Aim: The ‘Gideon and the Midianites’ Childrens Lesson (Judges 6-8) is part of a wider teaching series called ‘Squad Goals’ that focuses on friendship.
Main Idea: GOD CAN DO MUCH WITH FEW
Suggested Schedule: (90 mins)
- Welcome (5 mins)
- Game (5mins)
- Review Big Verse (5 mins)
- Set the Scene: Bible story/skit and review questions (10-15 mins)
- Object Lesson 1 talk (5mins)
- Game (5 mins)
- Object Lesson 2 talk (5 mins)
- Game (5 mins)
- Object Lesson 3 game and talk (10 mins)
- Game (5 mins)
- Sense How You Feel activity (10 – 25 mins)
- Seek God Prayer (5 mins)
Supplies:
- Bible
- small balls, buckets
- glow sticks
- balloons, paper cups
- dish, milk, colored dye (different colours), dish soap (washing up liquid) and a cotton swab.
- Tunnels, chairs, tables, cones, bean bags
- All necessary printables, markers, scissors, string or ribbon.
- Playdough or clay
- Lego or construction toys
- Blowing musical instruments such as trumpets, recorders,
SONG and BIBLE STORY VIDEO IDEAS available via our dedicated Pinterest Board
GAME IDEAS:
POOP THE POTATO – 5 mins
Description: Team Relay game
Supplies: small balls, buckets
Details: (regular/widescreen) A simple and silly game where children must run with a potato or small ball (ball pit balls work well) between their knees or thighs and then must drop it into a bucket at the end of the room.
GLOW STICK SCAVENGER HUNT – 5 MINS
Description: Team Game
Supplies: glow sticks
Details: (regular/widescreen) Hide glow sticks around your room or building. Children must go around finding the glow sticks as fast as they can. The child/team with the most glow sticks at the end is the winner.
BALLOON CUPS – 10 MINS
Description: One-on-one game
Supplies: balloons, paper cups
Details: (regular/widescreen) Children are given a number of paper cups lined up on a table. They must blow up their balloon and use it to blow the cups off the table as it deflates. The first players to blow all their cups off the table is the winner.
BIG VERSE: The battle is not your battle it is God’s battle. 2 Chronicles 20:15b.
SET THE SCENE: 10-15 MINS
Description: Story time
Supplies: Bible or try one of the Bible videos listed on our Pinterest Board
Details: Read Judges 6-8 – or act out then ask a few of the review questions below:
REVIEW QUESTIONS:
- What did God say about Gideon’s army?
- How did God make Gideon’s army smaller the first time?
- How did God make Gideon’s army the second time?
- Why did God want Gideon’s army to be smaller?
- What happened when Gideon faced the Midianites?
- What did Gideon’s army take with them?
SPOT THE SIMPLE MEANING:
1) GOD CAN DO MUCH WITH FEW – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 1
Supplies: dish, milk, colored dye (different colours), dish soap (washing up liquid) and a cotton swab.
Details: Place some milk in a dish. Add a few colors of food dye to the milk in the centre of the dish. Take your cotton swab and dip it into the dish soap (washing up liquid). Place the swab in the middle of the dish and watch as it repels the colored milk away.
Say: Gideon knew that God could do much with only a few men. Why? Because he knew how big and how strong God is. He knew that God was far greater than any enemy he might face.
This milk is like the field that the Midianites fought on. [Show the milk in the dish] The Midianites were many [drop a few droplets of colored dye into the milk]. There were lots of them. Gideon’s army started off big. They could have probably defeated the Midianites with their large army of 32,000. Yet God had a plan.
The army was made smaller when God told Gideon to take away those that were afraid. 22, 000 men left and went home. 10,000 remained. Then God said those that did not lap up the water should go home. 300 men remained. This sounds like a lot of men, but it was only a few compared to the Midianite army.
Yet God can do much with few because He is the greatest! He is greater than any man or army. This cotton swap [show the cotton cotton swab] is like Gideon and his army, with the power of God. On the surface, it looks tiny compared to all the colorful milk. Yet when we place it in the centre of the dish… [put the cotton swab in the centre] it is the swab that has the victory… and that is the same with us and God. God can do much with few because He is the greatest! He is the most powerful! Nothing can stand against him!
Jesus had 12 friends, but only 3 of those friends were his closest friends.
2) GIDEON TRUSTED GOD WITH HIS ARMY – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 2
Supplies: No supplies needed
Details: Human Triangle: Get two players or some sets of partners up at the front. Encourage them to place their flat palms against one another’s and put their weight towards them. Then encourage the children to take a step out, away from one another. This creates a triangle shape between the children. The children should keep stepping out together at the same time, after pausing to gain their balance. The children should see how many steps out they can comfortably make whilst leaning into each other’s hands.
Say: When we trust someone we believe that they are going to help us achieve what we want to achieve.
Gideon trusted God with his army. God told Gideon that He wanted to make the army smaller so that nobody could boast that it was a big army that defeated the Midianites. God wanted people to know that He was the One that would beat the army.
Gideon believed God would do what He said He would do. He allowed God to show him the people that He wanted to use, and those He didn’t. Gideon had a large army until God turned many of them away. Yet Gideon obeyed. Why? Because Gideon trusted God.
Gideon trusted that God would win the battle with his small army. He knew how great God was, so it didn’t matter how big the enemy was, Gideon knew his God was greater. He trusted God with his army and he trusted God to win the battle.
3) I CAN TRUST GOD WITH MY FRIENDS – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 3
Supplies: No supplies needed, just people
Details: Practice this skit before you perform it. It will be best if you don’t use the script but try to remember the lines, or improvise. The children will engage withe the content better if you don’t use a script.
Skit: 2 actors
Jamie: Faith, My friend Rex keeps getting into trouble at school. He’s failing all his classes. He’s started to lose friends because he’s so angry all the time. And he says he doesn’t want to know about Jesus. He says Jesus is stupid.
Faith: Well, what do you say?
Jamie: I keep telling him how Jesus has helped me. I tell him how I go to church and how Jesus has helped me make friends, helped me study and feel confident about being in a new school… but…
Faith: He still doesn’t listen?
Jamie: Exactly! I don’t know what to do…
Faith: Well, you’re telling him everything right, are you praying for him?
Jamie: I pray for him every night!
Faith: Then you’ve got to trust that God is speaking to Him. You’ve got to trust that God wants the best for Him.
Jamie: You’re right.
Faith: But don’t stop praying, and don’t stop telling him.
Jamie: But if I trust God, why do I need to do those things?
Faith: It shows God that you care. It shows God that you trust Him with Rex. And it will help you to stop worrying about Rex too.
Jamie: I have been pretty worried. Things just seem so bad for him right now. I just haven’t known what to do.
Faith: Keep doing what you’re doing Jamie, be his friend and just trust God.
Jamie: You’re right, Faith, that’s what I’m going to do. Thanks!
Say: Jamie was worried about his friend Rex. Perhaps you’ve felt worried about a friend or a relative. Maybe someone you know is poorly, perhaps they have some family problems at home. There are lots of things that can make life seem very difficult and it is hard to watch our friends and family go through difficult and sad times.
Yet, just like Jamie, we can trust God with our family and friends. We can trust that God is watching out for them when we pray and trust Him. We can trust God with our friends and our family because He cares for us and He cares for them.
Sometimes it may feel difficult to trust God. We may not see the results we want straight away. Let’s never give up trusting God with our friends and family. God will have the victory, we just have to keep trusting in Him.
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES:
LITTLE IS MUCH – 10 MINS
Description: Team game.
Supplies: Tunnels, chairs, tables, cones, bean bags, object printables
Details: Have the object printables stuck to objects in an obstacle course. The team must relay through the obstacle course grabbing one of the object printables only. When each member has finished the course the team is done. The quickest team is the winning team. You can have multiple copies of the objects if you have more than 6 children in each team.
Small things that made a big difference:
- 5 loaves and 2 fish
- Moses’ rod
- David’s sling
- Shamgar’s Ox Goad (Judges 3:31)
- Samson’s donkey jawbone
- The widow’s mite (Mark 12:42-44)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- What few friends has God given you?
- How do you make those friends feel special?
- Do you trust God to look after your family and friends? How?
SENSE HOW YOU FEEL – 10 MINS EACH OR IN TANDEM/ROTATION
How does it feel to trust God?
Encourage the children to think about the question above as they do one of the activities:
Description: Craft.
Supplies: Gideon’s Horn craft printable, markers, scissors, string or ribbon.
Details: Color and decorate the horn. Cut it out. Attach some string or ribbon to hang it around the child’s neck loosely.
Description: Moulding activity.
Supplies: Playdough or clay.
Details: Mould Gideon and the horns and jars.
Description: Building activity.
Supplies: Lego or construction toys.
Details: Build the scene of the two armies fighting one another.
Description: Sensory activity.
Supplies: Blowing musical instruments such as trumpets, recorders,
Details: Children play with the instruments as they think about the story.
Description: Coloring sheets and see Pinterest Board for activity sheets.
Supplies: coloring sheets, markers.
Details: Fill in or color the sheets
SEEK GOD: 5 MINS
Description: Prayer activity
Supplies: Prayer Horn template
Details: Write the names of the few friends you want to pray for on the horn. Make a wreath out of all the horns by sticking them together with their skinny ends in the center. Hang the wreath somewhere everyone is reminded to pray for their friends.
Say: Today we’ve been thinking about how God can do much with few. He doesn’t need a lot of people to transform the world. Jesus had 12 disciples. He could have chosen more, but he only needed 12.
What or who are you trusting God with today? Who are you worried about? Who needs God’s help? Write down their names on your prayer horn.
Prayer:
Thank You God that You care about our friends and our family. Thank You that You are the greatest, You are so powerful. Help us to trust You with our friends and family and to know that You love them and want the best for them. Amen.
