eGROUP LESSON PLAN
WEEK 4: JULY 2/3
Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them.
Be kind to people who aren’t kind to you.
MEMORY VERSE: LUKE 6:31
Do to others as you would have them to do to you.
Ananias Goes to Saul Acts 9:10-19
Look for these eKidz Values icons in the lesson plan!
Engage is a time to welcome kids to your eGroup with a fun activity to help them feel comfortable and get to know each other.
DO: Start by introducing yourself and welcoming kids to your eGroup. Ask them about their week and interests. Use the following questions to generate discussion:
What’s something cool that happened this week?
What was the favorite part of your week?
Have you ________ (seen/eaten/listened to/read) any good _________ (movies/TV shows/food/music/books) lately?
What are you looking forward to next week?
Once you have five to six kids begin the Engage activity.
LIGHTSABER TRAINING SUPPLIES
STAR WARS FINGER TATTOOS, WET WIPES
SAY: “In the movie Star Wars Jedi’s are members of the mystical knightly order, trained to guard peace and justice in the universe. They use lightsabers to defend and protect their galaxy, but are required to go through Jedi training to use a lightsaber.”
Give each kid a Star Wars finger tattoo and wet wipe. Help kids apply tattoos.
STEP 1: Peel off the plastic top sheet and place the tattoo face down on their right index finger.
STEP 2: Place the wet wipe on top of the tattoo and hold for 15-30 sections. Make sure the entire tattoo design is covered by the wet wipe.
STEP 3: Peel off the backing and let dry.
After all kids have a tattoo, have kids find a partner and explain kids will compete in Jedi training duels, trying to be the last Jedi standing.
Both partners will face one another and place their right index finger (light saber) pointing out. With their other right hand fingertips, partners will grab their opponent’s right hand fingertips and clasp them tightly together.
Jedi’s win their light saber duel by ‘tagging’ or touching their opponent with their light saber finger.
When a Jedi loses a duel, the Jedi has to cheer on their opposing Jedi until this Jedi loses. If this Jedi loses, they cheer for the Jedi who beat them. Each Jedi who wins will find another winning Jedi to duel.
Play continues until there is one Jedi left standing.
ME MORY VERSE
During this time introduce your eGroup to the series virtue and memory verse. Spend time teaching and practicing the memory verse.
SAY: “Welcome to eGroup! My name is _______ and I’m your eGroup leader! As an eGroup we will hang out together during Motion, hear stories from the Bible, learn what it means to live for Jesus, and play games!
We are in a series called Hollywood Highlight Reel: The Force of Kindness. We all have a powerful force at our disposal – the force to show others how valuable they are. The power lies in how you treat others. The world has one idea of how we should treat others but Jesus set a clear example for us.
God created kindness. No one is kinder than God: no one has ever done more to show us how valuable we are than God has done. He values us more than anyone else can. He sent Jesus, His Son, to SHOW us how valuable we are to Him. Jesus gave us the gold standard of kindness in Luke 6:31: Do to others what you want them to do to you. When we are kind to others, they notice – perhaps because kindness isn’t so common. It sets us apart and can lead to real changes in the hearts of others. Let’s memorize this verse to help us remember how we should treat others because of the example Jesus set for us.”
Read the verse out loud:
Do to others as you would have them to do to you. Luke 6:31
Help kids look up the memory verse in their Bibles. Encourage children to use the pens to underline the verse in their Bible.
As time allows, practice the verse with your group. You can use the following methods to help kids learn the memory verse:
REPEAT AFTER ME: Have kids repeat the words after you.
PAIR UP: After practicing the verse as a group, have kids pair up to practice the verse.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
BIBLE STORY ACTIVITY: Kids will act out the Bible story and through the story of Jesus and the children learn they are never so important that they can’t take time to be kind to others.
BIBLES, ONE STAR WARS MASK, SCRIPTURE CARDS, NARRATOR STORY CARD
SAY: “Saul was a guy no one wanted to be kind to. His main goal in life was to hurt and kill Jesus’ followers. People can be hurtful with their actions and their words, but God wants us to not just be kind to people we get along with, but also to be kind to people who aren’t kind to us.”
Have kids sit in a circle with their Bibles. Give scripture cards to kids who do not have a Bible.
Instruct kids to turn to Acts 9 in their Bibles. NOTE: This may take time, but it helps them learn skills for reading the Bible on their own. If needed, encourage kids to use the table of contents in their Bible and then decide if the book is in the Old or New Testament.
Assign the following roles to kids in the group: Narrator, the Lord, Ananias [an-uh-NAI-uhs],and Saul
Give the narrator the Star Wars mask and story card. The narrator will wear the mask and read the
Bible story from the narrator story card in his or her best Star Wars voice. The other characters will act out what is being read. (The Narrator may take home the mask at the end of the day.)
As the narrator reads from the narrator story card encourage kids to follow along in their Bibles or with their scripture cards.
After the story, discuss the following:
How do you think Ananias felt when the Lord told him to go and give a message to Saul?
Knowing how people who believed in Jesus felt about him, how do you think Saul felt when Ananias was kind to him?
Do you think it’s harder to be kind when someone isn’t being kind to you? Why or why not?
SAY: “We serve a kind God. He’s always loving us and showing us how important we are to Him, even when we don’t deserve it. We need to treat others like that, too, and be kind to people who aren’t kind to you.”
Collect pens and scripture cards. Make sure kids write their names on their scripture cards. Hand scripture cards back to kids during dismissal.
APPLICATION ACTIVITY: Kids will think about how to be kind in different situations and respond as Jesus would.
SAY: “There will always be people who won’t be nice to you, but that doesn’t mean we can’t show kindness to them. In today’s clip from the Clone Wars both the Younglings and space pirates were enemies, but when the Separatists attacked them both, they had to work together and be kind to each other to defeat the Separatists.”
Have kids spread out around the eGroup area.
Read the scenarios below. If the kid in the scenario responds as Jesus would, lead the kids to do five jumping jacks. If the child “gets even,” lead kids to cover their eyes and walk around like they are Saul when he couldn’t see.
At lunch, Chloe goes to get a napkin. As she is coming back, she sees someone reach over and snatch one of her cookies. Chloe offers them another cookie.
At recess some kids start calling Elania names. Elaina wants to call them names back, but instead she ignores them and plays with her friends.
At practice, someone pushes Devon out of line for a drink. Devon pushes back and calls the other kid a name.
While at a slumber party, a girl calls Mia names and makes fun of her. Mia pushes her to the ground.
Someone cuts in line in front of Keith. Later, Keith compliments that person who cut in front of him for doing something well.
Charlie’s brother grabs the video game controller out of his hand. Before be can run away, Charlie punches him in the back.
Mary’s best friend yells at her when she makes a mistake during the game. Instead of yelling back, Mary gives her friend a hug.
DO: End the game by encouraging kids to discuss ways the kids who “got even” could be kind to the people who weren’t kind to them.
SAY: “God wants you to be kind to people who aren’t kind to you. Is that always easy to do? (Pause.) No, it isn’t! When someone is mean to you, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to be mean back. But with God’s help, you can be kind to people who aren’t kind to you. It won’t always be easy, but with God’s help, you can do it.”
STAR WARS MAD LIBS
PRAYER AND GAME ACTIVITY: Prayer is an important way to share Jesus with passion. Spend time in prayer with your eGroup before beginning the game.
eKIDZ PRAYER JOURNAL, STAR WARS MAD LIB STORY CARD (4), WORD KEY (4), PENS SAY: “Before we begin our last activity, let’s pray together.”
DO: Write down any prayer requests in your eKidz Prayer Journal. Kids can share their requests out loud or can write them directly in the journal.
SUGGESTED PRAYER: “Dear God, thank You so much for people like Ananias who show us what it looks like and how powerful it can be to be kind to EVERYONE, even when they aren’t kind to us. God, we know kindness can change someone’s heart and end their meanness. Help us to remember to always choose kindness, no matter what. We love you! In Jesus’ name, amen.”
SAY: “During this Hollywood Highlight Reel series we’re watching clips from the Star Wars story called The Clone Wars. Let’s take a look at another Star Wars story, but this one YOU get to write!”
Have kids get in teams with others who have the same tattoos.
Give each team a Star Wars Mad Lib story card, a word key, and a pen.
Give teams three to five minutes to fill in their story card using only the words from the word key.
Allow each team to share their finished story. Let kids vote on their favorite story by putting their Star Wars tattoos in the air when you point to the team whose story they liked the best.
Award the team with the most votes with one piece of candy from the Force Field candy bin in large group.
BRING IT! CHALLENGE
OVERVIEW: During The Force of Kindness kids have an opportunity to be rewarded for using their Bibles and learning what the Bible says about kindness.
FORCE FIELD CANDY BIN
SAY: “In Motion we want you to Bring It! to church each weekend! The Bring It! Challenge encourages you to bring yourself, your Bible, your friends, and scripture you’ve learned to Motion. Not only can you be rewarded for bringing it, but the Bring It! Challenge is a fun way to grow and learn more about God and how He wants us to live.”
During The Force of Kindness, you can earn Star Wars candy from the Force Field each week if you can show me Luke 6:31 in your Bible AND recite it from memory!”
Encourage kids to show you Luke 6:31 in their Bible AND recite the verse from memory. Kids must do both to earn a piece of candy.
Allow kids to pick a piece of candy from the Force Field candy bin.
SAY: “Make sure to come to Motion each week to learn more about how to live out what Jesus said about showing others they are valuable. This week work on learning our memory verse, Luke 6:31, and remember to bring your Bible to Motion next week!”