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February 3, 2015 -- Issue #5

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Chapel Valentines Theme?

Our two Kindergarten classes will be in charge of our weekly chapel service (in front of 3 Pre-K to 8th graders). We have 24 students and need small parts for all. We are having a difficult time finding ideas (especially for the numerous non-readers) and we would like to go with a Valentine theme and need it to last about 30 minutes. Thanks so much for your help!

God's Blessings,
Jenny

--from SSTN: I hope you saw last week's Gospel Hearts idea; that might work for you. You can find past issues of the newsletter in our Archives. Also search the archives using the following keywords: Valentines, chapel service, chapel presentation, non-readers. The search link is available from our home page at: http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com. 


See our 
Valentine's Day Presentation
idea too!

The Central Verse of Our Lives 

"The LORD said to Moses, `Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. . . . Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. . . . love your neighbor as yourself" Leviticus 19:1-2, 15, 18 (NIV).  

(Chapter 19 is the central chapter of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. And verse 18, love your neighbor as yourself, is the essence and central verse. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself. As followers of Jesus, let us make loving others the central verse of our lives!)

Teach God's commandments to children.

Yield to God

Begin class time by asking children what it means to yield? (To yield means to give in, to surrender or submit to another. When we yield to God, we surrender our will, our lives, to him.) 

(Clay is a perfect hands-on object to illustrate “yielding.” As you mold and shape the dough, it conforms, “yields its shape,” according to the pressure that is placed on it. Illustrate this point by pushing and forming clay into different shapes and reading the verse, below.)

O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

This verse tells us that God’s children are like clay in our Father God’s hands. As we learn to yield our lives to him, he molds us and makes us to be like him. 

Have children make clay dough to remember that when we yield our lives to God, he molds and shapes us to become the people he wants us to be. Get the recipe for clay dough.

This activity is from Chapter 2, "Yield," in
Signs of the Times--Modern Parables for Children's Ministry, 

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