Group Experiences for K-5Th Grades

252 Groups December 2014, Week 1

Small Group, 2-3

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

All I Want for Christmas is a Big New Barn

Bible Story: All I Want for Christmas is a Big New Barn (parable of the rich man) •Luke 12:13-21

Bottom Line: Don’t get wrapped up in your stuff.

Memory Verse: “Be rich in good deeds … be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18, NIV

Life App: Generosity—making someone’s day by giving something away.

Basic Truth: I need to make the wise choice.

GET READY

Prepare ahead of time for 2nd–3rd grade Small Groups this week:

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

Early Arriver

· An offering container

Get Wrapped Up in Paper

· Wrapping paper

· Scissors

· Tape

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 #3. Activity #2 is particularly good for children who need to move in order to stay engaged.

Generosity (application activity / Scripture search)

· Bibles

· Print the “Generosity Cards” Activity Page; cut apart

Convince Me (application activity / Bible story review / great for active learners)

· Bibles

· Smart phone or tablet (optional)

Be Rich (memory verse activity)

· Bibles

· Dictionaries or smart phones/tablets

· Tear sheet

· Marker

Prayer

· Dictionaries or smart phones/tablets

· Tear sheet

· Marker

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.

FOR LEADERS ONLY

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

as shown through God’s big story

Throughout Scripture we can read all about God’s about God’s generosity towards us. One of those moments, found in James 1:17, talks about it like this: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” (NIV) Every good thing we have is a gift from Him. But we also know that God’s generosity has a purpose.

God gives to us and expects us to do the same for others in return. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul reminds us, “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11, NIV)

God is generous with us, so we can be generous to others. Often we think of generosity in terms of finances, but generosity goes beyond our money. Generosity should impact everything—our time, talents, energy, and resources.

Being generous is a mark of following God, but around this time of year, it’s easy to get more focused on all that we will receive rather than what we can give away. That’s why we’re taking this month to talk about generosity: making someone’s day by giving something away. We want kids to understand that when we choose to give generously to others, we become truly rich with everything that really matters in life.

This month, let’s think about how:

(1) Generosity is a reflection of God’s character. He is a generous God.

(2) Generosity is about what we do with all that we have been given.

(3) Generosity not only applies to our stuff but also to our time and talents.

This week, we’re discovering:

We start our month about generosity in Luke 12:13-21 with a parable Jesus told about a rich man who was wrapped up in the wrong thing. He was worried about storing up more stuff and ended up losing everything that really matters.

Our Bottom Line is: Don’t get wrapped up in your stuff. We want kids to begin understanding that more stuff won’t really make us happier. Showing generosity becomes much easier when we aren’t so focused on ourselves and what we can get.

Our memory verse is 1 Timothy 6:18, “Be rich in good deeds … be generous and willing to share.” (NIV) We’re not generous because we are rich; we are rich because we are generous. Generosity changes us when we learn how to give the way God gives.

All I Want for Christmas is a Big New Barn

Bible Story: All I Want for Christmas is a Big New Barn (parable of the rich man) •Luke 12:13-21

Bottom Line: Don’t get wrapped up in your stuff.

Memory Verse: “Be rich in good deeds … be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18, NIV

Life App: Generosity—making someone’s day by giving something away.

Basic Truth: I need to make the wise choice.

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. Pray that God would speak through you about generosity today. Ask that God would take the kids’ focus off of the presents and onto the ways they can be generous. Pray for the kids who might not have a lot of “stuff” to get wrapped up in. Pray that they would find ways to be generous with what they do have.

1. Early Arriver Idea

What You Need: An offering container

What You Do:

Collect kids’ offerings as they arrive. Ask about their Christmas tree and their tree traditions. Ask questions such as: Do you help put one up? Is it already up or do you wait for a particular day? Do you like to help decorate it? Does your family like real trees or artificial trees? White lights or colored light? Do you have more than one tree in your house?

2. Get Wrapped Up in Paper

What You Need: Wrapping paper, scissors, tape

What You Do:

Wrap up one or two people in the group like a Christmas present. Make sure everyone helps!

What You Say:

“Sometimes getting wrapped up is fun … and funny! You make a great present! [Transition] Let’s go hear about a guy who got wrapped up in something else … and this time, it wasn’t such a good thing!”

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. Generosity (application activity / Scripture search)

What You Need: Bibles, “Generosity Cards” Activity Page

What You Do:

Remind kids that at this time of year it’s easy to be focused on “stuff,” thanks to all the commercials, stores, etc., and everyone asking them what they want for Christmas. Explain that they’re going to find out what the Bible says about that. Hand out the Bibles and dump the cards in the center of the group. Instruct kids to find the five verse reference cards and look up the verses. Then they should read each verse out loud and find the summary card the best goes with it.

Hint: For an extra challenge, make two sets of these cards. Divide the kids into two teams and let them compete against each other to be the first team to match all the cards together!

Answers:

1) James 1:17 – God is the giver of all good things

2) 2 Corinthians 9:11 – God gives to us generously so that we can then give to others.

3) 1 Timothy 6:18 – Being rich is more about how we show generosity!

4) Matthew 6:20-21 – Stuff doesn’t matter!

5) Proverbs 11:24 – We’re rich because we are generous and willing to share!

What You Say:

“We can tell from all these verses how much God values generosity! He is generous to us and so it’s our job to be generous to others! That means it’s really important that you [Impress] don’t get wrapped up in your stuff. Then you can see how rich you really are! [Apply] Think about someone you can be generous with TODAY! Who wants to share their plan with us?” (Allow time for kids to share.)

2. Convince Me (application activity / Bible story review / great for active learners)

What You Need: Bibles, smart phone or tablet (optional)

What You Do:

Read Luke 12:13-21 aloud as a group. Let kids take turns reading a verse or two if they want to read. Then divide into three groups. Each group needs to come up with a commercial for generosity and show why you shouldn’t get wrapped up in your stuff. The commercials should convince people not to care about their stuff. You can record them on your smart phone or tablet and let the kids watch themselves in action.

What You Say:

“This time of year seems to be all about stuff, don’t you think? But I LOVE what you all came up with here! These commercials were genius! And you’re exactly right—we need to be generous and willing to share, just like God tells us. [Apply] Think of someone you can tell about the commercial. Maybe you can even reenact it with the help of your siblings or friends at home. (If you were able to film their commercials, offer to email the videos to their parents.) So this Christmas season, [Impress] don’t get wrapped up in your stuff. Instead, focus on how generous God has been to you and how you can now be generous to others!”

* 3. Be Rich (memory verse activity)

What You Need: Bibles, dictionaries or smart phones/tablets, tear sheet, marker

What You Do:

Help kids look up the verse and read it aloud using the following Bible navigation tips:

Finding verses with 2nd and 3rd graders: Guide them to open their Bibles to the front and find the table of contents. (Hold up a Bible opened to the table of contents to show the kids what the page looks like.) When the kids find the table of contents, lead them to find 1 Timothy in the list under “New Testament.” When the kids find 1 Timothy, lead them to look at the page number beside the word. Explain that the number tells them on what page they can find 1 Timothy. Help the kids find the page. When they find 1 Timothy, explain that the big numbers on the page are the chapter numbers. Help them find chapter 6. Explain that the small numbers are verse numbers. Help them find verse 18 in chapter 6.

Then instruct kids to use dictionaries or smart phones to define the following words from the verse and write their definitions on the tear sheet: rich, deeds, generous, willing, and share.

Then ask kids to work together to re-write the verse in their own words—summarize it to make sure they “get it.”

Finally, go back to the original version of the verse and ask kids to make up motions and/or sing it to help memorize it.

What You Say:

“This verse has a lot of things in it that we need to do. We’re supposed to do good deeds, be generous, and share. Sometimes that can be tough! [Make It Personal] (Tell the group which one of those things is hard for you sometimes. Share a specific example.) [Apply] But this verse makes it clear that it’s important to God, which means it should be important to us! [Impress] Don’t get wrapped up in your stuff. Instead, look for ways you can be generous and make someone’s day by giving something away.”

Pray and Dismiss