The Rest Of The Story 8-Week Children's Ministry Curriculum

There’s probably more to these stories than you knew!

These 8 lessons will cover some rarely taught stories in the lives of famous Bible characters. Just like with all of God’s Word, these rarely taught stories have important lessons for each of us!

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The Rest Of The Story Children's Ministry Curriculum Lesson Overview

Memory Verse:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

Lessons:

Noah's Grand Finale

Scripture: Genesis 9:20-27

The Bible tells us that God chose to save Noah because of the man’s righteousness. It then goes on to describe how Noah also had to work for the salvation of himself and his family. Noah seems like a perfect example, and it is easy to see why we point to him as role model, and example of what we should aspire to be. This is why the end of Noah’s story is so important. It reveals Noah’s humanity and imperfection, and proves that Jesus is our only true example. After God cleansed the earth of wickedness, Noah got drunk, passed out naked in his tent, and cursed one of his sons with words that established hierarchy, division, guilt, and animosity between his three sons. We should never idolize the Bible’s humans. Jesus is the only perfect example.

Objective: Kids will learn that Jesus is our only perfect example

Jonah's Pout Party

Scripture: Jonah 4

We’ll quickly review Jonah’s story, and focus on the final chapter. Prophets commonly warned people about the bad things that would happen if they didn’t stop sinning and turn to God. If the people repented, they would escape the disaster the prophet warned against. Jonah hated the Ninevites. He also hated the idea that if they turned to God, He would show them mercy, and Jonah’s predictions wouldn’t come true; making him look foolish. In the end, Jonah sits on a hillside looking out over Nineveh, hoping to see it destroyed. God reprimands Jonah for caring more about a plant that gave him some shade than the people of Nineveh.

Objective: Kids will learn that Jesus loves the people we don’t

Gideon’s Erroneous Ephod

Scripture: Judges 8:22-27

Gideon is famous for his fleeces, and for reducing his army from 32,000 warriors to 300, just before going into a major battle. But the end of his story is not so impressive. The people of Israel wanted to make Gideon their king. Gideon refused, because they were supposed to be following God; not a person. Back then, kings were also worshiped as gods. Gideon didn’t want the people worshiping him. But he also wanted to placate the people, so he compromised, and gave them something to worship. He made a priest’s ephod and put it on display. The Israelites worshiped the ephod, and were led astray from God, because Gideon tried to make them happy.

Objective: Kids will learn that compromise leads to failure.

Deborah Rules

Scripture: Judges 4

Many kids know Deborah as Israel’s female judge who settled disputes under a palm tree. Barak insisted that Deborah accompany him into battle. Deborah said she would, but warned Barak that this would mean that Israel would be delivered by a woman. Barak was okay with the idea of Deborah receiving some credit by going along for the ride, since everyone would obviously know that he was the actual warrior leading up the battle. He accepted Deborah’s terms. Israel dominated the battle and the enemy retreated. For miles, Barak hotly pursued Sisera and the glory that would come along with being the man who took down the enemy commander. But the woman Deborah had spoken of was not herself. It was Jael, who ended up capturing Sisera and receiving the credit for the victory.

Objective: Kids will learn that God can work in unexpected ways.

Job: Between The Lines

Scripture: Job 42

The events of Job’s story can be found by only reading chapters 1, 2, & 42. God allows Satan to test Job with hardships, and after suffering these things, Job remains faithful. Then God restores Job with more blessings than he had in the first place. But the real meat of the story is found in the 39 chapters of poetry that we most often ignore. Job’s friends arrive to provide support. For seven days they mourn with him. They cry with him, sit with him, and suffer with him without saying a word. But on day eight, the silence ends, and everything goes downhill from there. Most of the book consists of Job’s friends trying to explain God. Job can be hard to read because there are chapters full of their statements about God, but in the end, God declares them to be wrong about Him. Job, however, is commended for speaking the truth about God. Even though many of Job’s words were errant, and God says so (Chs.40,41), Job is credited with speaking the truth. The difference between Job and his friends is that while they were trying to explain God, Job was open and honest with God about his struggles and frustrations.

Objective: Kids will learn that God wants us to engage Him; not figure Him out.

Moses Tries To Get Off The Hook

Scripture: Exodus 3 & 4

We know how God called Moses at the burning bush, but we don’t often focus on how desperately Moses tried to hang up on God’s call. Moses’ initial responses…

• “I’m not the right guy for the job.” (3:11) “What if they ask for your name?” (3:13)
• “What if they don’t believe me?” (4:1)  
  
• “I can’t because I’m not good at public speaking.” (4:10)  
• “Can’t you send someone else? (4:13)

God often believes in us more than we believe in ourselves.

Objective: Kids will learn that God’s Works with Us in Strengths & Weaknesses

Manna Misses The Mark

Scripture: Exodus 16, Numbers 11:4-8

God provided for the Israelites during their 40 years in the wilderness in many ways. He gave them manna to eat each morning. At first, they were thankful for this blessing. But as time went by, the blessing became a convenience, the convenience became an expectation, the expectation became a right, and the right became a subject of complaint. When they got used to the manna, they stopped being thankful for it. It’s hard to stay thankful for the things we get used to having.

Objective: Kids will learn that it’s hard to be thankful for things we are used to having.

Joseph's Fantastic Finish

Scripture: Genesis 50:15-21, John 1:16

After Joseph’s brothers threw him in a pit, sold him into slavery, and faked his death, he rose to a position of power in Egypt. When reunited with his brothers, Joseph went through the painful process of forgiving them. Years later, when their father died, his brothers betrayed him again with a lie. Fearing what Joseph might do, they said that their father told them to tell Joseph not to harm them after his death. Knowing that they were lying, Joseph wept. Then, with no mention of the offense, he forgave his brothers and treated them kindly. This grace beyond grace is fully realized in Jesus.

Objective: Kids will learn that Jesus gives us grace beyond grace.

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ABOUT THIS CURRICULUM:

• Perfect for kids ages 6-12
• 8-weeks
• Includes large group and small group resources
• This curriculum is an instant download
  
• Download a free sample here

EACH LESSON INCLUDES:

• Make It Stick! Parent Sheet - so you can let mom and dad know what kids are learning each week and look like a rockstar teacher who's thought of everything.
• Memory Verse - so that you can make sure kids are getting Scripture in their minds and hearts every single week and you can feel like each lesson was a success even when it seems like 90% of your lesson time is spent saying things like "calm down", "let's be quiet", "hands to yourself!"
• Skit or Puppet Show - so you have a way to easily connect the lesson with your hands-on and visual learners. No drama team? No problem! Just hand the script to the kids. They'll have a blast and think you're the coolest.
• Craft Activity - so you can give kids a physical reminder of the Bible lesson (and give yourself an activity to keep them busy until mom and dad come back!)
• Game - so kids don't leave and say church was BORING! Games are so important to help keep kids engaged. Our large group games always include a "What's The Point" section to help you connect the game to the lesson.
• Large Group Lesson - so you can present the Bible story in a clear and fun way, which means now you can enjoy Saturday nights instead of stressing over putting a lesson together!
• Small-Group Discussion - so you can find out who was paying attention and who was talking to their neighbor.  Just kidding, this is a great way for you to build deeper relationships with your kiddos after each lesson, which means you're going to care about them so much you'll cry like a baby when they graduate and go to middle school :(
• More! - Yes, there is even more than all of that so that you can easily put together the perfect lesson for your ministry each weekend, which means no more agonizing over how to adjust complicated lesson plans. 

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Guaranteed to Be Awesome!