Bible Story: the Start (Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin) Acts 3 4

252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 Small Group, 2-3

The Start

Bible Story: The Start (Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin) • Acts 3–4 Bottom Line: Keep going even when it gets hard. Memory Verse: “Let us not become tired of doing good. At the right time we will gather a crop if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9, NIrV Life App: Determination—deciding it’s worth it to finish what you started. Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

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

Note: Most activities this week are based on your ability to use tape to create a maze on your floor. If you are unable to do this, we have provided alternate options for those activities.

Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Choose one or both of these activities.) Early Arriver  An offering container

Floor Maze  Print the “Floor Maze Templates” Activity Page; 3-4 copies for each small group  Tape that can be used on your floors (if you are unable to use tape on your floors, consider using yarn, string, or paper strips)  Tape measure Alternate Option:  Paper  Pencils

Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (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 #2.

1. Amazing Review (application activity / review the Bible story)  Print the “Story Highlights” Activity Pages and cut apart; 1 set for each small group

*2. Keep on Going (application activity)  Paper  Pencils  2 blindfolds

3. Memory Maze (memory verse activity)  Print the “Memory Maze Phrases” Activity Pages; 1 set for each small group  Bibles  Stopwatch

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Prayer  No supplies needed

Additional Resources:  Make copies on cardstock or email 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 to http://www.Studio252.tv/leaders.

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The Start

Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today’s story.

Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group for the first time. Pray that your few would be encouraged today to keep going even when the going gets tough. Ask God to give them strength to finish what they’ve started, whether it’s making a new friend, learning to tie a shoe or hit a baseball, or continuing to do their best at school while things at home are tough. Ask God to show you opportunities where you can encourage your few.

1. Early Arriver Idea What You Need: Offering container

What You Do:  Collect kids’ offerings as they arrive.  Ask kids if they started any projects lately. Did they finish them? Why or why not?

2. Floor Maze What You Need: “Floor Maze Templates” Activity Pages, tape (or yarn or string), tape measure; Alternate: paper, pencils

What You Do:  Let the kids choose one of the two templates on the Activity Page to create on your floor.  Encourage them to quickly work together to create the maze on the floor. They should make it so that a person can easily walk through the path. They might want to use the tape measure to help with scale.

Alternate Option:  Hand out paper and pencils.  Instruct kids to create their own mazes on their papers.  When you have a few minutes left, allow kids to exchange their mazes and solve them.

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What You Say: “Those are some a-MAZE-ing mazes you made! [Transition] Let’s go to Large Group, where we’ll find out why we’re making mazes today.”

Lead your group to the Large Group area.

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Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (Small Groups, 25 minutes) Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible story applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions.

1. Amazing Review (application activity / review the Bible story) What You Need: “Story Highlights” Activity Pages

What You Do:  Scatter the “Story Highlights” throughout the floor maze created during “Floor Maze.”  Send kids into the maze to collect the pages. Once they pick one up, they then have to find their way through the maze to the other end.  Then have kids read the highlights and put them in order.

Alternate Option:  Put the “Story Highlights” in random order and set them in a stack at one end of your space.  Tell kids to line up at the other end of your space.  The first kid will relay to the stack to pick up a page. He must travel in the way you tell him to (skip, crab walk, crawl backwards, etc.)  When he gets back, he tags the next person and tells her how to travel. Continue until all pages have been collected.  Once all pages have been collected, have kids read the highlights and put them in order.

What You Say: “Sometimes we think it might be hard to keep telling others about Jesus—because they won’t listen, or they make fun of us, or they’re just not interested. But imagine being put in jail for telling others about Jesus! That’s what happened to Peter and John in our story today. Maybe none of us will ever be put in jail for teaching about Jesus, but we will definitely face hard times in life. We need to remember to have determination and [Bottom Line] keep going even when it gets hard.”

* 2. Keep on Going (application activity) What You Need: Paper, pencils, 2 blindfolds

What You Do:  Hand out paper and pencils.  [Make It Personal] (Tell kids one thing you have a hard time being determined with. Maybe it’s a certain exercise goal, something new you’re trying to learn, or a hard time with a family member. Don’t forget to keep it age-appropriate and something they can relate to, at least in a small way.)  Ask kids to write down a situation that’s personal to them when they find it difficult to keep going when things get hard.  Tell kids they will walk through the maze, one at a time, while carrying their papers as a visual reminder to keep going when thing gets hard. However, they will be blindfolded.  Blindfold the first kid in line and let someone else verbally guide him through the maze. To make it even more challenging, send the next kid before the kid in front of him has completed the maze.

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Alternate Option:  Hand out paper and pencils.  [Make It Personal] (Tell kids one thing you have a hard time being determined with. Maybe it’s a certain exercise goal, something new you’re trying to learn, or a hard time with a family member. Don’t forget to keep it age-appropriate and something they can relate to, at least in a small way.)  Ask kids to write down a situation that’s personal to them when they find it difficult to keep going when things get hard.  Blindfold two kids and have them stand at the corner of your space. Have two other kids stand with them to be their guides.  The rest of the kids should scatter themselves throughout your space, creating obstacles the blindfolded kids have to go around to get to the opposite corner.  The blindfolded kids will hold their papers and allow the guides to guide them through the course without running into any of the obstacles.  Make sure every kid has a chance to go through the course.

What You Say: “Would anyone like to share what you wrote on your paper? (Allow time for a few kids to share if they want to. If no one shares, remind them of the story you shared at the beginning of the activity. Or ask if anyone wants you to read their paper out loud for them.) We all face hard things in life. There’s no getting around it. But we can make it through those situations with God’s help, just like you made it through the maze [or obstacle course] with your guide’s help. When you face hard things in the future, remember this activity and trust God to help you [Bottom Line] keep going even when it gets hard.”

3. Memory Maze (memory verse activity) What You Need: “Memory Maze Phrases” Activity Pages, stopwatch, Bibles

What You Do:  Help kids look up Galatians 6:9 in their Bibles.

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 Galatians in the list under “New Testament.” When the kids find Galatians, lead them to look at the page number beside the word. Explain that the number tells them on what page they can find Galatians. Help the kids find the page. When they find Galatians, 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 9 in chapter 6.

 Scatter the “Memory Verse Phrases” throughout the maze, in random order.  Guide kids to line up at the entrance to the maze.  Start the stopwatch, and send the first kid into the maze to find the first phrase. When he finds it, he should then make his way to the end of the maze.  Send the second kid in to find the second phrase. Continue until all phrases have been found.  If there are more kids than phrases, just send the rest of the kids through the maze at the end.  If you have time, do it again, and see if kids can beat their time.

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Alternate Option:  Help kids look up Galatians 6:9 in their Bibles.  Hand out the “Memory Verse Phrases” to kids in random order.  Tell kids to lie down on the floor in order of the verse, using their bodies to make what looks like the path through a maze.  If you wish, time them to see how fast they can do it. Then have them do it again to see if they can beat their time.

What You Say: “Our verse says we shouldn’t get tired of doing good. What are some ways you can do good to others? (Treat them with kindness; spend time with them; help people when we see they need it; etc.) Those are some great ways to do good. When we have determination, we choose to keep doing good and [Bottom Line] keep going even when it gets hard.”

Pray and Dismiss What You Need: No supplies needed

What You Do:  Tell kids to find a seat somewhere inside the maze. (If you don’t have a maze, they can just scatter around your space.)  Tell kids to silently pray after each of your prompts: o Tell God how awesome He is. o Ask Him to help you have determination. o Ask Him to help you [Bottom Line] keep going even when it gets hard. o Thank Him for always being there for you.

As adults arrive to pick up, tell them to ask kids what this month’s Life App is and what they learned about the Life App from mazes today.