‘The Lost Sheep’ Childrens Lesson on Luke 15:1-7

BIG IDEA: JESUS IS THE SHEPHERD

GAME IDEAS:

1. Cotton wool face game. Use vaseline on the nose to pick up cotton wool and transport it to another plate. This would work well as a relay with everyone having a go. Make sure you have wet wipes to wipe off the mess from their faces!
2. Baa Baa. Who can do the best impression of a sheep? Children should act and sound like a sheep to compete to win – then everyone votes on who did the best impression.
3. Farmyard Find. Have everyone take a picture of a farmyard animal (sheep, cow, pig, chicken) and then try and find the rest of the same animals. Only by making the noise of their animal! The first group to find each other are the winners. To make it harder have them find one set of all the animals (all 4 animals together) to make a farmyard.

BIG VERSE: The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them. Luke 19:10.

 

SET the Scene:

Read the account of the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-7.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

 

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) God Will Never Give Up on Me.

For this object lesson there are two options:

A) You will need a huge “I am always here” sign.

B) “I give up!” You could re-enact a short skit where one person feels like giving up doing their homework or playing a school sport, but the other says they can do it and encourages them.

Say: The bible talks about being lost as being away from God or being without Jesus. Have you ever been out shopping and lost your mum or dad or whoever was looking after you? You searched everywhere but you couldn’t find them. Maybe you didn’t even look for them, you decided to play until they found you. It can be scary when we get lost.

Even though the sheep got lost in the parable, the shepherd never gave up looking for it. Even leaving the other 99 sheep to find it. Jesus told this parable because that’s the same for us and God. No matter what happens to us God will never give up on us. He will always be there for us. He always believes in us. Why? Because he is our Father and he sent his one and only Son to save us so that we might know him and live eternally with him.

Sometimes it might be hard for us to trust and believe that God will always be there and he will never give up on us. Maybe we feel like someone has said that to us before and they didn’t keep their promise. But God always keeps His promises. He tells us He is always there for us and he will never give up on us.  (Deuteronomy 31:6)

God never has and never will turn away from us. He is always there. Even when, like the sheep, we wander off and get lost, God is there for us. He never turns His back on us. In fact, He cared enough to come looking for us. Jesus said “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10) That means he came looking for you and me – so that he can know us!

 

2) I Don’t Want to Give Up on Others.

1. You could use the clip from the movie Big Hero 6 where Hiro’s brother challenges him to enter a school competition.
2. Alternatively challenge your kids to play a game with their backs to one another.

Say: Hiro’s brother Tidashi told Hiro that he wasn’t going to give up on him. He encouraged him by reminding him that he would be with him, that no matter what he did he still believed in him and knew he could do what he needed to do. Tidashi didn’t give up on Hiro.

You know, because God never gives up on me I don’t want to give up on other people either. The lost sheep had gone off on his own. Yet the shepherd went looking for it until he found it. Just as God has done that for me by sending his Son, I want to do that for others by telling them about Jesus, by being kind and loving towards them and believing in them. When people disappoint me it is easy to turn away and not help them. However, when I remember how Jesus came looking for me, how the shepherd came looking for his sheep, I remember that I can help those that have lost their way. One way I can make sure that I don’t give up on others is by forgiving them. Can you think of any other ways? [get feedback]

3) I Don’t Want to Give Up on Myself.

You could use either of these two object lessons and link them in with the message below:

Cork object lesson.

Fanny Crosby story 

Say: Maybe I find it easy believing in other people, but I find it hard to believe in myself. Perhaps I keep thinking that my life is no good because I’m not a certain way or I don’t do certain things. Maybe the things I do make me feel not good enough.

If God won’t give up on you, then don’t give up on yourself! God has got lots of amazing things for you to do. He believes in you! He trusts you! Keep believing that God is going to do much more in you and much more through you. He is a good God with good plans for your life (Jeremiah 29:11). Every time you get a thought about giving up, just remember that He is with you, cheering you on. He hasn’t given up on you, so don’t give up on yourself!

The next time you feel like giving up or complaining about how you are not happy with yourself, remember that God cared enough to send Jesus. He has never and will never give up on you!

 

SEARCH the Scriptures:

Scatter and Seek The Sheep Game. Scatter the bible verse sheep around your room. Play a relay game where children split into teams and must seek out the sheep one at a time.

We all have wandered away like sheep. Each of us has gone his own way. But the Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done. Isaiah 53:6.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Can you think of some stories in the bible that showed that Jesus did not give up on others? (Jairus’ daughter, the man waiting at the healing pool, Saul when he was persecuting others, Peter when he denied him, the disciples when they didn’t understand and many more…)
2. Is there someone that you have had enough of, that you feel like giving up on? What is Jesus saying to you about that person?
3. Do you sometimes feel like giving up on yourself? Why?
4. How can you make sure that you don’t give up on God, others and yourself?

SENSE How You Feel:

How would it feel to be the lost sheep that is found by Jesus?

Ask the children to think about how it would feel to be the sheep. To have wondered away and got stuck or got lost. To be away from all the other sheep. Then encourage them to make one of the following crafts as they think about how they would feel:

CRAFT IDEAS:

1. Make a lost sheep using card and cotton wool.
2. Sensory: Place different things in boxes or tubs that children can walk on: rocks, mud, grass and sand. Invite the children to think about what it means to get lost and to be found by Jesus.
3. Prayer Labyrinth: create a prayer Labyrinth for children to walk through as they think and pray.
4. Mould a sheep out of playdough, plasticine or clay.
5. Build a field with many sheep out of Lego.
6. Color of Fill in the activity booklets for 5-7s and 8-11s.

After the children have made their craft, bring them all together and ask them to share how they would feel. Then discuss how it would feel to be found and to be brought back home, and to be with all your friends again.

SEEK God:

ENCOUNTER IDEAS:

Have some little cards with the words “I am always here” or the verse “I will never leave you or abandon you” (Deut 31:6) written on a little card that the children can take and think about.

SAY: Have you given up on God? Perhaps you have thought that He isn’t going to help you, or maybe you feel like He hasn’t answered your prayers. Perhaps you just haven’t been spending that much time with him lately.