Chrysalis Game

Kids wrap up in these cocoons so they can experience the forgiveness of sins.

Stuff: Toilet paper

What to do: Form pairs. Give each pair several rolls of toilet paper, and one child tightly wraps the other in a toilet paper cocoon, covering the child from head to toe and leaving the nose and mouth uncovered. Then kids burst through their cocoons. Partners switch roles and repeat the activity.

Talk about a butterfly’s life cycle—caterpillar, to cocoon, to butterfly. Discuss the differences and similarities to our lives before and after Jesus. cm

Heart Attract

Help children have a heart for your community. To help children have a heart for your community, play this familiar game with a twist. Tape a large map of the world to the wall at children’s eye level. Highlight your community.

Blindfold children one at a time, spin them around, and have them tape a heart as closely as possible to your community. Afterward discuss what things might be keeping people in your city from coming to know Jesus. Then lead children in praying for your community.

Counting on Kids

Kids not only make priceless contributions to capital campaigns—they also take away invaluable lessons. by Stephanie Martin Kids not only make priceless contributions to capital campaigns—they also take away invaluable
lessons about love and stewardship

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “capital campaign”? Most people envision lofty financial goals, urgent appeals, and teams of adults working on long-term projects. But for a growing number of churches, capital campaigns are no longer adult-only undertakings.
Kids are joining capital campaigns in creative, meaningful, and fun ways. And while kids pitch in, they’re learning about stewardship along with their families—and seeing tangible benefits for their children’s programs.
Children’s Ministry Magazine spoke with a variety of churches around the country to discover innovative ways they’re getting kids involved in capital campaigns. The campaigns vary in purpose, scope, and strategy, but everyone agrees that no matter the size of the project, kids are eager—and important—contributors when it comes to growing the body of Christ.

Where the Money Goes
“Many capital campaigns regularly include a children’s ministry component, even if the fund-raising isn’t solely related to children’s ministry,” says Kelly Kannwischer, communications director with the fund-raising company Viscern. While many churches undertake capital campaigns to add new children’s education buildings, she says, a growing trend is to raise money for mission projects that help other children. Capital campaigns fall into one of two basic types of projects—on-campus and outreach.
• On-Campus Projects—Church capital campaigns that focus on children’s ministry can raise money for everything from new buildings and equipment to special, high-cost projects.
At Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, last spring’s campaign raised money for a kids camp and for a satellite campus. A recent capital campaign at Zoe Christian Fellowship in Whittier, California, earmarked money for a brand-new playground for kids and a new parking lot.
• Outreach Projects—When Bayside Covenant Church in Granite Bay, California, conducted a capital campaign, half of the money went toward missions. The church built an AIDS clinic in Nigeria and a homeless shelter in their county for women with children.
At Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona, finance director Bob Wild says the church wanted “to cast a bigger vision” than just constructing new children’s and youth ministry buildings. So the church tithed from the money raised, allocating funds toward church planting and missions.
No matter how the money is earmarked, children’s ministers agree that the goal of capital campaigns is to ultimately build up a ministry.
“Campaigns should always take your ministry to the next level,” says Sharlene Crutchfield, former children’s ministry director at Zoe Christian Fellowship.

All Kids On Board
Capital campaigns are a perfect opportunity for everyone in your congregation to learn about stewardship, study God’s Word, and become prayer partners for your church and its ministries. Don’t leave the kids out.
“Any time we do a capital campaign, we always involve the children,” says Annette Spangler, Bayside’s interim children’s pastor. “It’s a great chance to educate children that not everyone has what they have and to have compassion for the less fortunate.”
Steve Hutchins, children’s pastor at Central Christian Church in Mesa, Arizona, says the challenge during each campaign is to “make this something the kids can understand and connect with.”
Foundations for a successful, meaningful campaign with children include classroom and family learning, as well as a solid grounding in prayer. Use the following concepts to build kids’ interest and commitment to the project.
• Teaching Time—Many churches design campaign-themed Sunday school curriculum that coincides with an adult sermon series. That way, kids and their parents can learn stewardship principles at the same time.
Mitch Corn, elementary pastor at Fellowship Church, did a four-week children’s sermon series called Above and Beyond to teach kids about sacrificial giving. He focused on our many God-given blessings and discussed tithing in kid-friendly terms.
Some companies that churches hire to help with their capital campaigns produce specialized children’s curriculum. RSI, a division of Viscern (www.viscern.com), produces a three-week series of Bible lessons called Cruise on the Steward Ship. It’s filled with age-appropriate activities, stories, Scriptures, and prayers that help kids learn about caring for God’s resources. Most churches modify these lessons to meet the particular needs of their children’s ministries, Kannwischer says.
• At-Home Discussions—It’s crucial to partner with parents when teaching kids about sacrificial giving, says Corn. Parents, after all, are the ones who give children allowance and help set the tone for their financial education and habits.
Families can discuss what they’ll give as a whole for the campaign, suggests Hutchins. “When campaigns are family-centered,” he says, “it magnifies the potential for learning, giving, and growth.”
Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, sponsored family nights during its campaign so children and parents could learn about stewardship together.
During a campaign at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, families received special placemats that served as stewardship discussion starters during meals.
At one church that RSI assisted, 30 families each wrote a devotion with a Scripture, a message, a prayer, and an explanation of the campaign. Then a volunteer compiled the devotions into a booklet families could use at mealtimes, Kannwischer says.
• Prayer Emphasis—When Shadow Mountain raised money for new children’s buildings, the entire campaign was bathed in prayer. Katie Williams, designer of children’s outreach, says classes put “prayer stakes” in the ground during groundbreaking. They also went on prayer walks around the buildings during construction.

Creative Campaigning for Kids
Most churches have a mini-campaign for kids that’s concentrated into a few weeks. During this time, innovative ideas such as these bring the campaign to life in visible, kid-friendly ways.
• Fun Ways to Give—Children enjoy collecting their change in unique banks. Many churches distribute banks in the shape of a brick or a building block so kids realize they’re building the church. At the close of the campaign, children can come to the front of the church and stack their banks.
Fellowship Church found a company that makes banks in the shape of a camp cabin. Kids got to place their banks on maps of the proposed kids camp to get a good visual about how their money would be used.
Banks were so popular during Shadow Mountain’s campaign, Williams says, that a couple kids regularly brought in their filled banks throughout the whole three-year campaign, long after the children’s portion had ended.
To find unique banks and more, go to www.childrens ministry.com and click on Web Extras.
Crutchfield designed offering envelopes specifically for children’s church at Zoe Christian Fellowship. Volunteers counted money and made spreadsheets, then Crutchfield sent a letter to all the children, thanking them for their gifts.
• Multiplying the Money—Some churches entrust children with “seed money,” based on Jesus’ parable of the talents, and ask them to find ways to make it grow. At Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, children participate in capital campaigns by receiving their own muslin “seed bags” with $5 inside. Attached is a list of ideas for growing the money, such as raking leaves, helping around the house, walking dogs, and so on.
Sondra Saunders, Prestonwood’s children’s preschool minister, says kids invest their seed money in creative ways. One girl held a music recital at her house for relatives who gave donations, and a group of boys earned $385 by making and selling potpies.
• Visual Reminders—When Central Christian in Mesa launched a capital campaign to build a satellite campus 11 miles away, children created a “penny bridge” between the existing church and the new location. That translated into almost 1 million pennies, or $10,000. Every time children reached a milestone in the goal, leaders marked it off visually on a giant aerial-view poster of the campuses.
Hutchins also added a visual component to the campaign at Central Christian. Using the theme And One, the church emphasized that in addition to building one more campus, they also were building the church through outreach. Kids each wrote on a sticky note the name of a friend who needed Jesus, then put all those notes on a board. “We wanted kids to see that the campaign was for individual people,” Hutchins says.
Another fun challenge that churches issue to kids, according to Kannwischer, is to collect their height in pennies. (When pennies are stacked like pancakes, it takes 18 to equal one inch!)
• Multimedia Messages—The possibilities are limitless for getting word out about a campaign. Older kids can make videos documenting the ministry needs that the campaign is addressing. The children’s ministry can have its own special campaign newsletter, as well as a celebration for reaching goals.
Saddleback’s music minister wrote a special campaign song called “Building Children.” At Shadow Mountain, kids wrote their names on rocks and placed them into part of the groundwork when the new children’s building was under construction. And Fellowship Church ordered rubber wristbands imprinted with its Above and Beyond campaign logo.
Calvary Church in Muscatine, Iowa, asked kids to lead the way in a recent capital campaign. Children paraded into the worship service dressed in costumes, performed a drama, and sang. Afterward they invited adults to the lobby for dessert and an art show. Booths showed displays of what each children’s classroom would look like after being remodeled with campaign money.
“We didn’t want the campaign to be just about giving money,” says David Stern, Calvary’s children’s pastor. “So we had kids use their talents in a variety of ways.”
No matter which ideas you use to teach children about stewardship and involve them in a capital campaign, don’t underestimate what your church’s youngest members can accomplish. Some churches don’t set specific financial goals for children because they want to emphasize the life lessons being learned. Others, however, encourage children’s ministries to dream big.
“Kids can set the tone for the adults in a capital campaign,” says Hutchins.
After hearing about the And One campaign, one boy at Central Christian decided to donate his entire $1,000 Christmas check from his grandmother. “He said he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his money than to help kids who didn’t know Jesus,” says Hutchins. “He’d been holding on to the check for something special, and that reflected the spirit of our entire campaign.” cm

Foundation for Success
Ministry leaders who’ve conducted capital campaigns with kids share their key principles for success.
• Make it meaningful. “Each campaign should have a compelling case statement that addresses a clear vision and need,” says Kelly Kannwischer, communications director with fund-raising company Viscern. The case statement points out why the need is so important for a church’s future. It’s easy to do that for children’s ministry projects, Kannwischer says, because children represent the church’s future.
• Make it personal. “Capital campaigns aren’t about money or buildings or patting yourself on the back,” says Steve Hutchins, children’s pastor at Central Christian Church in Mesa, Arizona. So it’s important to keep kids focused on the outreach potential by “picking a person you’re reaching out to,” he says.
Sharlene Crutchfield, former children’s ministry director at Zoe Christian Fellowship, adds, “Campaigns should benefit the people your church serves, not just make the place look prettier.”
• Make it visible. Children need constant reminders about a capital campaign’s purpose and goal. Giant posters, progress indicators, and models are all great visual elements for a children’s ministry campaign. When Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, was raising money for a new children’s camp, a booth in the church atrium displayed photos of fun events from previous camps.
“It may cost extra money to have architectural models made, but that helps keep the vision alive,” says Crutchfield. “It keeps the campaign before people.”
• Make it family-centered. “The biggest thing is to keep talking to the kids about the campaign,” says Katie Williams, designer of children’s outreach at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California. “And a big part of that is keeping parents involved,” she adds, “because there’s so much that kids can’t do without their parents’ help.”

Bulletin Boards Kids Can Create

A year's worth of ideas for exciting, interactive bulletin board displays kids will love.

FALL
Pile of Prayers
Cover the bulletin board with sky blue wrapping paper. Have kids cut leaf shapes from orange, red and yellow construction paper. Let younger kids cut simple leaf shapes while older kids cut maple-leaf shapes. Place the leaf shapes in a tiny basket and pin the basket to one corner of the bulletin board. Place straight pins in a small envelope and pin the envelope next to the basket.

Write, "Pile of Prayers" on a long strip of construction paper and pin it near the top of the bulletin board, tucking a few leaves behind it. On two smaller strips, print "Concerns" and "Praises." Pin these strips near the bottom.

Invite kids to write prayer requests on the leaf shapes and pin them to the "Concerns" pile. Praises for answered prayer can be written on the reverse side of the "Concern" leaves, then added to to the "Praises" pile. Everyone will enjoy watching the piles grow and change as the weeks go by!

ADVENT
Gifts for Jesus

Cover the entire bulletin board with shiny red or green foil wrapping paper. Cross the bulletin board with ribbons that meet in a big bow, so the board looks like a wrapped gift. Add a paper strip to title the display "Gifts for Jesus."

Write out Matthew 25:40 on a white sheet of paper and pin it near one corner. Beneath the verse, pin an envelope full of self-stick Christmas gift tags. Each week invite kids to write on a gift tag one thing they'll do to show Jesus' love to "one of the least of these," and then have them stick the tags to the bulletin board. Each week ask kids to tell about how they showed Jesus' love during the previous week.

WINTER
Twinkling Praises

Use dark blue foil wrapping paper to cover the board. Run miniature white Christmas lights around the edge. Write, "Twinkling Praises" on a large star cut from silver paper and pin it near the top left corner. Place multicolored, gummed stars and small slips of paper in an envelope pinned to the bottom right corner.

At a special time each week, turn on the twinkling lights and invite

kids to write their praises to God on slips of paper and stick them to the display with the gummed stars. As kids add their praises, the twinkling bulletin board will grow more bright and beautiful!

SPRING
Friendship Flowers

Cover the board with green calico fabric. Have kids use brightly-colored chenille wire to form the words, "Friendship Flowers." Then have them pin the words in an arch across the top of the board.

Have kids each write their name in the bottom of a paper muffin cup. Help kids pin the muffin cups all around the board, with the inside of the bottoms facing out. Have kids cut petal shapes from light green construction paper.

Tuck pins into one envelope and petal shapes into another. Pin the envelopes to a bottom corner. Each week invite kids to write simple affirmations such as "nice smile" or "good friend" and pin them around the appropriate person's "flower." Write affirmations for children who don't have many petals. As the friendship flowers grow, so will love and good feelings among your kids!

Happy Mother's Day

5 great ways to celebrate moms.

DID YOU KNOW?
Mother's Day wasn't dreamed up by greeting card companies to sell more cards. Here are the facts:

Julia Ward Howe, writer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," first suggested Mother's Day as a day of peace shortly after the Civil War, but the celebration as we know it is credited to Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia. In 1907, she asked a church in Grafton, West Virginia, to hold a special Mother's Day service on the second anniversary of her mother's death. Seven years later, on May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

CARNATION ART
Wearing a carnation is a Mother's Day tradition. A white carnation honors a mother who's died. A red one honors a living mother.

WORDS MOMS LIKE TO HEAR
Please.
Thank you.
May I clear the table?
I'm going to do my homework now.
I love you, Mom!

HONOR YOUR MOTHER
On Mother's Day, help kids honor Mom or a special woman in their life by doing something for her!

• Plan a Mother's Day Brunch in each class. Have kids use Marvy Uchida Craft Punchers to create a place mat for Mom. Kids can punch out a border and glue the punch-outs to the center of a large sheet of card stock. Have kids write messages to their mothers. Cover both sides of the place mat with clear adhesive-backed plastic. Then invite moms in near the end of the class time for juice and muffins. (Marvy Uchida Craft Punchers are available for $5. Call 800-541-5877.)
• Create a banner that honors mothers for your worship area. Print "Mothers Are a Gift From God" in the middle of a sheet of mural paper. Have children each cut out a package shape from pretty gift wrap and write their mother's name on the package. Then have them glue their package on the mural and attach a self-stick bow.

A GIFT FOR MOM
Objective: Kids will express their love to their mom or a special woman.
Stuff you'll need: clear 35 mm film canister for each child (available from photo processors), 1-inch-wide ribbon or fabric strips, narrow ribbon or rickrack, fabric paints, yarn, sequins or beads, tacky glue, scissors, paintbrush, egg carton, poster board, and a bag of small candies.

Tell kids to:

• Work with the open end of the canister up. Glue the wide ribbon or fabric strip around the bottom half of the film canister. Then glue narrow ribbon or rickrack along the top edge of the wide ribbon.
• Remove the canister's cap and set it aside. Paint a face on the canister with fabric paint. Cut and unravel yarn pieces and glue them around the back and sides of the canister for hair. Add sequins or beads for earrings.
• Cut and paint an egg carton section to make a hat. When the paint is dry, bend up a brim around the edge and add ribbons or sequins to decorate it.
• Cut a 3-inch-diameter circle from poster board. Print "God fills Moms with LOVE!" around the outside edge of the circle. Glue the film canister to the middle of the circle. Fill the canister with small candies and replace the cap. Put the hat on and give it to Mom!

Craft-Toe Painting

Use this fun craft to help children learn that Christ sets them free from selfishness so they can serve others. GRADES K--6

Stuff you'll need: Poster board, cardboard, or construction paper; red, white, and blue liquid tempera paint; wash basins filled with water; and towels.

Get ready: Have girls wear pants or shorts for this activity. Pour different-colored paint into aluminum pie pans. Cover kids' work area with newspapers.

Text: Galatians 5:1, 13-14

Tell kids to:

*Take off your shoes and sit by a sheet of paper. (Older children may enjoy creating murals together, while younger children may enjoy making individual paintings.)

*Let's celebrate freedom by painting an Independence Day picture with our toes. Place your toes in the pans of paint and paint a picture on your paper.

*Once you're finished with your picture, wash your feet and set your picture aside to dry.

Talk teasers: Tell about your picture. You were all free to create whatever you wanted to-with some guidelines, such as colors to use and a topic to focus on. Let's look at another kind of freedom we Christians enjoy.

(Read the Scripture.) What freedoms do we have in our country? What does the Bible say Christians are free from? What does the Bible mean when it talks about using our freedom to serve others? (For older children only: How is our freedom in Christ similar to the freedom we have in our country?) How can we use our freedom in Christ to serve others this week?

Crafts-Back-to-School

Get kids ready for the new school year with these ideas!

Faith Folders

Get plain, two-pocket folders and decorating items such as stickers, markers, photos, or glitter glue.

Let kids share their faith at school by creating folders with a message. Have kids decorate folders with faith messages such as “God rocks!” or “Jesus is my hero.” Photos from summer programs and events add a unique touch.

Backpack Tags

Get cookie cutters, pencils, craft foam, scissors, markers, a hole punch, and colored cable ties (available at hardware stores).

Kids can easily identify their backpacks with these colorful, customized tags. Let kids trace and cut out a foam shape. Kids can print their information such as name, school, or class on one side. On the other side, let kids write a favorite Bible verse or Christian phrase to share their love for Jesus. Punch a hole at the top of the shape and use a colored cable tie to attach it to the child’s backpack.

Secret Zipper Pulls

Get beading cord, lanyard hooks (available at craft stores), pony beads, and copies of the secret code key.

Kids can protect sensitive numbers such as locker combinations or emergency phone numbers.

Kids can tie a secure knot at one end of the beading cord, and then string beads using the secret code key. String beads that match the numbers in a phone number or locker code according to the secret code key. Continue the pattern until the phone number or locker code is complete. Tie the end of the cord and attach a lanyard hook. Kids can attach their secret codes to their backpacks or jackets as they head to school for the year.

Games-Set Free

Play this game to help kids experience freedom in Christ.

*Theme: Freedom in Christ
*Text: Romans 6:20-23 in an easy-to-understand translation.
*Preparation: You'll need a ball of string or yarn, and scissors.

*The Message: This string represents a chain. One person will begin and wrap the string around a part of their body such as an arm or leg and will name one sin that kids do. Then that person will pass the string until each person has had a turn. The more tangled up the group gets, the better!

(After everyone is tangled up, have them sit as one group on the floor.) How does it feel to be tangled up by these chains?

(Read the Scripture.) What does it mean to be a slave to sin? a slave to God? How is being a slave to sin like or unlike being in these chains?

(Have kids tear or cut off the chains.) How is being free from the chains like or unlike the freedom from sin that Jesus gives us? How can we receive the freedom from sin that Jesus wants to give us?

Skit

Use this skit to encourage kids to bloom in their relationship with God.

You might not spot it at first. Spiritual growth in junior highers is often hidden behind the latest trends, feigned disinterest, or hot and cold spells of spiritual fervor.

But chances are, if we look closely at our kids, we just might see signs indicating a growing relationship with God. We might spot growth that only God had noticed before.

Use this skit to encourage kids to bloom in their relationship with God.

Props

For this skit you’ll need
• a photocopy of the performance section of the skit and
• five cue cards printed as follows:
Cue Card 1......................."Applause"
Cue Card 2......................."Amen"
Cue Card 3......................."Too Bad"
Cue Card 4......................."Get Outta Town"
Cue Card 5......................."Switch"

Setting the Stage

Before the meeting, read the entire skit at least once to become familiar with the story.
Select a volunteer to be in charge of flashing the appropriate cue cards during the skit. Give the volunteer a photocopy of the performance section of the skit so he or she can follow along with the story. Select two more volunteers to act as pantomime leaders for the skit. (If you have five or fewer junior highers, flash the cue cards yourself and have only one volunteer act as pantomime leader.)

Have the group stand, facing you and your volunteers. Say: We’re going to perform an echo-pantomime based on the story of the sower and the seed. As I read the skit, I’ll pause for our pantomime leaders to make up and perform actions to illustrate the story. Mimic their actions as best you can. And when a cue card is raised, do whatever it says. If you see the "switch" card, that means we’ll need two new volunteers to lead the pantomime. Ready? Let’s practice.

Have your volunteers do a few simple actions such as smiling or waving to allow kids to practice following their direction. Also, flash the cue cards and have kids practice responding to them.

Then read the skit enthusiastically. Be sure to pause where indicated for kids to perform their echo-pantomimes and allow time for kids to respond to the cue cards as they come up. If you’d like, use funny voices for the different characters and let kids know by your example it’s okay to enjoy themselves during the performance.

The Performance:

Sow What?

Once there was a man who went into his field to sow seeds. (Pause) As he tossed seeds to and fro, (Pause) he sang to himself, (Pause)

"Sow, sow, sow my seed,
Evenly over my field;
Back and forth, and forth and back,
I pray for a good yield."(Flash Applause cue card)

And he spread his seeds all over. They floated through the air, (Pause) gyrating, (Pause) twisting, (Pause) turning. (Pause) Eventually all came to rest on the ground in all kinds of positions, looking as if they’d been playing a game of Twister. (Pause)

Some of the seeds fell along the road, where people walked and birds ate them. (Pause) The seeds tried frantically to dodge the feet and hungry birds(Pause) but couldn’t avoid them all.

The seeds grumbled among themselves. "We hate it when that happens!" they said angrily. "So what if we wasn’t exactly where we shoulda been? Does that mean we deserve to get stepped on and pecked at? (Flash Too Bad cue card) What should we have done? (Flash Get Outta Town cue card) Look, no matter how hard you try to do right, there’s always some vulture out there ready to swoop down and sink his claws in ya!(Flash Too Bad cue card) Let’s practice our fighter imitations; maybe that’ll scare the birds away."(Pause)

But, in spite of their fierce fighter imitations, the last of the seeds by the road got carried away by the birds and could only play dead instead. (Pause) (Flash Switch cue card)

Some of the seeds fell (Pause) on rocky ground where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted (Pause) because the soil wasn’t very deep. But when the sun came up, it burned the young plants. They cried and complained and had a little pity-party. (Pause) And since the roots hadn’t grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up and blew away. (Pause) (Flash Switch cue card)

Some of the seeds fell (Pause) among the thorn bushes. The thorn bushes grew up and choked the seedlings with all the cares and concerns of this world.(Pause)

The thorns whispered things like, "You don’t want to be caught dead with a hole in your underwear!"(Flash Amen cue card) and "Why aren’t your clothes as nice as ours?"(Flash Too Bad cue card) and "I got more money than you got! Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!"(Flash Get Outta Town cue card)

And the seeds couldn’t help themselves. They went shopping. (Pause) And skipped church.(Flash Too Bad cue card) And went shopping some more. (Pause) Before they knew it, they were buried under an avalanche of material things. (Pause) And soon they died for lack of air. (Flash Too Bad cue card; flash Switch cue card)

But some of the seeds fell (Pause) in good soil, and the plants sprouted! (Pause) (Flash Applause cue card; flash Amen cue card)

Some friends were sarcastic about it. They twiddled their fingers and said, "Whoop-de-do," (Pause) (Flash Too Bad cue card) and put their hands over their hearts and said, "Isn’t that special!" (Pause) (Flash Get Outta Town cue card)
But the Sower was excited about these seeds. He danced and twirled for joy. (Pause) (Flash Applause cue card) He watered and cared for the seeds,(Pause) guarded them from harm, (Pause) and helped them produce 30, 60, and 100 times more food than they thought possible. (Flash Applause cue card)

Now, the question remains: Are you the kind of person the Sower would get excited about?

Permission to photocopy this skit granted for local church use. Copyright © Group Publishing, Inc., Box 481, Loveland CO 80539.

Before the Final Curtain

Have kids read Matthew 13:3-9 and 13:18-23 and discuss these questions.
1. Which character in the skit do you relate to most? Why?
2. Have you ever felt like the seeds surrounded by thorns? Explain.
3. What are specific things we can do to help one another grow like seeds planted in good soil?