Children's Church: God's Commandment-Honoring Your Parents

Opening

Welcome

Thank you for coming!

Introduce new kids (make sure I know names)

Introduce the Lesson

We’re learning about God’s Commandments

Not rules; street signs

Today we’re going to learn that we show love to our parents.

Share

Tell kids what you love most about your parents.

Ask kids to share what they love most about their parents.

Summarize

Open Bible to Exodus 20.

God gave parents to take care of us

Don’t always like rules, but we show love to our parents anyway.

See what Bible says about this

Did you know Bible calls God our Father?

God reveals so much about his fatherly love for us through the Bible, His special book.

Before we dig deeper, let’s talk with God.

Pray

High Energy Game: High Five!

Tell kids that the goal is to quickly share high-fives, fist bumps, or handshakes with people around them.

On “go,” play high-energy music and have kids run around the room. Randomly stop the music and call out a number and an action. For example, “Five fist bumps!” or “Two high-fives!” Kids must quickly perform the action with the number of people designated.

Resume the music and repeat with different actions and numbers. If you’d like, you can add a third command of how to move, such as “Hop to four handshakes!” or “Skip to three high-fives!”

· Play for about seven minutes, then have kids circle up to debrief the experience.’

We made an effort to show love to people in this game.

But sometimes we’re not so purposeful about showing love to our parents

Ask: Why do you think that is?

Ask: Aside from giving high-fives or fist bumps, what are ways we can make an effort to show love to our parents today? (Share an example from your own life to begin the conversation)

We show love to our parents when we say and do nice things

So let’s make an effort to show our parents how much we appreciate and care for them today!

Core Bible Discovery

We’ve been learning the Ten Commandments. Here’s the one we’ll talk about today.

Exodus 20:12 NLT

12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Ask: What does it mean to honor someone?

Ask: What do you think of the promise that goes with this commandment?

The Bible has a lot to say about what it looks like to honor our parents.

It means we show love to our parents.

We’re going to look at four ways to show love to our parents and give advice to some kids who aren’t sure how to do it.

Role Play

Form two mixed-age groups, ensuring at least one child per group can read. Give each group copies of one of the “Dear Blabby” letters and a Bible. Make sure each reader has a copy of the group’s letter.

Have kids read the letter and its corresponding Bible passage and then plan a skit to role-play how the letter writer should handle the situation, based on the Bible verses. Encourage older kids to be leaders to help younger kids feel included.

Allow several minutes for groups to plan their skits, and then allow time for them to read their letters aloud and act out their responses.

Write Advice

Give each group a second letter from the “Dear Blabby” handout as well as paper and pens. Have kids read the letter and corresponding Bible verses and write a response. Encourage kids to include today’s point: We show love to our parents. You’ll want one strong writer to write the letter while everyone else chimes in with ideas.

When kids have finished writing, have them read their letters and responses.

Talk About It

Ask: What did you learn about ways to show love to your parents?

Ask: Were there any situations you related to? Talk about that.

Ask: How could you show love to your parents in your situation?

God’s Commandments say that we show love to our parents.

We can listen to their advice, say only kind things to and about them, bring them joy, and obey them

We saw what that would look like in four different situations.

And you know what?

Every one of those situations came from the Bible!

Fretting over Feet was Ruth, and she did not listen to her mother-in-law’s advice.

As a result, show got married to the man and ultimately, many generations later, Jesus was one of her descendants

We show love to our parents by listening to their advice (have kids cup their hands behind their ears).

Not-So-Jealous Jonathan stayed loyal to his friend David, but as far as we know from the Bible, he never said anything insulting about his father.

He saved David’s life and honored his father.

That’s amazing!

We show love to our parents by saying only kind things about them (have kids put their hands on their mouths).

The Band of Brothers went through with their plan to sell Joseph into slavery.

As expected, their dad was very upset

Although God used this situation for good, it was not a good way to honor their dad… or their brother!

We show love to our parents by bringing them joy! (have kids hold up their hands, palms facing forward, and shimmy them (jazz hands)

His Royal Highness was a guy named Adonijah, King David’s son

He made himself king and had a parade and feast in his own honor.

But while he was celebrating, David declared his other son, Solomon, the king.

Adonijah feared for his life, but Solomon promised not to hurt him as long as Adonijah stayed loyal.

Adonijah hadn’t obeyed his dad at first, but after Solomon’s promise, Adonijah didn’t make any more trouble for King Solomon.

We show love to our parents by obeying them, even if it’s not what we want (have children walk in place like they are going to obey what their parents say to do).

Use the ears, moth, jazz hands, and walking in place motions to review the four ways to show love to our parents one more time.

Craft

Show kids the sample crafts

Today you get to choose between two crafts!

You’re going to make a present for a parent or someone who’s like a parent to you.

You can decide whether the person you’re making a present for would rather have a flower or a magnet.

Distribute handouts, set out the supplies to share, and have kids follow the directions below.

Make Magnets

Choose a shape on the “Magnets for Dad” handout, or draw your own shape you think your recipient would like.

Cut out the shape and decorate it. Write a kind message on it. (Preschoolers won’t need to cut or write.)

Attach a magnet to the back so the person you give it to can stick it on a toolbox or file cabinet. (For safety, do not allow preschoolers to use magnets. Instead, their gifts can be bookmarks for the recipients.)

Make Flowers

Cut three 1x12-inch strips of construction paper.

Make a loop out of each strip, and glue the ends together. (Preschoolers can skip this step and just glue the centers together.)

When you have three loops, stack them and glue the centers all together to form a flower shape.

·Cut a 1-inch circle of construction paper, and glue it in the center of the flower.

Tape a chenille wire to the back of the flower.

Talk About It

Ask: Why do you think your parent (or the person who’s like a parent to you) will like the gift you made?

Ask: If you had unlimited money, what gift would you buy for your parents?

Your parents do so much for you

Probably more than you know!

You can give them this gift to acknowledge how much you appreciate what they do, and it will bring them joy.

Giving gifts is one way we show love to our parents (do jazz hands).

Have kids take their gifts home and bring it to their parents.

Life Application Wrap-Up

Have kids form mixed-age groups of three.

Have kids share in their groups what prayer requests they have for their parents (or people who are like parents to them).

Kids can pray together for each other’s parents.

PRAY