To help you understand what Anchored is and how it works you will find two sample lessons here. Take a look and see how it is simple to add Anchored to what you are already doing to help children learn the "whys" - and grow up with a confident faith.
week one – creation
shows us God’s “fingerprints”
large group time
Ask
– Why do you come to church? (Let a few children answer – we are looking
for an answer related to the idea of them learning about the Bible and God.)
Say
– Yes! You come to church to help you learn about what the Bible says and
therefore what we believe. Along with learning the “whats”, we also want you to
learn the “whys” – why you are able to believe what we believe.
Say
– At some point in your life you will meet someone who does not believe what
we believe – someone who does not believe God is real and the Bible is true. But
there are many excellent reasons for us to believe, so we want you to learn
these reasons – the “whys”.
Say
– Each quarter (three months) we will learn one big question – our first big
question is, is God real? This is a very big question for sure! Each week
throughout the quarter in large group we will learn an answer for our big
question. When you return to your small groups, you will do an activity to help
you remember our weekly answer – the “why”. Then we will email your parents and/or
grandparents another fun activity for you to do at home with them during the
week to talk about the big question and our answer for the week. Please film
your family as you work on the activity or take a photo and send it to our
social media. Then on Sunday we will share one video or photo each week when we
review the answer from the week before!
Say
– One Sunday a month we will learn about an amazing animal God created to
help us with the answers to our big questions. Today we are learning about the
Blue Dragon! Yes, it is a real animal and yes, it is known as the Blue Dragon,
but while it does have a venomous sting, it is not a fire-breathing dragon! (Show
photo of a Blue Dragon)
Say – Blue Dragons live all over the Earth in the warm ocean waters near the Equator. They
Say
- Antony Hewish, a scientist and 1974 Nobel Prize
winner in Physics for discovery of pulsars said; “I believe in God. It makes no sense to me to assume the Universe
and our existence is just a cosmic accident, and life emerged due to random
physical processes in an environment which simply happened to have the right
properties.”
Say - Believing in God, and believing He is the One who designed
and created the universe and everything in it, is the thing which makes the
most sense. Too many things have to be “just right”, not just at the start of life on Earth, but throughout
each and every step as life evolved for it to “just happen” through adaptation and evolution without God. But, since
God is God, it makes sense to believe He designed everything - including Blue
Dragons . . . and you . . . to be “just right” from the start.
Say – We are able to know God is real because, creation
shows us His fingerprints
Continue
with your Sunday Morning Large Group.
quarter one – is God real?
week one – creation shows us God’s “fingerprints”
small group time
Ask
– What did you think of the Blue Dragon? Have any of you ever heard of this
creature before? What did you think was the most interesting or surprising
thing about Blue Dragons?
Say – Blue Dragons help us know God is real because creation shows us His fingerprints! Of course, our Bible tells us much about how we are able to know God is real, too – look at what this Bible verse has to say . . .
Romans 1:20 (ESV) - For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
Ask
- What do you think this verse is saying? How do Blue Dragons show us what
this verse is talking about? Write, or draw a picture on
your paper which shows what you think this verse tells us about God and how creation shows us His
fingerprints! Take
it home with you and let it remind you this week about how we are able to know
God is real, because creation shows us His fingerprints!
Continue with your
Small Group time.
week one – creation shows us
God’s “fingerprints”
family time
Gather the children you love, the supplies listed below, your camera, and learn how Blue Dragons show us God is real – because creation shows us His fingerprints!
God created Blue Dragons with a special layer of hard discs and mucus which allow them to take and save the venom from the Portuguese Man of War to protect themselves from hungry neighbors – and curious people.
Let’s do a project to help
us see how Blue Dragons show God is real – because creation shows us His
fingerprints! You will need –
·
Two balloons
·
Water
·
Funnel
·
Candle
·
Camera
Blow up one balloon and tie off. 2. Have an adult light the candle. 3. Hold the balloon above the candle’s flame – about three inches from the flame. What happened? 4. Using the funnel, put ¼ cup water into the second balloon. 5. Blow up the balloon and tie off. Hold the balloon above the candle’s flame – be sure the water inside the balloon is over the candle. What happened? Why didn’t the balloon “pop” this time?
Just like the Portuguese Man of War’s venom protects Blue Dragons, the water in the balloon protected it from the flame. God knew what He was doing when He created Blue Dragons and He designed them “just right” – God designed them to have the special mucus and hard discs inside them which protect them. How would Blue Dragons survive if they did not have these special features?
Talk about how God
designed you to have what you need to survive, because He designed you “just right”, too!
These “special features” in Blue Dragons and in you are God’s “fingerprints” and when we see them in creation, we are able to know God is real! Look outside, if the weather is nice, go for a walk and see if you are able to see more of God’s “fingerprints” around you.
Share your photos/video to your church’s social media.
(Learn more about Blue
Dragons and more animals in the Life on the Goldilocks Planet series - https://lifeonthegoldilocksplanet.blogspot.com/.)
quarter one – is God real?
week two – the Bible tells
us God is real
large group
Ask – Who remembers our answer from last week’s “why” question – is God real? (Let children answer.)
Say – Yes! We know God is real – because creation shows us His fingerprints! (Show video/photo of a family from last week.)
Say – We have a new answer for this week – we know God is real – because the Bible tells us God is real! Now, usually if people do not believe God is real, they also do not believe the Bible is true. We will learn the “whys” for, is the Bible true?, next quarter, but today we are going to learn how one of our answers for, is God real?, is because the Bible tells us God is real.
Ask – Why do we know God is real? (Because the Bible tells us God is real!)
Move on to the rest of your large group time.
quarter one – is God real?
week two – the Bible tells us God is real
small group time
Ask – Why are we
able to know God is real? (Because the Bible tells us God is real.)
Say – Let’s look
at a few Bible verses which tell us God is real –
·
Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
·
Isaiah 45:18 - For thus says the Lord, who created
the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it;
he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is
no other.
·
1 Timothy 1:17 - To the King of ages,
immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Say – These verses tell us God is real and there is no other God than Him. Choose one of these verses and draw a picture to remind you what it has to tell you about how you are able to know God is real, because the Bible tells us God is real.
Continue with your
Small Group Time.
week two – the Bible tells us God
is real
family time
We
are able to believe God is real because the Bible tells us He is real. To help
the children you love take this truth to heart, gather the following items and
get ready to think this through. You will need . . .
·
Family photo albums
·
Paper
·
Markers/crayons
·
Camera
Look
through your family photo albums, especially at photos you might have of
you/grandparents when you/they were young, and of the children you love when
they were young. Talk together about what these photos tell you about the
people in your family. Talk about how the photos are “evidence” you all exist.
In
their Small Group Time at church this week, the children you love looked at
some Bible verses which tell us God is real . . .
·
Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky
above proclaims his handiwork.
·
Isaiah 45:18 - For thus says the Lord, who created
the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it;
he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is
no other.
·
1 Timothy 1:17 - To the King of ages,
immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Bible is a “photo album” of words. These words give a “photo” of who God is. Talk about these verses together and think about how these verses give you a “photo” of God and how they help you know God exists. Choose one verse to make a special reminder – design and make a poster with the verse and hang it in your kitchen/dining room so you see it and are reminded each day of how God is real and we know this because the Bible tells us so.
Take
a family photo and share on your church’s social media.
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