‘Faithfulness’ Fruit of the Spirit Childrens Lesson

BIG IDEA: I CAN BE FAITHFUL

AIM: The ‘Faithfulness’ Fruit of the Spirit Childrens Lesson is part of the Tutti Frutti series on the fruit of the Spirit. This lesson aims to help children understand the importance of being faithful to God and others by exploring how God is faithful to us.

INTRO QUESTION: How long can you stand on one foot for? (get kids to try doing it)

 

For SONG AND BIBLE STORY IDEAS check out our dedicated Pinterest Board.

 

GAME IDEAS:

1. The Friend Test. You will need: Paper/questions. Aim: How well do you know your friend? Choose two friends to answer a selection of questions about each other. See who knows the other person best!
2. Stick to Me. (regular/widescreen) Give each child their own pack of stickers. Children have 30 seconds to see how many stickers they can stick to their face.
3. The Faithfulness Shirt (regular/widescreen) Have two siblings wear a large shirt together labelled ‘The Faithfulness Shirt’ where they must do chores or activities around the room.

BIG VERSE: …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control… Galatians 6:22-23.

(regular/widescreen)

Download Bible Cards.

 

SET the Scene:

Read Ruth 1.

Remind the children that the fruit we will be thinking about today is faithfulness. The woman in our story was faithful to her mother in law Naomi. She stuck with her when everyone else had gone.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What happened to Naomi’s husband and sons?
2. Who was Orpah and why did she leave?
3. What did Ruth decide to do?
4. Why did Naomi ask the women to call her Mara?

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) GOD IS FAITHFUL

You will need to use the Great is Your Faithfulness Lyrics. You might also want to show pictures of a dog (especially if you have your own)

Say: The phrase “great is thy faithfulness” comes from Lamentations 3:23. This hymn was written by Thomas O. Chisholm as a poem in 1923 about God’s faithfulness over his life. Chisholm sent the song to William Runyan who set the poem to music, and it was published that same year. This song is famous and sung all over the world!

God is faithful to each one of us every day. He does not give up on us but is our faithful friend. So many times we let Him down, we even turn our back on Him. Yet God is good and He is faithful to those that are faithful towards Him. But even better, we are told in 2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” He is so good that He will always be by our side. He loves us so much that He is the One that we can trust and rely on to always be there for us, no matter how tough life gets.

Do you have a dog? [Get feedback] Is your dog loyal? Does your dog stick with you? [Get feedback] That’s what it means to be faithful – it means loyal and to stick with someone. Dogs are very good at doing this. In fact, they are known for being ‘faithful friends’. God is our faithful friend – more faithful that any dog will ever be!

 

2) I CAN BE FAITHFUL IN THE THINGS I DO

[You will need images of a friend and the sports club they support. Explain how there is someone that you know that loves their football club or describe how you your self are faithful to something. You could even interview someone that is faithful to their sport/hobby.]

Say: They are so committed to their team that they go to all the games, support them even when they lose and wears and buys all their kits. He/she is faithful to their team; they will probably always support them. In the same way God wants us to stick at the things that we do: maybe our clubs or hobbies. There may come a time when we have to quit, and thats ok, but while we are in them we should try to do our best to stick with them to the best of our ability.

When we stick with things we get better at them; if you want to be a brilliant dancer or footballer you need to be faithful in your training, or you will never be any good. What things do you need to be faithful in?

3) I CAN BE FAITHFUL TO GOD AND OTHERS

You will need a hairdryer.

Say: I’ve brought a hairdryer today to show you how we need to be faithful to God. Just watch; when I plug the hairdryer in it comes straight on and…. it works! [Demonstrate] But when I unplug the hairdryer… it doesn’t! [Demonstrate].

That’s just like us and God- when we are plugged into God we can live the amazing life that He intended for us- a life trusting in Him where exciting things happen and we can enjoy all that He has for us. John 15:4 says “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” That means that when we stick with God we can see good results in our lives, but without Him we won’t see those same results. When we are not stuck to God or plugged into Him we don’t seem to work… we can’t love others, we don’t have that joy, we don’t have a peace and we aren’t doing the good things God wants us to do.

God doesn’t just want us to be plugged into Him either… He wants us to be on fire; passionate and excited about Him! Have you ever dried your hair with a hairdryer that is cold? It feels awful! It takes ages and is really boring to have to wait around for… its the same with our life with God. We don’t want to be in a boring relationship with Him where we can’t be bothered to pray or read a Bible or come to kids church [name your church/kids church or group]. Instead, I love it when I dry my hair on a full heat… it does it quickly and feels amazing [Demonstrate]. That’s what God wants for us! An exciting relationship where we love hanging out and getting to know Him! When we are like that we can’t help but share it around. When we are plugged in and faithful to God we can make a difference in other people’s lives and they can feel God’s love, joy, peace, patience and so on too… [Demonstate] But when we are unplugged from God we can’t do anything on our own.

SEARCH the Scriptures:

You will need the Bible Verses on Faithfulness Printable.

Ask the children to look at these verses. Encourage them to think about:

1. How can you be faithful to God based on these verses?
2. How can you be faithful to your family based on these verses?
3. How can you be faithful to your friends based on these verses?
4. How can you be faithful to do the activities you have committed to based on these verses?

SENSE How You Feel:

Imagine you are Ruth and you tell Naomi you will not leave.

What made you stay with Naomi?

Invite the children to think about their answerto this question whilst considering the Biblical text – not changing anything.

1. Color the Great Is Your Faithfulness Printable
2. Create the wheat sheaves basket using the
3. Large wheat sheaves and Small wheat sheaves and Wheat Basket Printables.
4. Build the scene of Ruth in the fields using Playmobil or Lego or alike.
5. Mould a wheat sheaf out of playdough.
6. Sensory: Make some bread using a bread mix and adding water. Children can touch and smell the bread.
7. Fill in or color the activity booklets for 5-7s and 8-11s.

SEEK God:

Invite the children to pray through how they know God is faithful, how they have seen His faithfulness in their lives.

Ask them to fill out the ‘I Know God is faithful because…’ printable. 

Thank God for His faithfulness today.