The Widow's Mite Sunday School Lesson
The Widow's Mite Sunday School Lesson for Kids:
BOTTOM LINE:
We can serve through giving.
OBJECTIVE:
Kids will name one way they can be more generous.
KEY PASSAGE:
Luke 21:1-4 The Widow’s Offering
MEMORY VERSE:
“The greatest among you will be your servant.” Matthew 23:11 (NIV)
SUMMARY:
This robot helps collect our offering for God every week. Kids will learn that we serve God and others through our giving. Kids will also learn from the story of the generous widow that God wants us to give to Him first, not just our leftovers.
SIMPLE PRAYER:
Dear God,
Give us generous hearts.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
MEMORY VERSE
“The greatest among you will be your servant.” Matthew 23:11 (NIV)
“The most important person among you will be your servant.” Matthew 23:11 (NIrV)
LARGE GROUP:
Put the verse on the big screen and read it aloud with the kids.
SMALL GROUP:
Have each kid read the verse in their best robot voice.
SKIT
A GIVING ROBOT
ITEMS NEEDED:
A robot costume
Lots of change
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
2M
CHARACTERS:
Douglas - A robot designer
OP-9000 - A robot
Douglas enters.
DOUGLAS: Hello, kids! I’m Douglas Asimov of the DA Robotics Corporation. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to introduce you to some new robot pals who are going to become a part of your kid’s church. Robots were created to do the work that people don’t want to do, and we here at the DA Robotics Corporation believe these robots will make church better than ever. One of the big things people don’t like to do is give. We don’t like giving up our money, do we? But the Bible says we need to give. Well, folks, we can’t help you with the giving part, but today’s robot will certainly help you collect the money you give. Say hello to the OP-9000!
OP-9000 enters.
DOUGLAS: The OP in OP-9000 stands for offering plate. This new robot friend of yours is going to make collecting the offering more fun and more engaging every week. Watch how he works. Okay, OP-9000, time for the offering.
OP-9000 holds out his hand.
OP-9000: Please give to the Lord.
DOUGLAS: You see that? Here you go, buddy. (puts some change in OP-9000’s hand) That’s for the Lord.
OP-9000: Are you kidding me? 35 cents? This is not enough.
DOUGLAS: It’s just a demonstration, buddy.
OP-9000: You make more than this. You can give more. I know. I have seen your paycheck.
DOUGLAS: Okay, buddy, just a demo, like I said. We’re not really collecting the offering.
OP-9000: The Lord has done much for you. You must give more to the Lord.
OP-9000 grabs Douglas.
DOUGLAS: Hey, what are you doing?
OP-9000: Give to the Lord. Give to the Lord.
OP-9000 picks Douglas up and turns him upside down, shaking him. Change falls out everywhere.
DOUGLAS: Hey, come on! Put me down!
OP-9000: (repeating continuously) Give to the Lord. Give to the Lord. Give to the Lord.
DOUGLAS: Put me down!
OP-9000 drops Douglas on the stage.
OP-9000: There. Doesn’t it feel good to give to the Lord?
DOUGLAS: Okay, the robot needs a little work.
OP-9000: So does your sense of generosity.
DOUGLAS: I’m going to take this one back to the shop. But don’t let that stop you from being generous. Remember all God has done for you and give to the Lord.
OP-9000: Or else.
DOUGLAS: Would you stop that?
OP-9000: Would you stop being so cheap?
DOUGLAS: To the shop, robot!
They exit.
OBJECT LESSON
ITEMS NEEDED:
Ketchup
French fries
How many of you like French fries? Now how many of you like to have some ketchup with your fries?
It just so happens I have some French fries here, and I have a big full bottle of ketchup. There’s plenty of ketchup here for this amount of fries, isn’t there? But what if I decide I don’t want to use my ketchup on these fries? Maybe I want to save this ketchup for later. I don’t want to put it on these fries because maybe later, I’ll have something else that goes well with ketchup.
I can save the ketchup if I want. There’s no harm in it. But what happens if I never use ketchup on fries? I’ll be missing out on the delicious flavor of crispy, salty fries and sweet ketchup, won’t I?
Sometimes it’s hard to give money to God. We don’t want to let go of what we have because maybe later, we want to spend that money on ourselves. But when we hold back from giving, we miss out on the chance to bless others AND to receive a blessing ourselves.
God didn’t give us money to hoard and spend only on ourselves. He wants us to give so that we can use that money to bless others. Let’s make giving a priority so we can serve God with our money.
LARGE GROUP GAME
QUARTER STACK
ITEMS NEEDED:
Quarters
A pair of metal tongs or tweezers
INSTRUCTIONS:
Choose one player for this game. In this game, the player must stack 10 quarters in a tower using only the tongs or tweezers to move the quarters. If they can complete a stack of 10 in 60 seconds or less, they win a prize.
VARIATION:
Make it a contest between two players to see who can stack the most quarters in 60 seconds.
WHAT’S THE POINT?
God wants us to serve him by giving our money.
LARGE GROUP LESSON
BOTTOM LINE:
We can serve through giving.
OBJECTIVE:
Kids will name one way they can be more generous.
KEY PASSAGE:
Luke 21:1-4 The Widow’s Offering
INTRO:
What is a robot? The answer to that question depends very much on whom you ask. In science fiction, robots can be many things. Sometimes robots are friendly allies, servants like R2-D2 who help people in times of need. Some robots are bad. They are runaway metal monsters, like the Terminator, who have turned on the people who made them. Some robots are just plain silly. One science fiction author described a robot as “your plastic pal who’s fun to be with.” One of his robots was a character named Marvin who never stopped complaining about anything and everything. That doesn’t sound like a plastic pal I’d like to be with!
In real life, robots are machines designed to do specific jobs so humans don’t have to. Robots are usually created for two reasons. One, the job of the robot is something too difficult or too dangerous for a human to do. Or two, the job of a robot is something humans just don’t like to do.
How many of you have ever seen a Roomba? A Roomba certainly fits into this category. Roombas are robots designed to vacuum the floor. Roombas are able to sense where they are going, where they have been, and where they need to go in order to give your room the best cleaning possible. They take longer to run than a regular vacuum, but so what? They’re also quieter than a regular vacuum, and most important of all - you’ve got your feet up watching TV while a vacuum does work for you!
Robots are servants. They are designed to serve humans by doing jobs we often don’t like to do. In this series, we’re going to be building some robots that will help us do a few jobs around our kid’s program. But we’re also going to look at ways that you and I can serve God. No robots required!
One of the first and easiest ways to serve God is by giving, and that is where we start today, with a story about a woman who truly knew what it meant to give.
READ LUKE 21:1-4
MAIN POINT:
From the very beginning of the Bible, God taught his people to give. We are to give a tenth of everything we have back to God to help the church and to serve others. Everything you see here in this room and in this building happened because of faithful believers who gave money to the church!
In this story, Jesus is watching people give at a local synagogue. Many rich people with lots of money were happy to give. They wanted everyone to see them give so others would envy them for their riches. But then this poor woman with almost nothing puts them to shame. Where the rich people were giving a few coins - hardly a drop of what they actually possessed - this woman gave more than she could afford, simply out of love.
The old woman in this story leaves us with no excuse for not giving. Whether we have lots of money or very little, God wants us to give with a cheerful heart. Giving is a way to serve God and to bless others, and by giving everything she could, the widow in the story did far more than any of the rich people that day!
DRIVE IT HOME:
Giving is a tricky subject. Most preachers don’t like to talk about giving. Can you guess why?
Because people don’t like to hear about giving! When people hear sermons about giving, they go away thinking, “That church just wants our money! There are plenty of rich people in that church! Let them give a little more! Why should I give?”
The widow in the Gospel today tells us why. We should give because God commands us. The widow knew God wanted her to give, and she was not about to let him down.
We should also give because we love God. God gave us everything when he gave us Jesus. Jesus paid the price for our sins, a price we could never afford. We could never give enough to equal God’s gift of Jesus, but we can say thank you every time we give.
Finally, we should give in order to serve. Giving is a way of serving God and others. Our giving allows the church to happen on Sundays. It allows the ministry to happen every day of the week. It allows people to meet Jesus. Giving is a way to keep the message of Jesus spread. It’s a way to bless others and to earn a blessing for ourselves.
We’re going to build a robot today who will help us by collecting the offering each week. Robots can help us collect our money, but they can’t do the giving for us. I hope that all of you will make a commitment to bring offering next week, and every week. Let’s be a kid’s ministry that serves through giving, and let’s show God how much we love him by our gifts!
CLOSE WITH A SIMPLE PRAYER:
Dear God,
Give us generous hearts.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (K-2ND)
ICEBREAKER:
Who is your favorite movie robot?
MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:
Matthew 23:11
Have each kid read the verse in their best robot voice.
SMALL GROUP GAME/ACTIVITY:
Can your kids dance like robots? Turn on some 80s break dance music (or a classic like “Mr. Roboto”) and have a robot dance party!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Read Luke 21:1-4 The Widow’s Offering
What were the people doing in this story?
What did the rich people give?
What did the widow give?
What did Jesus say about the widow’s gift?
What is something you can do to become a more giving person?
SIMPLE PRAYER:
Dear God,
Use our gifts to spread your love to others.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (3RD-5TH)
ICEBREAKER:
Who is your favorite movie robot?
MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:
Matthew 23:11
Have each kid read the verse in their best robot voice.
SMALL GROUP GAME/ACTIVITY:
Can your kids dance like robots? Turn on some 80s break dance music (or a classic like “Mr. Roboto”) and have a robot dance party!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Read Luke 21:1-4 The Widow’s Offering
Why do you think the rich people gave what they did?
Why did the widow give so much?
Why did Jesus say the widow had given more?
What are some excuses we give for not giving?
How can we become more generous?
SIMPLE PRAYER:
Dear God,
Use our gifts to spread your love to others.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
For your convenience, you can also download the entire PDF version of this The Widow's Mite Children's Ministry Lesson (just click the link).
Here's a video from Saddleback kids that you might find helpful to go along with your Sunday School Lesson on the Widow's Mite.
Take a look at the links below for other ideas for teaching a Widow's Mite Sunday School Lesson:
The Widow's Mite - Children's Sermons from Sermons4Kids.com
The Widow's Mite Bible Lesson and Crafts - Danielle's Place
Lesson: The Widow's Mite - Sunday School Sources
"The Widows Two Coins" Sunday School Lesson based on Mark 12