‘Should I Share?’ Childrens Lesson on Feeding Five Thousand

BIG IDEA: I CAN SHARE

AIM: The ‘Should I Share?’ Childrens Lesson on Feeding Five Thousand

INTRO QUESTION: What would the world be like if everyone shared with each other?

SONG IDEAS:

1. ‘#Banner’ by Brandon Seibert
2. ‘The Sharing Song’ for 5-7year olds
3. ‘Share Everything with Me’ for 5-7 year olds

GAME IDEAS:

1. Toast Picture. Burn a bunch of toast and have contestants scrape into it with a knife to make a picture. This could be on one piece of toast or a team could work together using a few pieces.

2. Bread Person. Each child gets handed a piece of bread and must make it into a person by squishing and moulding it.

3. M&M Icebreaker. Children take an M&M and must say what their favourite thing is according to the color they have chosen: Green – Hobby, Brown – Food, Red – Sport, Yellow – School Subject, Orange – Movie or TV Show, Blue – Musician/Artist/Group.

For more icebreakers to help your kids share more about themselves click here.

SET the Scene:

Read Matthew 14:13-21 or read the story from a children’s story book if you have one. You could even act out the story as you tell it, or get the children to take part.

1. ‘No Gift Too Small’ by Delight the Light
2. ‘Beginners Bible – Feeding the 5000’
3. ’60 Seconds Bible Stories:Feeding 5000′ by TaylorMotion
4. ‘Feeding 5000’ by the Jesus Project

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) SHARING IS CARING

Bring in lots of chocolates, candy or something else that could be shared. Explain to the children that you are going to eat them all yourself. When the children tell you that is not a good idea, you can ask them why it would be good for you to share them.

For older children you could encourage them to do a teamwork game or to produce a poster or another craft in pairs to help them to think through what it means to share repsonsibility and work together. You may also want to show this video about if the world were 100 people.

Say: Sometimes things are better when we share them. If I was to eat all these candies/chocolates I might really enjoy eating them, but I would probably feel sick afterwards! It’s great to share food – imagine if nobody ever shared any food at a party and you had to bring your own – it wouldn’t be very fun! Or imagine having to eat a whole pizza to yourself because you couldn’t share… pizza is fun when we get to hang out together and share it. Watching our favorite TV show can be more fun when we are together too. Some things are just more fun when we get to share them!

[If you played a teamwork game you can reference how great it is to work together, and what we learn from doing so.] When we share with others we are showing that we care about someone else – not just ourselves. It helps us to think about how others think and feel. When we understand that everyone matters to God and that each one of us is made in God’s image, it helps us to realize that everyone matters. Sharing is caring and it shows that we care about others.

2) JESUS SHARES EVERYTHING WITH US 

Show the Action Against Hunger video on sharing. You could even try your own version by putting everyone in pairs and give one person in the pair a big bar of chocolate. See what they do with their chocolate. You will also need some bread to hold.

Say: Our God is the God that gives. Sharing can sometimes feel like its a topic for little kids… but it’s something we have to choose to do whether we are young or old. When we are little we learn how to share our toys, the TV remote or our games console (reference PlayStation, XBox or whichever is currently most popular) controller. We choose whether to share our ideas, our time and our thoughts with others. It’s easy to hold on to it ourselves, yet when we share we are able to benefit more and others may share with us, increasing our own ideas and thoughts too.

What are the types of things that you can share? What are the types of things that we as a town/city/country can share? [Get feedback.]

Jesus could have taken the little boy’s lunch and eaten it himself. He could have shared it only among his disciples. Yet Jesus is God’s Son; He is God, and so he performed a great miracle that fed over 5,000 people! [Hold some bread as you talk] If I was to break this bread in front of you, I would only be able to feed a few people. God is SO great that He is able to provide for the whole world. Yet He chooses to use us to share with others too.

Jesus shared the food in this passage, but he also shared his life, his love, compassion, joy and friendship with others. He didn’t hold anything back. Jesus shares everything with us. He could have stayed in heaven and never lived on earth. Yet Jesus chose to come to the world and live a perfect life and a perfect death so that we might know God. He shared his life and death with us so that we might share eternity with him in heaven.

3) GOD GIVES US MORE THAN ENOUGH

Have more chocolates or candy hid around the room. Tell the children that they can look around for it. Watch to see who finds all the candy and if they share it or keep it for themselves. Have spare candy ready to give to anyone who has none and to give to those who decide to share.

Say: When Jesus broke and shared the bread he wasn’t worried there wouldn’t be enough. He knew that His Father gives us more than enough! 2 Corinthians 9:8 says “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” That means God is more than able to provide more than enough for each one of us. We don’t have to worry.

So why are there still people with little in the world? Why do some people have nothing? God is able to sort out all the problems in the world, yes, that’s true. Yet He chooses to use us. We are His hands and feet in the world. He wants us to share His love for people and to help those that we see and hear about around us that need more and need His help. God has already given us more than enough to share with others. The world has more than enough water, food and money to share. We need to work with God to see people get fed and to live well.

The poorest person can often surprise you, as they are the ones who can be the most giving. They see what they do have and they are often willing to share. Sometimes it’s easy to think about what we don’t have, rather than looking at what God has already given us. If what we need has not been provided for yet, we can trust that God is working for our good in our situation (Romans 8:28). We can share and help others whilst we are waiting for that thing that we need. God can take the little we have and turn it into much! He can do amazing things with the little we give. Let’s start realizing that God gives more than enough,

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What would it be like if nobody had ever shared about Jesus? (No Bible, no shared stories etc)
2. Imagine if Jesus had never shared his life with others. What would life be like now?
3. How do you think we can share with those who are poorer, or who have less than us?
4. Should we only share with those that are poorer? Why/why not?
5. What would your life be like if nobody had ever shared with you?

SEARCH the Scriptures:

Use the bible verses on sharing to print off and put one in each layer of a parcel for pass the parcel (choose as many layers as you want – but don’t do too many as the game will be too long!). Players pass the parcel when the music is playing and then when the music stops they open up the parcel to reveal a bible verse (you could also put a small prize in the layer if you wanted). You could put one prize in the middle of the parcel or choose a prize that the whole group can share.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What does your verse mean?
2. What does your verse tell you about sharing?
3. How do you feel about sharing with others?
4. [For older children] Should cities/countries share with each other? Why/why not?
5. [For older children] Can you think of a time where sharing with another city/country has helped people?

SENSE How You Feel:

How would it feel to see Jesus break and share the bread and fish with everyone?

1. Create a picnic with picnic blankets and food. Pass bread around as you imagine what it would be like to be in a big picnic with thousands of people.
2. Create or color one of the craft or coloring pages by Crafting the Word
3. Make items using your own pre-made salt dough

SEEK God:

Think about all that God has shared with you. His love, grace, forgiveness, peace and joy.

Take the ‘Better to Share’ pizza sheet and cut it up into pieces [before your session]. Give each child a piece of the pizza and ask them to write on it a prayer either:

1. Help them share with others
2. Thanks for all that they have been given
3. That they would be able to share Jesus with others

Alternatively you could spend a few minutes silently or with worship music on and ask the children if the Holy Spirit has given them anything to share with the rest of the group. This is a great opportunity to see children use their prophetic giftings. Don’t be surprised, children can be used by God just as much as the next person – they do not have a junior Holy Spirit!