"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together..." Church craft and Sunday school lesson for children

Growing up I was raised in church and I am proud that my husband and I also have the priority of keeping our children in church. Going to church is not only an opportunity given to us, it is something that I believe is taught in the bible to be something that God wants of us. This is something that is about so much more tho than just going because we "should" it is about being surrounded by the people of God, about learning more from Sunday school teachers and the preacher and keeping studying and living or God at the front of our lives and not tucked away in the closet somewhere. Teaching our children this teaches them those things and also that things of God should always be first in our lives rather than the many things that can show up and take over our lives.

Hebrews 10:25

²⁵ Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

That one simple verse said it all for what we needed to talk about in class. 

Ask the kids why we come to church?

Here are some talking points, use these to encourage conversation of what each would mean in a "christian" aspect and how we should do these things.

 

-learn

-be together with other believers

-rejoice

-worship

-stay close to God

Also make sure to emphasize the  the "exhorting one another" part, exhorting has a definition of "strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something" this is important because one major part of being a good child of God is encouraging others, making them be better in their own lives by keeping your own faith and supporting theirs. This is such a blessing which comes from being in a close-knit church family, you can count on one another for encouragement in life trials, from medical problems and death or loss all the way to something as simple as having a bad day at work. Also, we can encourage one another to witness, pray, believe, worship, learn and so on. 

Now, craft time!

This turned into one of the classes favorite crafts, it was fun and something they could continue to play with after class too! This craft does take a little more time than the others I have shared for SS Class so plan accordingly.

What you need:

-2 sheets of brown card stock paper

-small piece of tissue paper (any color)

-contact paper cut into 2 even 1.5inch approx. rectangles

-markers

-yellow construction paper

Prep:

Since this would all take a while in the class and I have younger kids I decided to prep some ahead of time.

Fold the brown paper in half width ways and cut a slit in the fold on the bottom going up approx. 1 inch folding the piece that is now freed up on the front and the one on the inside as well (this will serve as the holder for the person). Now, cut the steeple by cutting in around an inch on both sides toward the top (about 2.5 inches down) and then cut to a point at top. Next you will need to cut the doors, this is a little tricky and can be omitted but I think it is a great touch to see the "people" thru the doors. In order to do them you will need to fold in half length ways and cut 2 even slits an inch or a little more apart, then cold width ways and cut the length of the doors between the 2 slits, ta-da! They should be able to open now. Now cut 6 even rectangles out of the brown card stock paper about an inch wide (to be the pews) and cut one small rectangle and a small square (to be the pulpit). Cut the contact paper into the 2 squares and tear off a piece of tissue paper. Now cut a person out of the yellow paper. Put all small pieces into a little snack ziplock to keep it together, do this for each child you plan to have in the class (always do an extra for visitors). 

In class:

Give each child the church template and the bag of small pieces. First, do the windows, tear tiny pieces of tissue to make the "stained glass" and place in the center of the contact paper leaving a little room on edges to stick then place evenly on each side of doors. Glue on the sides only of each flap on the bottom (one on the front and one on the inside too). Write (or let them if they can) "let us go" on the front and "into the house of the Lord" on the inside! Glue the pews into place and the pulpit. Color them black or a darker brown for contrast. Outline the doors and color door knobs, draw a cross on the top of the steeple. And show them the person (to represent themselves) outside the church by placing in the fold of the flap and then inside the church in that fold, opening doors so they can see thru the doors too!

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