Abraham - Genesis 12 - 21:8
Idea 1
Divide all the kids into groups and see how many questions they can answer:
What did God ask Abraham to do?
When Abraham and Sarah left their home, where did they go?
What did God say about the sand?
What did God say about the stars?
What was the name of Abraham and Sarah’s son?
What was God’s promise that he kept?
Idea 2
Read “Son of Laughter” on page 56 of the Jesus Storybook Bible.
Idea 3
Count Stars
Before the lesson, put a number of star stickers all over the place. (If stickers aren’t possible then up a star projector) then ask them to count grains of sand.
Give the kids some time to try and count all the stars and grains of sand.
Once you have some numbers or some kids have lost interest, tell the kids that when God first spoke to Abraham, God told him that his descendants would be more than the grains of sand. Then the second time God spoke to Abraham, God said that Abrahams descendants would be more than the stars in the sky.
These are big promises but Abraham believed, obeyed and trusted God.
Idea 4
Go on a trust hunt.
Give the kids some boundaries and a pencil and paper.
Ask them to go on a trust hunt - they need to find things or people who they trust. For example, we trust that they lights turn on when we flick the switch.
Give the kids 5 or 10 minutes to go off within the boundaries and find as many things as they can that they can trust.
Gather the whole group back together and listen to all the things that they found.
Use some of the examples to show that we can’t always trust things forever. For example lightbulbs burn out, chair legs break etc. but God never burns out or breaks, He always keeps His promises.
Idea 5
Share some stories.
Share a story about a time when you trusted God. Ask other leaders and kids if they have any stories they would like to share as well.
What happens when we trust God?
Here are some formal lessons I used with my group.