Summary of Citywide Children’s Meeting
Regarding Lessons on The Parables of the Lord Jesus.
New Series:
The Parables of the Lord Jesus
We are starting a new lesson series, The Parables of the Lord Jesus. Take time to introduce the series and define parables to the children. A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson (Oxford Dictionary)
The parables in this series are all stories that the Lord Jesus told. Parables are not easy to understand, but they are full of meaning, like pictures which can have hidden meanings. The Lord Jesus had to explain the parables. Although all the parables have spiritual significance, our goal is not to teach all those meanings to children who have not yet received the Lord. Rather, in each lesson, we provide some practical, relatable applications for the children. However, for younger children, it may be sufficient just to teach the facts of the parable as a foundation.
September 8 & 15, 2024
The Parable of the Sower (two-part lesson)
We will cover this lesson over two weeks. Serving one’s preparatory activity: A few weeks before the lesson prepare several cups with different kinds of soil and plant seeds to allow time for the seeds to grow.
The main burden for both parts is to contrast a hard heart with a soft heart. The goal is that the children would desire to have a soft heart. Avoid spending too much time on the explanations. For younger children, especially, we should spend the time mostly on the facts of the parable.
We suggest splitting the lesson into two-parts as follows:
In both weeks, we suggest bringing visuals as suggested in the lesson. Make sure you include good earth (potting soil, compost, etc.) to show a soft heart, which is emphasized both weeks.
Week 1 (9/8): Cover all four types of grounds (wayside, rocky places, thorny ground, and good earth), but limit covering detailed explanations and examples. The main burden is to have a soft heart.
Week 2 (9/15): Ask the children if they remember the four types of ground in the Parable of the Sower. Cover the explanations by talking about some practical examples and by discussing and demonstrating gardening. The seed is the Word of God. How does the seed, the Word of God, get into your heart? By reading the Bible and listening to the Word during children’s meeting lessons, Bible Camp or at home with your parents during a Bible reading/sharing time. By memorizing weekly Bible verses and singing Children’s Meeting songs, we also get God’s Word into our hearts. Re-emphasize the main burden of having a soft heart.
September 22 & 29, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Since the Young Working Saints conference was held at KPCC Sept 20-22, we realize that children from Rosendale and Halls 1-9 attending the conference will not hear The Good Samaritan lesson on 9/22 as scheduled. Therefore, we will cover this lesson over two weeks: Sept 22 and Sept 29. Please repeat the lesson on Sept. 29th.
Week 1 (9/22):
- “Good Samaritan” is a term many people know and use to refer to someone who shows compassion unselfishly to another person, often towards a person they do not know who is in need of help. Because our country was founded by people who read the Bible, there are many phrases and sayings in our language and culture that come from the Bible. (Often when someone does an act of kindness or is helpful, especially to someone they do not know, they might be called a “good Samaritan” by the media or others. In the USA, all 50 states have Good Samaritan laws. Another example: When two teams are unevenly matched, people may refer to it as a David and Goliath match.)
- We should help our neighbors (the people around us) and not just the people we know very well.
- Show compassion towards others and be helpful. (ie. hold the door open, carry grocery bags, help with directions, translate/interpret, etc.)
- For craft, avoid using pictures of “Jesus” online. We suggest using the craft ideas in the lesson.
Week 2 (9/29): Here are some suggestions on how to extend the lesson for Sept 29th:
- As you retell the story, ask the children to tell the class about their “Good Samaritan” deeds, how they were helpful, who did they help, or were they on the receiving end and helped by someone. This can be a rich conversation with the children and gives us an opportunity to get to know them as they tell us about their scenarios.
- If available, use a felt story board (or draw stick figures on large paper or whiteboard) to retell the parable with two scenes: hurt man on the road and healing man at the inn.
- Additional Craft Ideas for Sept. 29:
- Older grades 1) Using a storyboard template with 4 scene boxes, have the children write down and draw the scenarios they described of being Good Samaritans during the past week. 2) Make a six panel story circle wheel with scenes of the Good Samaritan.
- Younger grades 1) Trace the children’s hands onto construction paper and cut them out. Draw a large heart on red construction paper. Glue the hands onto the heart. Add Matt 19:19b “…you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” or Matt. 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” to the craft.
- Additional suggested songs:
175 God’s Helpers
176 God Uses Helpers
9031 If You Ever See a Needy One
8208 You Shall Love The Lord Your God
1612 Companions
Additional memory verse suggestions: Mark 12:30-31m (And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength….“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”)
October 6, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Parable of the Good Shepherd
Spend time to talk to the children about shepherds. Ask the children what they know about shepherds. Describe and show photos/videos of a shepherd at work from ancient times to modern day shepherds.
Spend time discussing sheep. Ask the children what they know about sheep. Sheep are actually very intelligent animals.
Introduce Psalm 23:1 to show who are the Shepherd and sheep. The Lord is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep.
Who are the shepherds in the children’s lives? Help the children appreciate the shepherds in their lives including parents, teachers and serving ones.
The sheep hear and know the shepherd’s voice, just as the children know their mother’s voice and father’s voice, and should listen and obey their voice.
October 13, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Lost Sheep
- Spend time to review the role of a shepherd and characteristics of sheep from the previous lesson on The Good Shepherd.
- Activity: Hide 10 marbles or small objects in the room and have the children search and find all of them. Rejoice when #10 is found!
- The shepherd cared for all 100 sheep and was detailed to know that one was missing.
- Character points: thorough, diligent, persistent, detailed, dependable.
- In His detailed care, the Shepherd will seek us out and find us.
- In our human life, we also have “shepherds” to guide us and find us when we are lost.
- Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” We are the sheep and He cares for us and loves us.
- Just as the Lord is our Good Shepherd, we can also pray and learn that we can also take care of others.
October 20, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Lost Coin
- The woman was determined, thorough, persistent, and diligent in her search until she found the lost coin.
- By lighting a lamp and sweeping the house, she did not give up her search until the lost coin was found.
- God’s light from His Word often shines on us in our conscience to help us know that we are wrong. Psalm 119:105
- Activity: Hide 10 coins in the room and have the children search and find all of them. Rejoice when #10 is found!
October 27 and November 3, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Great Dinner
- In recent lessons, we have seen the Lord Jesus through the parables of the Good Shepherd looking for the lost sheep and the woman searching for lost coin, and we will also hear in an upcoming lesson concerning the Father seeking the prodigal son.
- Here in the Great Dinner lesson, the Lord is looking for us and inviting us; therefore, we must respond to His invitation.
- The Lord invites us continually (every Lord’s Day to children’s meeting, Family Bible Camp, Children’s Activity Day, church conferences, etc.) and we need to respond by coming to the meeting without making excuses.
- The children’s meeting songs, memory verses and reading the Bible are part of the “feast”.
- Modern day excuses for the children may include: extracurricular classes or friend’s birthday party or play dates on Lord’s Day morning, being too tired, waking up late, too busy, a brand new toy, distracted by the latest model of an electronic device, etc.
- Activity: For snack time, or lunchtime after the Lord’s Day meeting, set the table and prepare a “great dinner”. Set out placemats, plates, silverware, napkins, cups, and host a “dinner” with the children. Make simple invitations and invite the parents, serving ones and saints.
November 10 & 17, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Prodigal Son
- This is the third parable in Luke 15 when the Lord Jesus was eating dinner with tax collectors, following The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin.
- We will cover the lesson over two weeks. Please fellowship with the serving ones in your district about how to split the lesson. Here is one suggestion. Week 1: Parable storytelling of Luke 15:11-24. Week 2: Focus on applications. Optional: Luke 15:25-32 See notes in lesson regarding the older son (older elementary level).
- Storytelling suggestion:
- While telling this parable to the children, view this as an opportunity to improve our storytelling skills.
- As you tell the facts, pause the story at various segments to ask the children, “How do you think the father felt?” and think of specific places throughout the story to ask insightful questions. Consider the perspectives of the father and the prodigal son: How do you think the father felt when the younger son left home? And how did he feel when his son returned? How do you think the prodigal son felt contemplating returning home?
- Engage with the children and wait for their answers/responses – do not just tell them the answers. Let the children think about and reflect upon the parable and comment on the story. Some questions may not have a “right” answer.
- Some application points to bring out (more details in the lesson).
- The father in the story has a heart of compassion just like the Lord.
- Our Father has a heart full of love towards us.
- We need to learn to repent and also learn to forgive others.
- We should not be wasteful with what we have been given.
- We should learn to be patient and trust what our parents have planned for us. Please be mindful that some children may not be from a two-parent home, so when we talk about human fathers in the application, we can also expand to parents, moms, grandpas, grandmas, etc. depending on the situation of the children before us.
November 24 & December 1, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Unmerciful Servant
- We will cover this lesson over two weeks. It is possible to cover it from two separate angles: from the person who is forgiving and from the person who is being forgiven. (This is a suggestion.) Please fellowship with the serving ones in your districts regarding how to split the lesson to meet the needs of the children’s service.
- In Matthew 18:15-17, the Lord was helping His closest disciples learn to help someone who has wronged them or sinned against them. One of the disciples, after praying, might want to go to the offending, sinning brother (a believer) so that they can talk with each other, one on one. If he listens, the brother has been gained, or restored. (This reflects the Lord’s heart for the offending, sinning believer.) But if this believer, a brother or a sister, refuses to hear the one, then this one might go again to this believer, with one or two other brothers or sisters, after praying together. After this, if the person still refuses to hear these two or three, they can come to the church. (Although not a main burden, it may be worth mentioning that this shows that the church is a group of people, not a building or organization. We would not “tell it” to a building.) You can also relate this to the younger children by way of example; if they have conflict or disagreement with another child or sibling, they can try to resolve it one on one. But the next step is to tell a grown up (parent or teacher) to help mediate, and so on.
- Forgiving is one side, and being forgiven is the other side. How wonderful it feels to be forgiven. Sometimes it is necessary to admit, or confess, what you did wrong and ask for forgiveness. While it may be difficult at first, and may feel uncomfortable, the result of being forgiven feels marvelous, often accompanied with a sense of relief.
- To help the children with number sense, the serving ones can quantify 7 times as once per day for one week (7 days in a week). For 70 times 7, ask the children to compute 70 x 7. To forgive someone up to 490 times is more than once per day for over one year (365 days/year) and four months! We should not keep track or tally all the offenses. We should just keep on forgiving.
- Previous lessons included the currency: drachmas (approx. one day’s wage) and denarius (approx. one day’s wage). It may be helpful to calculate the amounts owed. 100 denarii and ten thousand talents, to help the children compare the debts. Note: you may need to define talents as currency and not as a natural skill.
December 8 & 15, 2024
THE PARABLES: The Foolish Rich Man
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We will take two weeks to cover this lesson. Please fellowship in your district about how to split the lesson. One suggestion is: Week 1 – cover the parable and the background; Week 2 – allow the children to retell the story + develop the applications more by allowing the children to share their own stories and experiences. It would be good to contrast things that are heavenly and earthly, temporary and eternal, seen and unseen. These may be very new concepts for the children, especially the younger ones.
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We can take the opportunity to talk about or introduce the kingdom of God to the children. This is also in preparation for the upcoming lessons which mention the kingdom of God. Since we are addressing children, who are unsaved or have not yet had a definite experience of salvation, we do not need to go too much into the spiritual meaning. Rather, a simple explanation of the kingdom of God is sufficient.
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Here are some thoughts about how to present the kingdom of God to kids in an age-appropriate way, if any ask: The kingdom of God is not like the kingdom you might see in a fairy tale, with a king and queen in a beautiful castle. It is not a physical country or city. The kingdom of God is wherever God is King, and where He rules. People can be part of God’s Kingdom if they obey God and let Him rule in their lives.
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As one of the applications, the focus can be on not being covetous. For birthdays and especially during the holiday season, it is common to see children at school becoming greedy, wanting so many new things. Share with the children Acts 20:35, “…It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Talk about ways that you can “store up treasure in the heavens.”
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Check with the children to see if, after hearing the parable from last week, they had a giving and sharing heart during the week. Review and add ways to store up treasure with the Lord. The Lord wants us to love Him with our whole heart, so if our heart is loving and seeking other things, that will not please Him.
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It may be helpful to read Bible verses with the older children to introduce them more to the Word of God. If some don’t have Bibles, we can preprint verses or bring extras.