Splink
» The Mission of the Church
1
From Bugs to Beauty
Items Needed: coffee filters
Markers
Chenille stems or clothespins
Spray bottle filled with water
Optional: string to hang them
Make butterflies to introduce the idea of transformation/change.
Allow each child to make a design with the markers on a coffee filter. Lay the finished coffee filter on a paper plate and mist it with water from a spray bottle. Allow it to dry (if you want to speed up this process, dry it with a blow dryer set on low speed).
When dry, fold and gather the coffee filter in an accordion style. Wrap the chenille stem around the middle of the filter to form an antenna. Draw eyes with a black marker. Hang with string, if you like.
Look on the Internet to see the process of a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. (The monarch mother lays a little white egg on a milkweed leaf. After three or four days, the tiny caterpillar chews a hole at the end of the shell and crawls out; it eats the eggshell that has lots of vitamins in it. As it eats, it grows. The caterpillar’s “skin” is like a shell but it does not grow. As the caterpillar body grows bigger and bigger, it outgrows its skin and needs to shed it. It squeeeeezes and pushes and tugs as it wiggles out of its old tight skin. After shedding the fifth and final skin, the monarch goes into an amazing metamorphosis—a total change. The caterpillar transforms into a beautiful green chrysalis. At just the right time, the chrysalis pops open . . . and a beautiful adult monarch butterfly pushes its way out to flutter and fly high up in the sky!)
Ask:
What change happens when we become a Christian? (God sends His Holy Spirit to live inside us)
Read Romans 8:29 to see what God wants us to look like? (His Son, Jesus)
2
Can You Spot the Change?
Pair up family members and ask them to stand back to back. Tell them to change one thing about their appearance—take off glasses, put hair behind ear, put hat on backwards, etc. They are to turn and look at each other and try to spot what the other person changed. Do this several times and with different partners.
Ask:
Was it easy or hard to spot the change?
God wants to make changes in us, not in our looks, but in the way we act.
What changes do you think God might want to make in us?
God wants us to look more like Jesus, so He sends His Spirit to live inside of us and change us. Look in Ephesians 5:22-23 to read the qualities He wants us to have: love, joy, peace, patience, etc.
3
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Can I See Jesus in Me at All?
Put a mirror in a bag but do not let the kids see it. Ask them to guess what is in the bag. Give them clues.
Ask:
What if I looked in the mirror and saw that my hair was sticking up, my teeth had spinach in them, and dirt was on my face, but I didn't change anything? Would it have done any good to look in the mirror? (No)
How is the Bible like a mirror? (It shows us what we are doing wrong and need to change; it tells us the right things to think and do.)
What if I looked in the mirror and saw that my hair was sticking up, my teeth had spinach in them, and dirt was on my face, but I didn't change anything? Would it have done any good to look in the mirror? (No)
How is the Bible like a mirror? (It shows us what we are doing wrong and need to change; it tells us the right things to think and do.)
Is it enough just to read the Bible and know what we need to do? Is there something else we should do? (It is more than just knowing the Bible; we must do what it says.)
God gave us the Bible to help us change. When we read the Bible and see something that we need to change, we must do what it says and change what needs to be changed. We must be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
Students are memorizing James 1:22. (If you have younger kids, use just the first part of the verse.) Ask kids to teach you the signs they learned (described below) or make up motions for the main words.
Doers: Both open claw hands move back and forth in a swinging motion.
Word: The sign language for Bible is actually two signs: one for Jesus (the middle
finger touches the palm of both hands one at a time) plus book (both hands begin
open with palms together, then the hands separate at the thumbs and opening much
like a book.)
Hearers: Put right hand up to right ear.
Deceiving: One hand makes a quick sliding movement past the other hand.
Yourself: Tap hand onto chest
To review the verse, leave out one of the main words and substitute the "sign" for the word. Continue leaving out words until you are signing most of the words.
