During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide, Student Page, Family Connection Card, and other resources can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?
John 6:9
Tell your children’s families that the children will learn to share their little gifts so God can multiply them. Encourage the families to think of little things they can offer to others that God might use.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Welcome your children by name as they arrive. Greeting them by name tells them they are important to you!
Explain that they will play a game with yes and no questions. Pick a volunteer and bring that child to the front. Give the volunteer a small object while her back is turned to the class. Be sure no one else sees the object.
The volunteer will turn around and stand in front of the class holding the object behind her back. The children will take turns asking questions about the object. The volunteer can only answer yes or no. For example, someone can ask, “Is it white?” But the children cannot ask, “What colour is it?” When a child thinks he knows what the object is, he will raise his hand. When you call on him, then he can share his guess. Remind the children not to shout out their guesses but to wait until you call on them.
Play until someone guesses the hidden object correctly. Repeat with a different volunteer and object. Continue until the children have successfully guessed all of the objects or until they have played for about 5 minutes. When the game is over, have the children sit down.
Each of the objects in the game was small and ordinary. Often we overlook small, ordinary things because we do not think they are important or helpful. In today’s Bible story, a boy gave Jesus something small and ordinary. Listen for the amazing thing Jesus did with it.
Optional: If possible, share the images from The Action Bible.
A large crowd was following Jesus because they had seen how He had healed the sick. He climbed a hill and sat down with His disciples. The crowd followed Him. Jesus looked at all the people who came and sat down around Him. There were 5,000 men, and women and children too! He knew the people were getting hungry. But there was no place to get food. Jesus asked His disciple Philip, “Where can we buy food for all these people?”
What do you think Philip said?
Allow 2–3 children to share their ideas.
Philip was amazed by Jesus’ question. “There must be over 5,000 people here! Even if we worked hard for many months, we would not have enough money to feed all these people!”
Andrew, another disciple, spoke up. “There is a boy here who has brought some food. He has 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. It is not enough to feed so many people!”
Jesus told His disciples to have the people sit down. He took the loaves of bread and thanked God for them. He gave it to His disciples to give to the people. He did the same thing with the fish. As the food was passed among the crowd, there was enough for everyone to eat. There were enough leftovers to fill 12 baskets! What a miracle!
Some people may have thought the boy’s meal was too small to make a difference, just as Andrew did. But in the hands of Jesus, even children can offer something that He can use!
The Bible does not tell us if Jesus said anything to the boy who gave his food. What do you think Jesus might have said to him?
There were 12 baskets of food left over. What do you think Jesus wanted His disciples to learn from this story?
Now you will act the part of this boy telling his family what happened. Everyone find a partner. One of you will act the part of the boy. The other one will be a member of his family. Tell your family member what happened to you. Tell the whole story. The family member will ask questions and respond just like a family member would.
Give the pairs 4 minutes for this activity—2 minutes for each child to retell the story to his partner.
Once the children are done, clap for everyone’s convincing performances.
Optional: If you are using The Action Bible, allow the children to read the story on pages 577–579.
Just like the boy in this story, you also can offer what you have to God. Maybe you have felt too small or too unimportant to have anything to contribute. But the Bible shows us that each person has something to offer. No one is too small or too young to participate in God’s plan. He loves you and has good plans for you.
Each person has different things to offer. For example, one person may be able to speak well, another can sing, and another can serve others. All of us can give something. When we give our little things, God can use them to make something great!
We will now do a special prayer. Everyone will take a turn standing up to say a small thing you can offer to God or others this week. Perhaps you can help someone. Perhaps you can offer a smile to someone who is sad. Perhaps you can pray for someone. These things may seem small or ordinary, like the boy’s lunch. But all these small things can become big in God’s hands!
Have the children sit in a circle. They will take turns sharing the small and ordinary things that they can offer to God.
If you are using the Memory Verse Poster, show it to the students.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:17
Optional: If you are using Student Pages, the children can write the thing they give on their pages.
Close class by speaking the blessing from Luke 6:38 over the children.
Blessing: May you know that it does not matter who you are or how small your offering is, Jesus can use what you have to give.
Lead the children in singing this quarter’s song, if possible.
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
