Bread of Life Ministries - Free Children's Ministry Curriculum - The Fruit of the Spirit

Free Children's Ministry Curriculum

Fruit of the Spirit

Game Show/ Hero Days

Adventure Days/ The Secret of Everlasting Life

Time Machine Days

Submarine Days

Detective Days

Swamp Days

Mission Possible Days

Celebrity Days

Wilderness Days

Construction Days

Emergency 911 Days

Minor Days

Beach Days

Holidays

The Fruit of the Spirit

Patience

Galatians 5:22 & 23

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against this there is no law".

"When a person accepts Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live in their heart. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit produces Christian virtues in the believer's life. These virtues are the fruit of the Spirit and we become more Christ-like. We will exhibit the fruit whether we are aware of it or not, it happens completely through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can't produce fruit by our own effort, it comes from God's presence and interaction in our lives."

Offner, Hazel. Fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 1987

Objective: The objective of "The Zoo" Children's Ministry is to reach kids with the Gospel message and to teach them about God's love and how to live as Christians in today's world.

The purpose of this particular series is to present salvation and explain that when they make a decision for Christ the Holy Spirit will live in their hearts. They can have the fruit of the Spirit begin to show in their lives.

Themes: We have chosen to divide the fruit of the Spirit into sets of three. With each set there will be a different theme. All props and stories will teach the lesson but incorporate the theme.

Pirate Days Theme

Preparation: The theme is "Pirate Days". It is easy to find lots of props for Pirate Days. Use anything nautical and tropical. Costumes for volunteers or leaders can enhance the effect.

Lesson Four PATIENCE
Hebrews 12:1-3 and Matthew 18:21-35

This is an important virtue and Fruit of the Spirit. It is vital, you can't live a Christian life without it. If we allow God to work in our lives we can learn to have patience. It is a Christ-like characteristic all of us can strive for.

Goals

To teach the children that things worth having are worth working for.
To teach them that God wants us to wait for his timing.
To share that the Holy Spirit will give us patience.

Opening

Puppet songs make interesting and captivating opening acts for the lesson. A song with a calypso theme might be appropriate.

Suggested Song:Acapella Children, "We are Not Afraid", c 1994, The Acappella Company. Song called: "All Kinds of Fishes".Words and Music by Gary Miller and Gary Moyers.

Rules

During Pirate Days the leader of the program can be a pirate captain who is in charge. This character can stress the rules.

Prayer

Pray that the children will remember the lesson when they go home and that they will apply it to their lives.

Music

This time in the program can be a lot of fun. Volunteers dressed as Pirate crew members can help with actions and leading.

Games

Swab the Deck

Select two boys and two girls to form opposing teams. One member of each team stands on the stage. ( If a stage is not available use a tarp or other marked off area.) The team member on the stage is given a wet map. The objective is to sweep all of the wet sponges off the stage and into their partner's bucket. The team that collects the greatest number of sponges wins. The sponges are jelly fish!

Cannon Ball Toss

Select four boys and four girls. Each pair is given a towel and a black water balloon. They have to toss the balloons back and forth while slowly moving further apart. The last pair to have a balloon wins.

Memory Verse

This memory verse was taught through interaction with a puppet.
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

This memory verse was done with a nasty pirate puppet named "Blue Beard". He has hidden the key to the treasure chest that will be on stage. He has a map to find the key but he got so mad he ripped it up. In order to get pieces of the map the children must remember the memory verse from each week. When they have completed all three weeks of the pirate days theme, the map will be assembled. This will lead them to the key and everyone can share in the treasure. (Gold chocolate coins make an excellent treasure.)

Leader: Since it is pirate days, we have a very special pirate visitor here with us. Let me warn you, he can be a bit cranky. His name is Blue Beard. Let's call him and see if he is on his ship. (Children call him.)

Blue Beard: Arrrgh, I don't know what could be so important that you had to wake me up from my nap. (grumbles)

Leader: Well hello Blue Beard, sorry to disturb you but we are looking for the key to this treasure chest. Since you are a pirate that has been on a lot of adventures we thought you might know where to find it.

Blue Beard: Even if I did, what would I tell you for? That is my treasure and I don't plan on sharing it!

Leader: That's not very nice. I think you should share your treasure with other people.

Blue Beard: Well I guess I could share but don't think I'm going to give you the key for nothing. I'm going to make you work for it. I have a map that will lead you to the key but you can't have it.

Leader: We really would like it, if you would share your map with us.

Blue Beard: Too Late, I already ripped it up! Ha, Ha, Ha!

Leader: Maybe we can have a piece of it.

Blue Beard: All right, I'll give you a piece of it but it won't be easy. You'll have to learn my memory verse.

Leader: Ok, let's see the verse and we'll try to learn it. Let's read it together, kids. "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

Blue Beard: That was lousy, do it again!

Leader: "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

Blue Beard: Still not good enough to get a piece of my map! Do it louder!

Leader: "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

Blue Beard: That wasn't bad but it still wasn't good enough. You can't have my map unless you can do it without looking at the sheet.

Leader: All right Blue Beard - "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1.

Blue Beard: A pretty good job. I guess I'll have to give you a piece of my map.

Leader: Thanks Blue Beard. We will try for another piece next week.

Blue Beard: Oh Yeah, well I'll be even tougher and you'll never get a piece of my map.

Leader's Conclusion: Well we did a pretty good job remembering the verse, but it sure won't do us any good if we don't know what it means. Does anyone know? (allow children to guess). Well those are excellent answers!

"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1. This verse is telling us that in our lives we need to go through everything with patience. It is comparing our lives to a race and it says that we should approach it or run it with patience. Being patient should be a part of our whole lives no matter how far along we are.

Object Lesson

This is another magic trick from a company called "The Train Depot"

It is called "One Hand Change Bag". In this trick, a piece of rope is cut up into pieces and placed into a magic bag. The rope is then brought out attached together. The bag has a secret compartment which a whole piece of rope is kept in. The children are asked how it was done. The trick is then explained and a volunteer child comes up to try it. It is a little bit difficult but then explain that anyone can learn to do it if they have the patience. Stress patience since it is the theme of the lesson.

Story

This story is told by "Patton" the Patient Pirate. He is a puppet. He is dressed as a captain. There were pictures painted to accompany this story. They serve as a visual aid to help keep the attention of the children.

Good day mates! My name is Patton. I am a pirate captain. I have a pretty good crew of pirates but let me tell you they weren't always this way.

Let me tell you a story about when I was a young captain. I was sailing on my first ship and boy was she a beauty. It had great big sails and it was made of the finest wood. One day when we were docked I got word of a big treasure. A friend of mine had given me a map. I wanted to find that treasure so I told my crew to get ready to set sail. I thought my crew would do a great job of preparing the sails, but I guess they didn't.

There was a huge rip in one of the main sails and the crew couldn't be bothered to fix it. I noticed the tear and instructed them to sew it up. They did as I said but what I didn't know was that they didn't do a very good job. They did it as fast as they could but they didn't use the right thread and they just sewed it enough to get by.

I thought everything was fine so I ordered the crew to set sail. Late the next night the wind picked up and we found ourselves in the middle of a huge storm. The waves were huge. The crew scurried around trying to secure everything on board. Then suddenly there was a major gust of wind and we heard a huge rip. The main sail that the crew had sewn, split. After that we lost control of the ship. The mast fell and the ship broke apart in the heavy waves. I found myself floating on a barrel. No one was hurt and we were all able to make it to a nearby island. I explained to the crew that we needed to be more patient when preparing the ship. If they had been patient the ship might have survived the storm.

Leader's Conclusion: That is a pretty scary story but we won't be in that situation will we. We are not likely to be on a pirate's ship. You know we need to exercise patience in our community too. It will help us get along with others and it will keep us out of danger. (You can exercise patience when crossing the road, etc.)