Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30 NRSV
Memory Verse: “Each of you has
been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service
of others. So use your gift well.” 1 Peter 4:10 CEV
Concepts:
1. God
has given each of us special gifts and talents to use, not hoard.
2. God’s
faithful followers use their gifts to serve God and others.
3. Everything
in life is a gift from God so we must use our gifts responsibly (time,
abilities and possessions).
Objectives:
Children will understand what talents are and how faithful followers of
God use their talents to serve God and others.
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions:
1.
Greet the
children and introduce yourself. Wear
your nametag. Make sure the children are wearing nametags. If not, ask the
shepherd to supply a temporary badge. Remember you are interacting with a
different group of students each week that may not know you.
2.
Explain the
purpose of this workshop. “Today we
will use pantomime to show our understanding of the Parable of the
Talents. We will demonstrate different
kinds of talents and brainstorm how we can use these talents to serve God.”
Scripture/Bible Story:
Tell children that the story we are working with is a parable. Remind them that parables are stories that
Jesus told to show his followers how to live.
The characters in parables represent God and us and our relationship
with each other; how God wants us to act, things God does or doesn’t want us to
do, etc. See if you can figure out who
is who in the story and what it means.
Read the story aloud from Matthew 25:14-30 NRSV. After the story, lead the discussion by
asking: Who do you think the master
represents in the story? (Jesus) The servants?
(Us/Christians) The trip the
master went on? (The time between when
Jesus died and when he comes back to earth again some day.) What do the talents represent? (The gifts that God gives us.) What do you think Jesus was saying he wanted
us to do with the talents? (Use them,
share them, not hide them away.) What
does the parable tell us will happen if we don’t use our talents? (They will be taken away.)
Side note: “Talents” in Jesus’ day were a unit of money. Sources differ, but one talent may have been
worth 15 years wages or about $1000. At
any rate, the master was probably very rich.
Later the term talent came to mean
“God-given abilities”. We will be
thinking of talents as God-given gifts or abilities.
Application:
“Talents on Parade Charades”
Tell children they are going to play a game. First, brainstorm a list of possible talents
that they or others might have and need to share as gifts from God. Write talents on circles of paper to
represent coins. (For younger children or in subsequent weeks, read the ones
already on paper coins and allow children a chance to add any new ones they
might think of—have blank coins available to add new ideas to the pile.) List of talents might include: writing, singing, acting, listening, problem
solving, playing a sport, making people laugh, cooking, raising money,
painting, drawing, reading, making friends, making crafts or models, sewing,
teaching, etc. Then put all the talent
coins in a small, non-see-through bag and shake them up. Next, divide the group of children in
half. Have one group each pick a talent
coin out of the bag. Help them read the
talent if necessary, but make sure they all keep their talents secret. Give them a moment to think about and
practice how they will act out the talent with silent pantomime gestures. Then have them stand on the stage in a line
side by side. Start at one end of the
line and let them act out their talents one at a time, with the 2nd
group of children guessing the talent.
(If the audience group doesn’t get it in three guesses, have the actor
tell what the talent was.) After going
down the line and having all actors perform and guessing their talents, let the
audience members each choose a talent from the bag and become the actors. The first group of actors will now be the
audience. Repeat the
performance/guessing procedure. After
the second group of actors has performed and the audience has guessed their
talents, lead a discussion about how faithful followers of God might share and
use these talents responsibly to serve God and others.
Older
children:
You may want to have older children work in
partners or small groups to act out how their talent could be used in addition
to what the talent is. Then as the
audience guesses, they guess the talent and the way it could be shared. Or have this partner work be part two after a
short discussion of sharing talents.
Younger
Children: If time allows, you may want to try a
pass-it-on pantomime. After all children
have had a turn to “show” their talent as described above, have them stand in a
circle and one at a time, act out sharing that talent with the person next to
them on the right. Then that person
shares with the person to their right and so on around the circle.
Reflection Time:
At 10:35 a.m. ask
the shepherds to pass out the journal sheets and pencils/markers. Suggestion:
You may wish to give the children a sticker or some memento to paste in their
journal as a reminder of the story or activity.
Prompts for
journal writing: Think about the talents
that you have: things you do well or really enjoy doing. Write
or draw a picture about one of the talents you have and how you share that
talent to serve God.
At 10:45 ask the students to
close their journals and sit quietly for prayer.
Prayer: Dear God, Thank you for all
our unique talents and abilities. Guide us in the coming week as we use our
talents to help others and to serve You.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help tidy up.
Teacher preparation in advance:
1.
Read the
scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
2.
Prepare
a closing prayer.
3.
Check
out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where
everything is located.
Supply List
· Money bag with
paper “coins” that have talents listed on them will be provided.
References
· Bible study notes
prepared by
· Parable of the
Talents Rotation Lesson Set from
· Parable of the
Talents from First Pres. Church,
· The Good Stewards
from First Presbyterian Church,