Children's Sermon / Object lesson Mark 4: 26-34 The Kingdom of God and the mustard seed
This parable emphasizes the small, humble beginnings of the Kingdom. (Not what many people expected)
Basic Children’s sermon idea: Hold up a small seed and then show the sort of large bush that it can grow into. Explain that this is how the Kingdom of God and /or the Church of God grows. It starts with small beginnings.
Props needed: A small seed and a large bush in a pot.
Children’s sermon / object lesson: Good morning children! Can you see what I have in my hand? It’s very hard to see. Look closely and you will see a very small seed. It doesn’t look very important. It doesn’t look very powerful. It looks like it would never get any bigger.
However, if left a seed like this in the ground, and watered it, and left it grow, it would slowly grow into a large bush like this one over here. That is amazing that such a large bush could come from such a small seed.
Jesus said that this is how his Kingdom would grow. Some people expected that it would start with an amazing show of power. But Jesus said it would start very small way – like this little seed. Jesus started telling people about God and his wonderful love. Later his followers told others of how Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to die for us. It did not seem like a powerful beginning. However, just like a little seed in the ground his kingdom grew bigger and bigger. At first there were just a few believers in Jesus. Now, many years later his kingdom family stretches all around the world. There are followers of Jesus in every country of the world.
Kid’s prayer: Dear God, thank you for the good news message of Jesus and his love. Thank you that even though this good news message started with just a few people that it now has grown to be a huge church family all around the world. In Jesus name – Amen!
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Lectionary
Greatness - Being the Servant of all Request of James and John
John 3: 21 “Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light…” Lent 4
Overview of the spontaneous drama: Ask the children if they have ever played “Hide and Seek”. Have the young children pretend to hide from God in a dark hidden place close by. (Do this up at the front of the Church or in your home. You could dim the lights to add to the effect.) Hold up a candle or other light and explain how this reminds us of Jesus who is the light of the world. Ask them to come out of hiding and walk towards the light (as you hold up the lit candle for all to see). Explain that the life and love of Jesus is like a light shining out into the world and that we need to come to that wonderful light.
Full drama: Good morning children! Have you ever played a game called “hide and seek”? It really is a fun game where you do your best to hide from the leader. However, you might not know that some people actually try to hide from God! They might not be living the way that God wants so they think it’s best to try to hide from God. Do you think a person can hide from God? No. You are right. It’s impossible to hide from God. Now, just for fun, I want you to pretend to hide from God just up front here in our church. I’ll count to 10 to give you time to hide – just close by in this area. (If possible dim the lights a bit to make the light stand out.) Ok, I hope you can still hear me as you are pretending to hide from God. Now in a few seconds I am going to light a candle. This candle reminds us of Jesus Christ who is the light of the world. This light reminds us of his life and love that is shining out into a dark world. Now I am going to hold up the candle. I want you now to peek out from where you are hiding and look at the light. When you see that light I want you to now come out and walk to this light. That’s right, come out from your hiding place and come to the light. (When the children are all together close to you and the candle ask the congregation to give a cheer!)
You did that very well children. (Ask them to be seated.) That little drama reminds us that we shouldn’t try to hide from God. We should come out from hiding and come to the light of Jesus Christ. His life and love is like a warm and bright light shining out into the world. We want to come close to the wonderful light and not try to hide from him. We can come close to the light of Jesus Christ by living the way he wants us to live. We can come close to Jesus by telling him (in prayer) that we want to follow him and know him more.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you that Jesus is like a wonderful light shining out into the world. When we are tempted to hide from you, help us to remember your life and love is shining out to us like a guiding light. And help us to come near to you so we can know you better each day. In Jesus’ name – Amen!
(Later at home you might want to discuss ways that we hide from God. You might also want to discuss ways that we can draw near to Jesus and welcome him in our lives and hearts.)
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Children's object lesson on Repentance
Basic idea: Engage the children in pretending you are early Christians trying to hide from Roman soldiers 2000 years ago. To add to the drama by placing some secret fish symbols in various places leading the way to where you will secretly worship. Explain how Christians still must do this in some countries today.
(Ahead of time: Place some secret fish symbols on door posts and hallways. This might lead to a secret room where you will open and read from a hidden bible. )
Hold up a Christian fish symbol. Ask the children where they have seen this sign. Explain how the early Christians sometimes used this as a secret symbol during times of persecution. Then ask the children to very quiet and imagine they are hiding from Roman soldiers. Lead the way and help them to discover the “secret” Christian fish symbols on the way to the meeting place. When you arrive at the secret location find a “hidden” bible and read out some encouraging bible passages in hushed tones.
Debrief: Explain how thankful we are that we live in a time and place where we don’t have to be afraid of following Christ. (That being said, you could give examples of how Christians are sometime made fun of because of their faith in Jesus) Let the children know that in some places of the world Christians must to hide and even suffer greatly for their faith. Lead in prayer for the persecuted church (their brothers and sisters in Christ)
Children’s prayer: Dear God, thank you that we live in a country where we can freely talk about Jesus and his love. Please help our Christian brothers and sisters (and show us how we might help them) in those places where they are suffering for being followers of Jesus. In Jesus’ name – Amen!
Sundaychildrensfocus – Andrew Hewlett 2021
In Mark 6:31 Jesus said: “Come away with me to a quite place and get some rest.” (Rough Draft)
Summary: Gather the children up front and tell them you have some important things to tell them / read to them. Prearrange to have a number of people interrupt you with various distractions. (Prayer requests, your cell phone going off, people asking for various things. Have some fun with this.) Explain how it’s not working very well with all the noise and distractions. Tell the children about the Mark chapter 6 where Jesus was tired and exhausted by all the people in need and how he asked his disciple get away with him to a quiet place. Explain how we all need time to withdraw from the crowds and spend some quiet time with Jesus.
Full children’s message for the text this week: (Pre-arrange to have various people interrupt you and distract you.) Good morning children! I want you to gather around me while I read out a very important words from the bible (I’m going to read out some special Jesus sayings from the gospel of John). Begin reading in a soft voice as the interrupting people come forward with various requests. Be friendly but make it clear that your quiet time with the children is not working very well with all the disruptions.
Debrief: Well children, I’m not sure if you heard those important words from the bible with all the people bothering us. In the Gospel of Mark (chapter 6) it says that Jesus and the disciples were healing people and doing wonderful things. However, there were so many people in need they were getting exhausted. Jesus encouraged the disciples to come away with him to a quiet place where they could get some rest.
In our lives we can become so busy and bothered that we need to get away and spend time alone with Jesus. In fact, I think we should find some time ever day just to be alone with Jesus. We don’t need to go far. It might be in a quiet room in the house or your favourite spot outside in the yard.(Just make sure you tell your parents where you are.) It just needs to be some place that is quiet. We could read our bible, pray or just be rest quietly. You might think of Jesus and the wonderful things he did or listen for his still small voice of love and assurance. Jesus wanted to spend time alone with the disciples and he also wants to spend quiet time with us as well.
Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you that Jesus wanted his disciples to come away with him to be together and find rest. Please help us to set aside some time in our busy day) to rest with you and your Son Jesus. In Jesus’ name – Amen!
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