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discipleship

  • Kingdom is like a Mustard Seed Children's sermon

    Children's Sermon / Object lesson    Mark 4: 26-34 The Kingdom of God and the mustard seed

    A tiny mustard seed is held between the index finger and the thumb. A perfect illustration of Jesus' teaching in the Bible.       Faith of 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!

    Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus 2021 Feel free you use this on Sunday morning but please “Like” this on the Home Page link. Thank you. A.H.

  • Being great - being a servant

    Lectionary 

    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.

  • Building others up

    Build one another up

     

    Kids talk / Sunday school lesson on using words to build up and not tear down.  

     ministry prayer

    Lectionary reading from Ephesians 4:25-5:2 (Instead of the Gospel of John) -- Trinity 9

     
    Kids talk idea: Show how words can build people up or tear them down. Have someone stand in front of the children who can physically respond to words of discouragement or words of encouragement.
     
    Full Children’s talk: Good morning children! Did you know that the words that we say to people are very powerful? In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Christians he told them that we need to make sure we use our words for building people up and not for tearing them down. I’ll show you how that works. Betty is going to help us see just how our words can build up or tear down. (Prior to your talk make sure your volunteer cringes, wilts, and gets smaller every time something nasty is said. Make sure they know to stand up tall when they are encouraged). Children, watch how my words will affect Betty.
    Hello Betty it’s good to see you! (Betty will intuitively stand up tall).
     I really wanted to get Carol to help me but she is away so I guess you’ll do. (Betty will wilt a bit a bit).
    By the way. Why are you wearing blue today? Everybody else is wearing yellow (Betty crumples a bit more).
    Another thing Betty; you look a little bent over. Maybe you need to get some more exercise. (You get the idea. Betty should be almost knelling sadly on the floor)
     
    Look what has happened Children. I don’t think I was very kind to Betty. My words did not build her up. In fact, my words discouraged her and tore her down. How do you think we can build her up? Say some thing to her that might encourage her and build her up. (Let the children make encouraging comments and watch Betty slowly get built back up until she is standing nice and tall) That was wonderful children. You were very good at using your words to build her up. Let’s have the congregation give you a cheer for being so good at building her up. Also, thank you Betty for helping out.
     
    Betty did exaggerate a little to help with my story but all of us know how important it is to be built up and encouraged by others.
     
    Pray: God, thank you that our words have a wonderful power. Through your Holy Spirit help us to always use our words to encourage, and build others up. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen!
     
    Copyright 2009 Andrew Hewlett 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. Thank you. A.H.
     
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  • Children's fun lesson on coming to the light of Jesus Christ

    Children's lesson - Come to the Light of Jesus Christ -

    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.)

    Copyright 2018 Sundaychildrensfocus  Andrew Hewlett - Feel free to use this on Sunday morning but please give me credit and click on the facebook "Like" on the life side of the page.  Thank you! A.H.

     

  • Children's object lesson -Watch what you say


     

    Children’s Sermon: The power of words.

     (this object lesson has been floating around in Christian circles for many years)
    Object Lesson Idea:
    What we say can hurt others and hurt ourselves. This is a well known toothpaste tube object lesson about being careful about what we say to others. Once we say something we can’t take those words back. It’s like trying to get toothpaste back in the tube after it has been squeezed out.
     
    Objects needed: Toothpaste tube(and a toothbrush)
     
    Full Children’s Object Lesson:
    Good Morning Children. What are some of the things you do when you get up in the morning? After having breakfast what do you do to make sure your teeth are nice and clean? That’s right, you brush your teeth! I brought my toothpaste and toothbrush along this morning because it can help explain something that Jesus taught. Two of the bible readings that we have today (James ch.1 & Mark ch7) talk about being careful what we say to others. Without thinking we can say things to another person that really hurts them. After saying something hurtful or mean we might realize what we have done and we would like to take those words back – but it’s too late. Once we have said something to another person we can’t take those words back. It is like this toothpaste tube. Sometimes I squeeze far too much toothpaste out of the tube (demonstrate). You can try to put it back in (demonstrate) but it just doesn’t work. It just makes a mess. Once the toothpaste is out of the tube it is too late to put it back in. Saying an unkind word to another person is pretty easy to do. It is as easy as squeezing this toothpaste out of a tube. We would like to take those words back but we can’t get them back. (You could get the children to say something and then to try to grab those words in the air and put them back in their mouths. It doesn’t work.) Perhaps you have had someone say unkind words to you and you know how that feels. Always make sure your words won’t hurt another person because once you have spoken those words it’s too late to take them back. Tomorrow morning when you squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube remember this lesson and do your best to speak kind words to whoever you talk to during the day. 
     
    Children's Prayer: Dear God, we know that our words can bless others or hurt others. We know that we can’t get our words back once we have spoken them so help us, through your Holy Spirit, to make sure our words are always spoken in love. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
     
    Sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett 2009

    lightoftheworld

  • Children's object lesson on Repentance

    Children's object lesson on Repentance

  • Children's object lesson Video on Repentance

    Children's object lesson on Repentance

     

  • Children's Sermon - Feed my Sheep

     

    Kids object lesson: Feed my Sheep– Take care of my sheep     John 21:1-19    Easter 3  

     
    Children’s Sermon idea: Explain to the children a time when you went away and entrusted a pet animal to someone else to look after. Describe your love for the animal and how you asked them to feed your pet and look after it. Tell the children how Jesus asked Peter to “feed my sheep” and “take care of my sheep.”As Jesus’ sheep, encourage the children to think of ways they can “feed” and “take care” of one another.
     
    Object lessonProps: Items for taking cared of a household pet. (Bowl, brush, leash, treats, medicine, etc)
     
    Children’s Sermon: Feed my Sheep– Take care of my Sheep
    Good morning children. How many of you have a pet? Did you know that we once had a dog named “Deacon?” He was a very special dog and we loved him a lot. Here are some of the things we used to take care of him. Here is the brush we used to brush his hair. We would feed him by putting his food in this dog bowl. Here is the soap we would use when we would give him a bath. He was very special to us so we made sure we showed our love by taking good care of him. One day we had to go away on a trip and we had our neighbour look after Deacon. As we were preparing to go away we brought Deacon to our neighbour’s house along with all these things. We showed them how to feed Deacon. We showed them how to brush his hair. We gave our neighbour the leash and showed where Deacon enjoyed going for a walk. We wanted to make sure that our neighbour took care of our very special dog!
    In our bible reading today from John’s gospel, Jesus said to Peter, “feed my sheep” and take care of them. Jesus wasn’t talking about the kind of sheep that have wool and go bah bah bah. Who do you think these sheep were that he wanted Peter to look after? Right! He was talking about his followers. When Jesus was talking about “my sheep” he was thinking about the people who followed him and loved him. They were people like you and me. If we are followers of Jesus we part of that flock of sheep. Jesus was going to go back to his heavenly father and he wanted to make sure Peter would feed and care for that flock of people who loved and followed Jesus. Jesus wanted to know that they were going to be fed and looked after by leaders like Peter. Our Pastor is a leader like Peter and his/her job is to look after us, feed us, and lead us in the right direction. In fact, all of us need to do what we can to care for one another. If we are Jesus’ sheep how can we care for one another? (Let the children respond) Those are some good ideas. Let’s always do what we can to take care of one another. That’s something Jesus would want us to do.
     
    Children’s Prayer: Dear God, help us to feed and take care of our pets and animals. As your sheep, help us to “feed” and take care of one another just like Jesus asked Peter to do. In Jesus’ name – Amen!

    Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking to this site. - Blessings, A.H.
     
     

  • Children's Sermon - Fishers of Men

     

    Children's Sermon / Sunday School lesson: Fishers of Men


    Sunday school talk/ Sermon idea: Luke 5:1-11   Fishers of Men
    Show the children a large fishing net or use a blanket as a pretend fish net. Explain how they used to fish with nets and how Jesus said his disciples were to be “fishers of men” or “fishers of people.”
    Have the children take a corner of the “net” and move about “catching” some people and bringing them in to your group. (Alternative: Consider making a “net” by having some of the kid’s link arms together.”)
     
      fisher of men
    Objects needed: a large piece of netting or a blanket that you can use as a pretend fishing net.
     
    Complete children’s sermon/ Sunday school lesson introduction: Evangelism
     
    Good morning children! The bible reading that we have for today is about Jesus telling his disciples that he is going to make them “fishers of people.” One day Jesus met some fishermen named Peter, James and John. After doing a wonderful miracle of catching many fish, Jesus called them to follow him. He said that he would change their jobs from being fishers of fish to being fisher on men /people! Instead of catching fish Jesus wanted them to start catching people! He wanted them to tell others about Jesus and bring them along as followers. Instead of bringing fish into the boat he wanted them to bring people into the church and into the Kingdom of God. I want to show you what I mean. I need a few of you to come over here. (Have some of the children stand a little ways away from the group.) Let’s pretend that you don’t know anything about Jesus and his love. OK. Now let’s have some more of you stand over here. (Have another little group stand off to the other side) Let’s pretend they don’t know about Jesus and his love either. Now the rest of us here will be the “fishers of men.”Some of you can take the corners of this blanket. Perfect! Now let’s go and do some fishing. Follow me. Hey! Look over here. These people look a little lost. I think we need to bring them into the Kingdom of God. Let’s come around them and bring them into the church. (Scoop them up and bring them front and center.) Great. However, there are still some more people over there that look like they are on the outside. Let’s go and fish for those people. (“Net” these people and bring them in so you are all together as a big group.) You did a good job being fishers of people.
    Although we don’t use a real net to bring people to Jesushe does want us to go out and “catch” people and bring them in the Kingdom. There are many things we can do to be good fishers of people. We can show love and care to other people. We can tell them about Jesus and his wonderful love. We can pray for them. And we can invite them here to church where they can experience some of the love and joy of the family of God. With the Holy Spirit’s help they just might decide to be followers of Jesus, just like the rest of us fish!
     
    Children’s Prayer: Dear God, as followers of Jesus help us to be good fishers of men. Help us show your love by our words and by our actions so that many people would be brought into your Kingdom. Help us to be good fishers of men like Peter, James and John. Amen!

    Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Andrew Hewlett  Feel free to use this talk on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site. Blessings, A.H.

     

  • Children's sermon - Temptation in the wilderness

     

    Children's Church lesson: Temptation in the Wilderness


           Luke 4:1-13 Yes to God - No to Satan / Sin  - LENT


    Basic Children's sermon idea:Tell the children about the importance of saying NO to sin. Make up YES and a NO signs on cardboard. Present some situations to the children and ask them to respond (Yes or No) in unison. Highlight the importance of firmly saying “NO!” to what we know to be wrong.
     
    Objects needed: A piece of cardboard with the word “YES.” And a piece of cardboard with the word “NO!”
     
    Full children’s sermon:
    Good morning children. Today our bible reading is about the time when Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Jesus knew it was important to say YES to God the Father’s truth in the bible but that he needed to say NO to Satan. As followers of Jesus it is important for us to say YES to God and NO to what is not of God. I’ll show you what I mean. I brought two signs with me today. What does this sign say? (Hold up the YES sign) That’s right, it says yes. I’m going to hold the sign up again and let’s say it all together loudly – YES! Good. Now, let’s use our imagination:
     
    -If you’re parents asked you to help them bring in the groceries from the car it would be good to say…(Hold up the YES sign) YES! …That’s right. Say it loudly.
    -If you felt God was asking you to help encourage your friend who was sad, it would be good to say….YES.
    (Give some more situations)
     
    Now I want to tell you about using another word. (Hold us the NO! sign) It’s the word “No.” Sometimes we are tempted to do things that are wrong. At those times it’s important to use the word NO. Let’s practice saying this word all together like we really mean it. (Hold up the sign…) NO! – That’s great.
     
    -What if you were in a candy store and someone said to steal a candy off the shelf. What should we say? (Hold up the NO sign) NO! – Good! That’s the right thing to say.
    - What if you were walking home from school and a stranger said “come into my care I have a special gift for you.” What would you say…NO! (I agree, that is the smart thing to say)
    - What if someone said, “Let’s go over there and make fun of that person over there?” What are you going to say? (Hold up the NO! sign). Well done. That’s the right word to use when we are being tempted to do something we shouldn’t do.
     
    (Get the congregation to give them a cheer for giving such wise answers)
     
    Children. I want you to know that those two words; YES and NO, are very important words. When God leading us in the way he wants us to go we always want to say YES. However, when we are tempted to do something that’s wrong we want to say NO! That word can help us stay out of trouble and can help us follow Jesus.
     
    Children’s prayer: Thank you God that Jesus always said NO to Satan and his ways, and YES to you and your ways in times of temptation. Help us to always say yes to you and to have the courage to say NO! to Satan and his ways that so often lead us into danger. In Jesus Name, Amen!

    Copyright sundaychildrensfocus.com   Andrew Hewlett   Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site. Thank you -- A.H.





    Sorry - couldn't resist inserting this picture: Lead us not into temptation!

  • Children's Sermon -Take up your Cross



    Sunday Lesson – Children’s sermon: Take up your Cross

    Show the children a small cross. Show them a full size cross and remind them of how hard it would be to carry a real life size cross. Taking up our cross and following Jesus is sometimes hard and sometimes it hurts. Mark 8: 27-38 Trinity 14
     
    Object lessonprops: small ornamental cross or necklace, large cross (made out of old 2x4s, 4x4s, or even better 6x6s!)take up cross
     
     
    Children’s sermon: Good Morning Children. This morning one of our bible readings is from Mark chapter 7 where Jesus told his disciples to “take up their cross” and “follow him (Jesus).” (Consider reading the text out loud.) Hmmm. I wonder what he meant?
    Look at this cross I have here in my hand. This would be pretty easy to “take up and carry.” Hold this cross in your hands. Do you agree that this cross would be easy to carry around? If this is the type of cross that Jesus was taking about when he said “take up your cross and follow me,” then following Jesus would be pretty easy. But of course this is just a small cross. The cross that Jesus suffered and died on was a very big cross.
    (Carry out the life size cross) Look at the size of this cross. Even this one was not as big as the real cross that Jesus had to carry before he died. Feel how heavy it is. (Let some of the children pick it up.) Do you think this cross would be harder to carry around than this little one? When Jesus said we needed to “take up our cross and follow him” he was trying to tell us that following him would sometimes be hard and would sometimes hurt.
    These small crosses are to remind us of the big cross that Jesus had to carry and also remind us of how he suffered and laid down his life for us in love. Crosses also remind us that when we follow Jesus it will sometimes hurt – it may even sometime feel like we are dying! So, when you think of the cross, think of the big heavy cross that Jesus had to carry. Think of his love. And remember that following him is not always easy and is even sometimes painful. (Idea: If you had time you could discuss some examples of how following Jesus is sometime inconvenient and sometimes painful.)
     
    Pray: Thank you God that Jesus loved us so much he was willing to take up his cross and suffer for us. Help us to be willing to “take up our own cross” and suffer for Jesus. Thank you God for your great love and for your Holy Spirit who will give us strength and joy even when following you is hard to do. – In Jesus’ name, Amen!
     
    (Consider getting the children to leave the room, helping one another carry the large cross)

    Copyright 2009 Andrew Hewlett sundaychildrensfocus.com   Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus and consider linking to this site. Thank you. A.H.

     

     

  • Children's Sermon for All Saints Day

     

    Children's Sermon for All Saints Day    
    All Saints Day
    Idea for Children’s Sermon    : All Saint’s Day
    Show the children your family photo album. Show the children your pictures telling them about your family roots. Highlight some heroic deeds and tell them how proud you are to be a descendant. Bring out the Bible and tell them that as well as our natural family we are also part of the family of God. The Bible is our “family history” telling the story of our ancestors in faith that we call Saints.
     
    Object Lesson Props: (1) A Bible, (2) your family photo album
     
    Full Children’s Sermon:
    Good morning children. Many churches celebrate this Sunday as “All Saints Day.” On this day we remember all the believers in the family of God that have gone before us, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and others that we read about in the bible as well as the many other men and women of God who were disciples of Jesus Christ down through the ages. I want to say more about this but first I wanted to show you something I brought from home. (Hold up your family photo album.) Do you know what this is? That’s right. It’s my family picture album. I’d love to show it to you. Look at this elderly man here. This is my grandfather Ernie. He was a wonderful man. He had a bad leg because he was injured in the war but he worked very hard on his orchard growing apples. I’ve always been inspired by how much he loved us and how he was such a hard worker. And here is my grandmother MacKinnon. In the summers we used to go with her to the lake. She was very caring and looked after us if we ever got hurt. I often look at this photo album because it reminds me of family members I used to know and even one that I never got to meet because they died before I was born. (Put down the photo album and hold up your bible.) Do you know what this book this is? Right, it’s a bible. I like reading the bible too. As believers in Jesus Christ we are all part of the family of God. The bible is a book about members of the family of God that goes back many, many years. (Open up the bible.) This part of the bible talks about a man names Abraham who had great trust in God. This part talks about Moses who led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. This part talks about God’s son Jesus and about the disciples, John, James, Peter, etc. We call them Saints. Saints are people who have been “set apart” for God’s holy / special purposes. In a sense we are all saints, but we like to specially remember them because they knew Jesus and were the first to follow him. What I want you to understand is that these Saints that are mentioned in the bible are really part of our family – the family of God. So you see that the bible is like our family album. It tells the story of great men and women of faith in the family of God; the same faith family that we belong to!
     
    Children’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the many and wonderful saints that followed Jesus down through the ages. Help us to follow their good examples and to remember what a blessing it is to be in the same family of faith. We ask this in Jesus’ name – Amen!

    Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site. Thank you. A.H.

  • Children's sermon for Lent


    Children's sermon for Lent -
    Themes: Lent, reflect, prayer, spiritual danger, listening to God   

    Bible Texts: Phil.4:6, Col.4:2, Eph. 6 :18

    Children's Sermon idea: When crossing a street to get to where we want to go it is best to Stop, Look and Listen before crossing. The season of Lent(a time of prayer and self examination) is about taking time to Stop, Look and Listen on our life journey.
    Full Children's Story: Good morning boys and girls. In about 40 days we will be celebrating Easter. That’s the time we celebrate Jesus being raised from the dead. In our church we call this 40 day preparation period Lent. It’s a special season of prayer where we take a look at our own lives and make sure we are doing what God wants us to do and becoming the people God wants us to be. Now, everyone stand up and follow me. I want you to pretend someone has asked us to come and play in the park. Let’s go! (Make a little trip around the pulpit, past some chairs and get them to stop up front) Ok, there is park; it looks like they are having fun there. But first let’s pretend there is a road right in front of us here. What should we do? Should we just go straight across? (Let the children respond.) That’s right. We need to STOP. (Have the children join you as if you were all lined up on the edge of a road ready to cross.) Then what should we do after stopping? That’s right we need to LOOK to see if a car is coming. (Get them to look both ways.) Then what? That’s right we need to LISTEN. (Put you hands up and cup your ears.) OK, we took time to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN. It looks safe so now we can cross. Great! (To the congregation:) Let’s give the children a cheer for helping me out so well here. (I’m always getting the congregation to clap and cheer in order for the kids to feel build up and affirmed.)
    Children, what you have just done is very important. If we are going to keep safe while going to all the exciting places we want to go to we need to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN before crossing streets. In life it is important to do the same thing. We get so busy and we are often in a rush. It’s very important that we take time to STOP, to LOOK around and think about what we are doing. Are we doing what God wants us to do? Are we becoming the sort of person that God wants us to be? And we need to LISTEN to God, by reading the Bible and taking time to pray. This season of Lent that I mentioned before is a great time to do just that. If we do take time to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN we can make sure our lives our lined up with God, that we are safe and that we will enjoy all the wonderful adventures that God has for us.

    Pray:     Dear God. Help us always remember to take time to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN when we are crossing a street. Help us also to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN especially during this time of year called Lent.
    Copyright 2009 Andrew Hewlett - sundaychildrensfocus.com  Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking to this site.  Thanks  - A.H.

  • Children's sermon on the persecuted church

    Lectionary 

    Children’s sermon on the persecuted church

    Kid’s message on the persecuted church – those suffering for Jesus

    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. )  fish symbol persecuted church

    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

  • Children's sermon on the widow's mite

    Children's Sermon on the Widow's offering  (or The Widow's Mite)

    Mark 12: 38-43 Children's message for Trinity 22 - a Widow's offering

    Children’s Sermon Idea: Spontaneous Drama: Have one of the children pour a large container of coins into a box. Add pomp and ceremony with the kids doing cheering, drum rolls and trumpets. Have another child come up and add two pennies. Discuss with the children the astounding truth that she actually gave more.
     Widows mite
     
    Object Lesson items: (1) Large jar with many coins. For the paper money you could use monopoly money if you have it. (2) Two pennies (3) Some box to serve as the treasury container. A metal box will produce better sound effects.
     
    Full Widow’s Mite Children’s Sermon: Good morning children. Today’s bible reading is from Mark 12 where we hear about people bringing offerings to the temple treasury. Some of the rich people liked to be noticed (or show off) when they gave large amounts of money. But this didn’t impress Jesus. I’ll show you what it was like that day. Here is a jar with a large amount of money in it. I need someone to pretend to be the rich person. Thank you Michael. The rest of you children can help celebrate as this large offering of money is put into this treasury box. Let’s practice doing a drum roll with our hands on the benches just like this. (Have a little drum roll practice) That’s great. Now, what would really draw attention to this great offering gift would be some trumpets. Let’s pretend to make the trumpets sound (da da da dat tad ah!). On that day in the temple there was also an older lady who was a poor widow. She was only able to give two small coins. I need another volunteer to be that poor lady. Thank you Carol. Here are two pennies. I’ll explain what to do when we come to your part.
    Let’s act it out now. One day Jesus was watching as people were putting money in the temple treasury. Rich people came and put in large sums of money. As Michael walks forward to give his huge offering lets do a drum roll. (Start the drum roll and get the children to follow along.) Now let’s sound the trumpets. (Start a trumpet call and get the children to follow along). Now Michael, impress us by pouring in your large offering. Let’s listen to see if the congregation is impressed. (Hopefully they will join in with Oooos and Wows as the money is poured into the box.) That was impressive. Then there was a poor widow who came up and put in two small coins. Hardly anyone noticed at all. (Motion to the girl to put in the small coins.) What is amazing about this event is that after Jesus saw this he told his disciples that it was this poor widow that gave the most of all! Jesus said that she gave all the money she had. The large sums of money looked impressive but it was really just extra money. In God’s eyes the poor widow actually gave more because she gave everything she had. If we could hear what was going on in heaven the loudest cheering would happen when the poor widow gave!
    Members of the congregation. Let’s give these children a hand for helping out so will with my little skit.
     
    Children’s Prayer: Dear God. Help us to be generous in giving for your work. We may not be very rich but Jesus showed us that what little we give can actually be a lot in God’s eyes. If we ever do have large amounts of money to give, help us not to show off but rather be thankful to you for what we have. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen!
     
    Copyright Andrew Hewlett - Please use this on Sunday morning but link to this sight of "Like" us on facebook. Thank you!  A.H.

  • Children's Serrmon -Transfiguration -listen to Jesus

    Children’s sermon on the TransfigurationLuke: 9:28-36

     
    Children’s sermon/ Sunday School lessonintro:   
     Transfiguration Kids Lesson
    This story focuses on the father’s words: “This is my son…Listen to Him.” Give a short overview of the transfiguration. Have everyone in the congregation call out at the same time and give some “advise” to the children sitting up front. It’s confusing and chaotic. Explain to the children that it’s most important that we “Listen to Jesus” in the study of the bible (that contain the life and teachings of Jesus) and in prayer.
     
    Objects needed: None.
     
    Full Children’s Sermon: Good morning children. Today’s bible reading from Luke chapter 9 is called the Transfiguration. It is about a special day when Peter, James and John went up on a mountain with Jesus to pray. When they were there two other great leaders, Elijah and Moses, miraculously appeared beside Jesus. All three of them glowed like dazzling while lights and they began to speak to the disciples. It was quite an experience! Peter didn’t know what to do. He started running around in a fluster not knowing what to do or say. Then a voice from heaven said “This is my Son, whom I have chosen, Listen to Him.” God the Father was saying that Peter needed to slow down and listen to Jesus. I think that is also pretty good advice for us today. There are many people telling us what to do and how to live our lives. I think it is so important that we Listen to Jesus. If we try to listen to everyone we will just get confused. I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s think of a question we can ask the congregation. Here’s a question. Let’s ask the congregation how we should live and what we should do with our lives. Members of the congregation when I count to three I want you to call out together how you think these children should live and what they should do with their lives. Ready? Listen closely children. 1, 2, 3 Go. (Let the children listen to the chaos for a few seconds and then give a “time out” gesture to the congregation.) Well children. Was that helpful? No? Why not? You’re right. It was a very confusing trying to listen to everybody. It was crazy!. I think this teaches us something important. Sometimes it can get very confusing trying to listen to everyone’s advice. Sometimes everyone we talk to has a different idea of what we should do or not do. We need to remember what our Heavenly Father said to Peter up on the mountain of transfiguration when he was confused. He said to Peter, “This is my Son whom I have chosen, Listen to Him!” Listening to God’s Son Jesus is so very important. Getting ideas and suggestions from other people is important but it is most important that we listen to Jesus. We can listen to Jesus by reading about the life of Jesus in the bible. We can read what he said and taught and we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand too.
     
    Children’s Prayer; Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding Peter to listen to your son Jesus. Help us to listen to Jesus as well. Life can get pretty confusing trying to listen to everybody’s advice. Through your Holy Spirit help us to hear and know your son Jesus more and more each day. Amen!

    Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Andrew Hewlett  - Feel free to use this lesson on Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider putting a link to this web site. A.H.

  • Childrens Sermon - The Cost of Following Jesus

     

    Children's Sermon: The Cost of Following Jesus    Luke 9:51-62

     For Sunday School or Chidren's church

    Children’s Sermon idea:
    Hold up various items and ask the children how much they think the item cost. Pull out your wallet and place the money on a chair or table. Hold up a cross as a sign of following Jesus. Ask the children how much money it costs to follow Jesus. Explain that following Jesus costs us everything; much more than money. Step on to the chairor table (where you’ve been laying down the money) and explain that following Jesus means giving our whole lives to Jesus. 
     
    Full Children’s sermon:
    Good morning children. Are you good a guessing how much things cost? How about this chocolate bar? How much do you think it costs? I’ll put down 50 cents here on the chair. Is that enough? No. How about if I add another 25 cents? That makes 75 cents and that’s about right I’d say it costs about that much. How about this ticket to a baseball game? How much do you think it costs? (Go through a similar routine as before placing money on the chair beside the ticket or whatever item you use.)
    (Hold up a cross or tape a picture of a cross onto the back of a chair) Now here is a tricky question. How much does it cost to follow Jesus? I’ll use this cross as a sign or symbol of following Jesus. Does it cost 5 dollars? (Place 5 dollars down on the chair) Does it cost 20 dollars? (|Add that to the money)
    Let’s just stop there. I want you to know that we can’t become a follower of Jesus by paying a bunch of money. We don’t have to pay money to follow Jesus. He paid everything for us already. However, Jesus said to follow him would cost us everything. (Stand up on the chair where you have been putting down the money) Jesus said we need to give our whole lives to Him. That’s why I’m standing here. I’m not just giving money; I’m giving my whole life. Some may think the cost is too high but Jesus loves us and wants us to discover his wonderful life. When we give our whole selves to Jesus we begin to discover his life, power and love. Following Jesus costs us everything but it is really worth it.
     
    Children’s Prayer: Dear God, help us to give our whole lives to you. We know that following Jesus will be hard sometimes but we also know that you will keep us in your love and will help to make our life a wonderful and exciting adventure.
     
    Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com Andrew Hewlett Feel free to use this story in Sunday morning but please give credit to Sundaychidrensfocus.com and consider linking to this web site. Thank you A.H.

  • Clean on the inside

    Children’s sermon: Clean on the inside.


    This children’s object lessonis based on Jesus’ teaching in Mark 7 regarding what makes a person unclean. (Lectionary – Trinity 12)
    Jesus clean inside
     
    Object lesson props: Plastic tub with soap, water and a towel
     
    Children’s Lesson: Good Morning Children. Look what I have here this morning. I’ve got a big tub of soapy water so I can wash my hands. (Set the water down in front of the children and begin washing your hands. Ask if any of them need to clean their hands as well. Dry off your hands.) Cleaning our hands is an important thing to do because it washes away dirt and germs that we can’t even see. However, in our bible reading this morning in the Gospel of Mark (chapter 7) Jesus talked to some of the religious leaders about washing hands and it turns out that they were more concerned about having clean hands than they were about having clean hearts! It’s good to have clean hands but God is far more concerned about what we are like on the inside. What is most important is to clean up is the things that make us dirty on the inside (selfishness, pride, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc). Having a shower or a bath won’t clean us on the inside. There are things we can do to help us be clean on the inside. If we have bitterness towards another person we can ask God to help us forgive them. If we have done something wrong we can ask God for forgiveness. If we are having trouble following Jesus we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us. In this way God will help us be clean on the inside and not just the outside.
     
    Pray: Dear God, help us to be clean on the outside and the inside of our lives. Thank you for the complete cleansing and forgiveness that we have through your son Jesus Christ. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so we can be clean on the inside and live lives pleasing to you. In Jesus name. Amen!
     
    Copyright Andrew Hewlett Sundaychildrensfocus.com Feel free to use this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to SundayChildrensFocus.com and consider linking to this site. Blessings, A.H.

     

     

  • Come away - Resting in Jesus

    Sundaychildrensfocus Mark6 - Come away with Jesus to a quiet place  - Spending time with Jesus

    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!

    Copyright Andrew Hewlett (and Sunday Childrens Focus) Feel free to use this on Sunday but please facebook "like" this page (on left side of menu) and consider linking your web site. Thank you!  A.H.

    Jesus with children

     

  • discipleship going against the flow

    Title: Going against the flow  -                   

    (for use as a children's story or a lead in for a sunday school lesson)

    Themes    : Christian courage, living differently than others,    taking a stand for Jesus

    Props:     Members of the congregation / Time 5-7 minutes
     
    Children's sermon Summary: Get the children to experience what it is like to follow Jesus and “go against the flow.” Gather members of the congregation into the center isle where they stand close together facing one direction. Get the children to experience the difficulty of pushing through the crowd to get to where they are going.
     
    Full lesson: Good morning girls and boys. We all wish it would be easy following Jesus and doing the things he wants us to do. But did you know the Bible says that following Jesus can be very hard. Sometimes we know what Jesus wants us to do but other people want us to do what everybody else is doing. If Jesus is leading us one way in life and other people are going the opposite way we can feel very alone and it can be very hard for us. I’ll show you now a little bit what it is like. (At this point ask members of the congregation nearest the isle to stand up and gather in the center isle. It’s best to have at least 20 or 30 people and get them to stand 4 or 5 abreast. Ask them to stand in one direction and pack in tightly.) Now children, lets see what it’s like going against a crowd when they are headed in the opposite direction that we are. (Ask children to follow you as you push your way through the crowd. If you are afraid the adults in the isle might giggle too much ask them to be a little grumpy as you’re going through). Push your way through the crowd with the kids coming out the other side. Ask the congregation to give them a round of applause for coming through victoriously! Ask the congregation to quickly sit down.  (TRANSITION) How did you find that? Was it a little hard going through? (Take time to listen to a few responses) Well, as I said before, that is what it is like following Jesus sometimes. Sometimes it can be hard going in the right direction when so many others are going in the wrong direction.  The Good News is that we are never really alone because Jesus promises to be with us always.
     
    Prayer: God, we know that it sometimes very lonely following Jesus especially when many others don’t care. Through your Holy Spirit help us to have the power and courage to stand up and follow Jesus even when it’s lonely or hard. Thank you that Jesus said he would be with us no matter what. In Jesus name. Amen
     
    --Odds and ends: You could also discuss how it was helpful having some others with you as you pushed your way through the crowd. Or perhaps how some of the bigger kids helped the smaller ones go through. You could also flesh this out by giving specific “playground” scenarios of what it means to follow Jesus.
     
    Copyright 2008 Sundaychildrensfocus.com    If you use this at your Sunday service please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking your church to this web site. Thank you! A.H.

     

     

     

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