Dirty Jobs

[]

September 13th 2015 .:. .:. Room 301

Pathways Kids Weekend Small Groups

Curriculum for 9, 10, 11 and 12 year olds

This Weeks Scope

Bible Story: Building Permit (Nehemiah asks to rebuild the wall) Nehemiah 2:1-9, 11-18
Bottom Line: When you see what needs to be done, dont wait for someone else to do it.
Memory Verse: Work at everything you do with all your heart. Work as if you were working for the
Lord. Colossians 3:23a, NIrV
Life App: Initiativeseeing what needs to be done and doing it.
Basic Truth: I need to make the wise choice.

Welcome Time
You will have about 10 minutes with your kids for welcome time and then large group.
What You Need: An offering container
What You Do:
Invite kids to put their offerings in the offering container as they arrive.
Ask kids what kind of jobs they do. Do they have a list of chores they need to do at home? What
would happen if no one did their jobs? What type of work do they think they will do when they
get older?

Activity #1
This is your small group time, youll have about 25-30 minutes
What You Need: Index cards, markers
What You Do:
Ask kids what Nehemiah saw that needed to be done. (Repair the wall in Jerusalem; help the
people in Jerusalem, etc.)
Write Jerusalem on the index card.
Give each kid a block and ask the group how Nehemiah showed initiative. What did Nehemiah
do instead of waiting for someone else to do it? (He prayed, went to King Artaxerxes for
assistance, went to Jerusalem, collected data about the condition of the wall, surveyed the wall,
recruited volunteers to help fix the wall, etc.)
Explain that we have been talking about Nehemiah showing initiative but God saw
something that needed to be done and thankfully He didnt wait for someone else to take
care of it.
On another index card write, Sin: Wrong Things We Do.
Explain that God saw we were separated from Him because Hes perfect and we have sin in
our lives.
Ask the kids to share some examples of sinful actions. (Not treating others the way we want
to be treated, stealing, lying, being unkind, etc.)

What You Say:

God showed initiative when He gave us a way, in spite of our sin, to live with Him now and forever.
God knows we are not perfect! And we know God is perfect! God loved us so much He sent His one
and only Son, Jesus, to earth for you and for me. Jesus died on the cross so we could be forgiven for
our sin. Jesus dying on the cross and paying the price for our sin bridged the gap between us and God.
God saw our need to be rescued and did something about it! When you see people in need and you
dont wait for someone else to help them, you are reflecting what God did for us when He took the
initiative to send us Jesus! [Bottom Line] When you see what needs to be done, dont wait for
someone else to do it.

Prayer Time
What You Need: Blocks
What You Do:
Make a cross with the blocks.
Remind kids our actions can show the world how much we love God and how much God loves
us.
Pray with the kids thanking God for showing initiative and sending Jesus to rescue us from sin.
Ask for Gods guidance to make the wise choice and show initiative.

Activity
Opposites

#2

What You Need: Paper, pencils

What You Do:
Divide the group into teams of two or three kids.
Read one of the following scenarios:
o You are walking the dog and you pass a neighbors house and notice his trash can has
been knocked over and there is trash all over the ground. Dont wait! How do you show
initiative?
o There are four kids in your class who are new to the school and they know no one. Dont
wait! How do you show initiative?
o You are playing at home when your mom comes in from the grocery store with her arms
full of bags. Dont wait! How do you show initiative?
o Your friend broke her leg in last weeks soccer game. She cant go to school for a week
and she wont be able to walk on her leg for six weeks. Dont wait! How do you show
initiative?
Explain to the kids that, as a team, they need to decide what needs to be done and how they
would show initiative for each scenario. Allow them to write down their ideas.
Teams will share the different ways they would show initiative.
If your group enjoys acting, the kids can act out how they would show initiative.
What You Say:
You came up with a lot of great ways to show initiative. The first thing is to recognize that something
needs to be done. And then [Bottom Line] when you see what needs to be done, dont wait for
someone else to do it. Sometimes showing initiative means gathering more information, sometimes it
means recruiting the help of friends to tackle a problem, and sometimes showing initiative means
donating your stuff or collecting money. When you see what needs to be done, it is a wise choice to do
it and not wait for someone else to do it. [Make It Personal] (Share a story of a time when you
showed initiative and didnt wait for someone else to do it. Maybe it was a time when you
werent even sure you would be able to do it but you tried anyway. Or maybe it was a situation
when you didnt really have time but you helped anyway.)

Activity
#3Building bricks or LEGOs
What
You Need:
What You Do:
Let kids work individually to build a statue of themselves in their chosen profession.
If building a person is too difficult, they can build a tool or a prop to represent the job theyd like
to have when they grow up.