====================================================================== Title: Primary Sabbath School Program, July 25, 1998 From: NAD Children's Ministries (author: Lisa Seeders) Date: June 1, 1998 Abstract: Activities to use in place of program helps to teach the lesson, BUILDING THE FIRST CHURCH ====================================================================== Lesson Aim: A church is a special place for me to have a unique worship experience with God. Memory Verse: "Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them." Exo. 25:8, NIV GETTING THEIR ATTENTION - DESIGNING GOD'S ROOM Materials needed: Furniture magazines or ads Old wallpaper and carpet sampling books « sheet of white poster board for each child Pencils Ruler Markers or crayons Scissors Glue WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) Gather the furniture magazines and wallpaper and carpet sampling books well ahead of time, so there are plenty for children to use. Provide a flat work area for each child with room to spread out. WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Ask the children to imagine that God will be coming to live with them for awhile. They are going to prepare a special room for Him. Give each child a « sheet of poster board, a pencil, pair of scissors, glue and access to the magazines and sample books. Allow 7-8 minutes for them to select and arrange furniture, carpeting and wallpaper or paint for the special room. Have them leave a 2" space all the way across the top of the board. That space will be used during the Getting Into Scripture, memory verse review activity. Follow up with these discussion questions: 1. When you were choosing how to decorate the room, did it make a difference that it would be God's room? 2. What other items might you have included in your room that were not available here? In our Bible story today, the Israelites built a special place for God. They didn't select the furniture that would go in it. They didn't even pick out what it would be made out of or what color it would be. God gave them specific instructions on making a special place where He would meet with them. Our church is a place where we too can meet to have a special experience with God each week. GETTING INTO SCRIPTURE - SIDEWALK SANCTUARY Materials needed: Colored sidewalk chalk Large parking lot area Bibles 50 or 100 Foot measuring tape WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) There are no advance preparations necessary WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Take the children out to the parking lot. Have them open their Bibles to Exo. 25. Ask them to find the answers to the following questions. Make sure and give the verse. (Younger, non-readers can be shown where the story is found.) When the answer is found, the item is drawn on the parking lot with the sidewalk chalk. 1. What did God want the Israelites to make, so that He would dwell among them? (Vs. 8 - a sanctuary) 2. What was the size of the sanctuary? (Explain that they would not understand how to measure cubits and breadths. Give them the answer in feet. 55 feet long, 18 feet high and 18 feet wide. Using the measuring tape, mark off 55 feet long and 18 feet wide with chalk) 3. What was the sanctuary made of? (Chap.. 26:1; 26:15; curtains & boards) 4. What was the roof made of? (Chap. 26: 7, 14; goats hair, rams skins, badgers skins) 5. How many rooms were in the sanctuary? (2, Holy place and Most Holy Place; Divide the chalk drawing in half with one half being larger than the other.) 6. What kind of furniture was placed in the sanctuary? (Draw rough sketches for each of these; table of shewbread; altar; golden lamp with seven branches; Ark with tablets of stone inside and two golden angels on each end. Meeting with God in a special place, such as a sanctuary, was God's idea from the very beginning. Even though there are many ways to worship God, meeting with Him in a church brings a special blessing. GETTING INTO SCRIPTURE - MEMORY VERSE REVIEW Materials needed: Poster board rooms from Getting Their Attention Activity Markers Bibles WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) There are no advance preparations necessary. WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Pass out the rooms on poster board that each student made previously. Have the children look up the memory verse in their Bibles. Using markers, they print the verse across the top of the poster board where the 2" blank is. Collect all the poster boards. Shuffle them and pass them out randomly. Instruct the children to keep the front of the poster board hidden so no one can see the board they have. Make sure no child has his own poster board. The children are to try and find their poster board by repeating the memory verse to someone whom they think might have it. After they repeat the verse, the child holding the poster board shows it to them. If it is theirs, they take it and sit down. If not, they must keep trying with other children. The children rotate around the room in no specific order asking whomever they wish. The activity continues until all children have located their poster boards. A sanctuary does not have to be a certain kind in a particular place. Some people who worship God worship Him in a large, beautifully decorated church with rich music to make it even finer. Some people worship God together in a one room hut with nothing but their voices raised in song. The imPORT 172,16,1,11,129,205 eet together in a reverent way so that God can dwell among us. ACTING ON SCRIPTURE - CHURCH THANK-YOU'S Materials needed: (12) 12" high paper figures Markers Scissors Tape WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) Draw 12 outlines of paper figures, but do not cut them out. On the inside of each figure write: "Thank-you for helping our church be a special place to meet with God by_________________" WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Have the children spend some time thinking of specific people in the church who help make their church experience a good one. (Example: Pastor, Sabbath school teachers, custodians or janitors, musicians, deacons/deaconesses, children's story tellers, etc) As each child volunteers an idea, give him a paper figure. Assist them in filling in the blank with their idea. (Example - Pastor: Thank you for helping our church be a special place to meet with God by sharing the Word of God with us each week.) After the children have completed all the paper figures, they cut them out. If possible, go around the church with the children quietly and tape them up in prominent places where they will be seen by those individuals. (Pastor: On his office door) Some may have to be placed on bulletin boards. Make sure and alert individuals who may otherwise miss seeing their special "thank-you".