The Big Picnic
The focus of this family time is to use five easy steps to teach your family that Paul prayed for people to share Jesus.
MEMORY VERSE:
“O ... LORD! You made the heavens and earth ... Nothing is too hard for you!”
Jeremiah 32:17
Learn the Memory Verse together and say it throughout the week to help your family remember and apply what they have learned.
STEP 1. GATHER!
God is so big, we can’t even see all of Him with our eyes! He’s so big, and so strong, and so powerful, He made everything in the whole wide world and everything in the whole big sky!
You’ll Need
• A view of the night sky or a picture of the night sky
Directions
1. In the evening, say the Bible verse together: Jeremiah 32:17 NLT O ... LORD! You made the heavens and earth ... Nothing is too hard for you!
2. Talk about what the Bible verse means when it says “heavens.”
3. Go outside, look out a window, or get out a picture of the night sky.
4. Help your kids notice the stars and the moon in the night sky.
5. Talk about how everything you can see in the whole sky was made by God.
STEP 2. READ THE BIBLE AND WORSHIP
STEP 3. DISCUSSION !
Use these questions and points to have a conversation with your children about the Bible story.
REVIEW TQuestion Who asked the disciples to feed everyone? Jesus
Action Rub your tummy like you’re hungry.
Question What was in the boy’s little lunch? Five loaves of bread and two fish
Action Count to five on your fingers for the bread, and count to two for the fish.
Question Who handed the pieces of bread and fish out to everyone? Jesus’ disciples
Action Pretend to be Jesus’ disciple and hand the food out to everyone.
Question Who did the disciples pass out the bread and fish to? Everyone
Action Pretend to eat lots and lots of food.
Action Pretend to put leftover bread and fish in a basket.
Mission Moment
William and Catherine Booth (1829-1912 and 1829-1890)
I wonder what your friends are like. Are they just like you - or are they all quite different?
William and Catherine Booth knew that when their friend Jesus was on earth he had lots of friends. Often they were not the kind of friends you would expect - sad people; poor people; lonely people; even bad people. But William and Catherine didn't see many people like that in churches in England. People like that hadn't heard that they could be Jesus friends too. They hadn't heard that Jesus could forgive them, love them and help them to change. So Willam and Catherine decided to tell them! They told the saddest, the poorest, the loneliest and the baddest people that they could be Jesus friends too. Some people didn't Want to listen - they shouted and yelled and threw things. It was so dangerous that William said it was like being in an army - they became known as the salvation Army. But they kept going even when it was dangerous and hard. They showed these people that Jesus loved them by giving them food, by giving them clothes and by giving them work. People listened. Soon Jesus had thousands and thousands of new, very different friends.
The salvation Army spread all over the world and is still helping all kinds of different people to see that they canbe Jesus' friends too.
STEP 5. Pray!