Group Experiences for K-5Th Grades s3

252 Groups July 2015, Week 3

Small Group, K-1

252® Groups

Group Experiences for K-5th Grades

Scripture marked “NIrV” is taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL READER'S VERSION®.

Used by permission of Biblica.

Scripture marked “NIV” is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®,

Statement of Faith

ABOUT GOD

God is the one and only true God, yet He exists in three persons: God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is the Creator, so
everything belongs to Him and is under His control. God is holy, so He is
righteous, majestic, and loving. God is all knowing and purposeful, so He’s
at work to bring about His will. No person, thing, or idea compares to God.

ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES

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

ABOUT PEOPLE

People are made in God’s image and for His pleasure. But everybody falls
short of God’s intention, or ideal, for people. In other words, everyone has
sinned. As a result, we are all separated from Him, even though He wants
an intimate relationship with each of us.

ABOUT SALVATION

That’s why Jesus—God’s Son—came and lived on this earth, died, and
rose again. God offers His free gift of salvation to all who believe in Jesus
and accept Him as Savior—the only way to be forgiven and reconciled to
God. Anyone who accepts this gift is adopted as a son or daughter into
God’s family and will live with Him forever in heaven.

User Agreement

I Walk the Lion

Bible Story: Daniel in the Lion’s Den • Daniel 6

Bottom Line: Get in the habit of standing for what’s right.

Memory Verse: “Finally, let the Lord make you strong. Depend on his mighty power.” Ephesians 6:10, NIrV

Life App: Conviction—standing for what is right even when others don’t.

Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

GET READY

Prepare ahead of time for kindergarten–1st grade Small Groups this week:

Plug In: Focus the Energy (Choose one or both of these activities.)

Early Arriver

· An offering container

Get in the Habit

· No supplies needed

Catch On: Make the Connection (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 #2. Activity #1 is particularly good for children who need to move in order to stay engaged.

Pass the Sticks (Bible story review/ application activity / great for active learners/)

· Large wooden Popsicle sticks; one per kid

· Black, orange, and red yarn; cut yarn into 2-inch pieces

· A piece of yellow construction paper

· Elmer’s® glue (or other white, liquid glue)

· 2 or 3 Sharpies®

Give Me a “C!” (application activity)

· Pipe cleaners, 2 per child; cut into 3-inch pieces

ROAR! (memory verse activity)

· No supplies needed

Prayer

· No supplies needed

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 tohttp://www.Studio252.tv/leaders.

· STAND UP: Get in the Story – We have the perfect 8-week devotional for your kids to dive into God’s story and figure out how they can STAND UP for what’s right! At the beginning of each week, you’ll read about one of the many people who got into God’s story by standing up for what’s right. Then, each day of the week, this book will take you through a new devotional thought or activity that helps you discover ways you can stand up and get in the story!

FOR LEADERS ONLY

GOD VIEW: the connection between CONVICTION and God’s character,

as shown through God’s big story

This summer we’ll be spending June and July discovering more about what the Bible has to say about conviction—standing for what’s right, even when others don't.

Lots of people have conviction, but often when they act with conviction they come across as arrogant or smug. But that’s not what conviction is about at all. It’s not about what a person thinks is right because it’s too easy to become convicted about the wrong thing. Conviction has to be rooted in something deeper and more dependable than a personal opinion. It needs to be rooted in Scripture and what God says is right. And often it’s not even just standing for something that’s right; it’s also about standing for something that’s right in the right way. And that takes some practice, especially because standing for what’s right and showing conviction, may not win any popularity contests.

That’s why we’re taking the summer to help kids understand a little bit more about Conviction. Conviction is standing for what’s right, even when others don't. Let’s take Jesus for example.

Even for Jesus, the Son of God, it wasn’t always popular to do the right thing.

Sometimes doing the right thing meant hanging out with tax collectors, blessing the little children, or even forgiving someone who had done something wrong. No matter what it was that Jesus needed to do, He did it because it was the right thing to do.

But doing the right thing often made Jesus stand apart from some of the rich and powerful people of His time. They didn’t like what He was doing or saying, but Jesus never let those crowds persuade Him to go against what God, His Father, wanted Him to do. Even when it meant going to the cross to die, Jesus knew that it was the right thing, and He did it.

Jesus was able to live with conviction because He knew the will of His Father, and that gave Him strength and courage. In the same way, God has given us the ability to know what is right and the ability to do it. You see, when we are fueled by God’s character, we will stand up for the things that matter to God.

This week we’re discovering …

For week three, we finish up our journey through Daniel’s life with probably his most famous story. That’s right: The Lion’s Den. In Daniel 6, we discover that even in the face of death, Daniel’s habit of praying to God was unbreakable. God came to the rescue and Daniel was saved.

Bottom Line: Get in the habit of standing for what’s right. Kids will learn that the more they stand up for what’s right, the easier it gets. When you have a relationship with God, you realize that He will help you show conviction.

Our memory verse for the month is Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, let the Lord make you strong. Depend on His mighty power.” No matter the situation, God’s power can help you when you need to have conviction.

I Walk the Lion

Bible Story: Daniel in the Lion’s Den • Daniel 6

Bottom Line: Get in the habit of standing for what’s right.

Memory Verse: “Finally, let the Lord make you strong. Depend on his mighty power.” Ephesians 6:10, NIrV

Life App: Conviction—standing for what is right even when others don’t.

Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

Plug In: Focus the Energy (Small Groups, 10-15 minutes)

Focus the energy on today’s Bible story in a Small Group setting with an engaging discussion question and an interactive opening activity.

Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group for the first time. Today’s focus is so applicable in a kid’s world. Pray that God would give your kids the courage and conviction to stand for what’s right, especially when it means standing up for others. Ask God to show kids the opportunities in their lives where they might need to make a choice to stand up for someone else.

1. Early Arriver Idea

What You Need: An offering container

What You Do:

Greet kids as they arrive and encourage them to place their offerings in the container. Talk about their week. Remind them that conviction is standing for what’s right even when others don’t. Ask kids to share about a time when they did the right thing this week. To get them started, ask if anyone obeyed a parent or teacher this week, even if no one else was obeying. As the kids are sharing, have them begin to glue the yarn around the edge of the sticks for the Bible story review activity.

2. Get in the Habit

What You Need: No supplies needed

What You Do:

Talk about the word habit. Explain to the group that a habit is any behavior, good or bad, that is regularly repeated. Some habits are good ones and some are bad. Give the kids a few examples: smacking your food or chewing with your mouth open, chewing on a pencil/eraser, brushing your teeth, etc. Quickly divide your space into two sides. One side is for bad habits, one for good habits. Read from the “Habit List” below and instruct the kids to run to one side or the other depending on whether they think it’s a good or bad habit.

Habit List

Smacking your gum

Grinding your teeth

Turning off the light as you leave the room

Saying, “Please” and “Thank You”

Mumbling an answer to your mom

Eating your veggies

Leaving your wet towel on the floor

Putting your clothes in the laundry room

Flossing your teeth

Saying “Hello” and looking the person in the eye when you greet someone

Biting your fingernails

Putting your toys away as you finish playing with them

Interrupting someone else when they’re talking

What You Say:

“Great job, everyone! I think we all pretty much agree on which habits are good and which are bad. [Transition] Let’s head to Large Group and find out about another REALLY important habit we all can agree is a good one."

Lead your group to the Large Group area.

Catch On: Make the Connection (Small Groups, 25-30 minutes)

Make the connection of how today’s Bible story applies to real life experiences through interactive activities and discussion questions.

1. Pass the Sticks (review the Bible story / great for active learners/ optional classroom-wide activity)

What You Need: Large Popsicle sticks; orange/ red/ black yarn; a small scrap of yellow construction paper; Elmer’s® Glue; Sharpie® pens

What You Do:

Pass out the Popsicle sticks and instruct the kids to glue the yarn/construction paper (see below for specifics) around the outside of their sticks to create the following characters from today’s story. You can create more than one of each character depending on the number of kids in your group. Allow kids to choose the character they want to create, but make sure you have at least one of each of the following:

· Daniel: black yarn

· King Darius: small construction paper crown

· 2 mean leaders: black yarn

· Lions from the lions’ den: orange and red yarn

Help the kids in your group use the Sharpie® pens to draw faces on their sticks. Make sure to draw mean faces on the “mean leaders’” faces and to include whiskers on the lions. Once finished, allow the kids to act out the story with their sticks, as you read the following key points below.

Key Points

1. Daniel followed and trusted God and was given lots of responsibility by King Darius.

2. The mean leaders were jealous and decided to get Daniel in trouble.

3. The mean leaders convinced King Darius to create a law stating that for 30 days, everyone could only bow down and pray to him.

4. Daniel refused to bow down and pray to the king and continued his normal routine of praying to God three times a day.

5. The mean leaders found him praying and turned him in to the king.

6. The King had no choice but to throw Daniel into the lion’s den.

7. God shut the mouths of the lions and protected Daniel.

8. King Darius recognized that Daniel’s God was the one true God.

What You Say:

“What would you have done if you had been in Daniel’s shoes? Would you have refused to pray to the king? (Pause for responses.) That’s exactly what Daniel did. See, Daniel had already been following God long enough to know that he could trust Him in any situation. Because he was in the habit of doing the right thing, he knew that God was on his side.

[Apply] “When you do the right thing, God is always right there with you too, just like He was there with Daniel. And the more you do the right thing, the easier it will be to follow God the next time. So, [Impress] get in the habit of standing for what’s right.”

* 2. Give Me a “C!” (application activity)

What You Need: Pipe cleaners; scissors

What You Do:

Help kids to wind two of the pipe cleaners together to form the letter “C.” Then help them wind the “Cs” around their shoestrings to attach them to the tops of their shoes. Read the scenarios below and discuss how they can stand with conviction in each of these situations.