frown as that look at the children.)

    You probably know that Jesus travelled around doing good wherever he went. But did you know that not everyone was happy with him? Not everyone honored him. In fact, sometimes even those very close to him did not understand or honor him for the wonderful things he did. You might think that everybody would be happy with what he did but that is not what always happened.

    As followers of Jesus, we will not always be appreciated or honored for the good things we do. In fact, sometimes close friends may make fun of us or get angry at us. This happened to Jesus, and it will sometimes happen to us. When that happens, it might make us sad, but we should not stop doing good and showing love to others! It’s nice when people honor us with a cheer or a word of thanks, but we need to keep following Jesus even when nobody seems to care.

    (You might want to wrap up the message by getting the congregation to give a big cheer for the kids.)

    First Place / Gold Medal

    Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you that Jesus kept on showing love to people even when some didn’t appreciate it. When people don’t say thank you (and honor) us, help us to know that YOU love us. That is the most important thing. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

    Copyright SundayChildrensFocus.com Andrew Hewlett 2021

    (Feel free to use this on Sunday morning but please give credit to this site and “Like” us on your social media platform. Thank you! A.H.)