Giving

Teaching Goal:  We cannot meet every need, but Jesus calls us to meet some needs.

Scripture:    2 Corinthians 9:7&11 “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Materials:

• Maps (city, state, country and world)
• Stickers, push pins, or markers (at least two colors)
• List of chores/jobs

In Advance: Collect direct mail solicitations for several weeks from all groups, including those you choose not to support. Add brochures from church that talk about specific missionaries or ministries.  Remember to print off solicitations that you receive via email or social media as well.

1. Play theme song
2. Pray
3. Review last lesson
4. Lesson and review

• Words written in bold are when the leader is speaking. Feel free to use your own words.

Giving to others is important to Jesus. No matter how little money we have, there is always someone out there with less and God can use us to help them. There are lots of people around the world who need help. Can you name some? Victims of war. Children who are starving. Missionaries. Victims of natural disasters. We can’t help everyone, but we can share what we have and help some.

ACTIVITY: On a table, spread out the assortment of direct mail solicitations and brochures, as well as what you have printed off from your email or from social media. You get to open all this mail! We are going to talk about the groups we support and the groups we do not support. As you open the letters, talk about why you do or do not support each group. Use the stickers, pins, or markers to locate the group on one of the maps. Use one color to mark groups you support and another color to mark groups you do not support. Make a list of reasons why you support different groups and why you don’t support others.

Now, you get to choose a group that you want to support. Using the list of reasons why you support groups, help each child pick their own group. You are going to have an opportunity to raise money for (group name) over the next week. Here is a list of chores and how much we’ll pay you for each chore. We’ll pay you at the end of the week and you can give the money you earn to (group name). At the end of the week, give them the option to keep the money they earned or send it to the group they picked. The option to keep the money reinforces that God doesn’t force us to give, but wants us to give cheerfully.

Give each child an opportunity to do a chore right away.

Memorize:

God wants us to give,

So others can live.

 Close in Prayer