Rooted Kids: Week 1: The Trinity
  • The Trinity is a mystery–one of the things our minds can’t totally understand about God!

  • As Christians we are called Trinitarians. We believe in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet one God.

Let’s get to know the three persons in the Trinity!
  • Who is God the Father?
“This God–his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.” - Psalm 18:30
  • Who is the Son/Jesus?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16
  • Who is the Holy Spirit?
“There is one body and one spirit–just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call–one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” - Ephesians 4:4-6

Let’s look into why the Trinity matters!
  • Knowing facts about a person vs knowing them.
We can know about someone fairly quickly by identifying their eye color, hair color, height, etc., but to know someone would take some dedicated time to learn their desires, likes, dislikes, etc.

We want to know God!
  • Simply attending church vs getting to know God and building a relationship with him.
  • Ways we can know God:
  1.  Through prayer-The Lord’s Prayer, The Collect, and The Post Communion Prayer.
  2.  Worship -singing songs and partaking in the Eucharist with communion.
  3.  Ministry and service-helping set up the chairs and lights or providing a meal to a family in need.
  4.  Discipleship-spending dedicated time with, praying  for, building a friendship with and intentionally teaching another person how to grow their faith.
  5.  We do all of these while sharing the love of God with our family, friends, and neighbors.

Activity
  • Hand out play doh, 3 colors per child.  
  • Great color choices could be: red for the Father because he loved the world so much, yellow for the Son because it makes us think of the light or the sun, and green for the Holy Spirit because he is always with us and helps us grow our faith.  
  • Ask them to mix these three colors together and form a ball. Explain that the Bible teaches God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all God.  They are One God, yet they are each unique in Who they are also.  Just like each color of play doh is still play doh, but the green play doh is uniquely different from the yellow play doh, etc. In a similar way God has always existed as One God, but three unique persons.  God the Father and Jesus are both God, but the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father.  The same goes for the Holy Spirit; He is God, but He is not the Father or the Son. 





Rooted Kids: Week 2: The Words of God: Scripture

  • What is the Bible?!

  1. All scripture is given by inspiration of God! The Bible is 100% the work of human authors and 100% inspired by God. 
  2. Read 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

  • Amazing facts about the Bible:
  1. Written over a 1,500 year span! Woah! 
  2. Written by over 40 authors!
  3. Written on 3 different continents! Want to guess which ones? *Allow responses* Answer: Africa, Asia, and Europe.
  4. Written in 3 languages! Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew.
  5. There are 66 books in the Bible with two testaments! There are two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament.
  6. There are over 20 translations! We, at The Gathering Church, use the ESV (English Standard Version), but many are used throughout the world. 
  7. The Bible was written in different places: Moses was in the wilderness, Jeremiah was in a dungeon, and Paul was inside prison walls. I can't imagine writing a book while in a dungeon!
  8. The Bible was written using different writing instruments. *Hand out play doh for kids to attempt to recreate the instruments*: 
-Chisel: an iron instrument used to engrave stone
-Metal Stylus: a three-sided instrument with a leveled head
-Pen: a pointed reed
-Ink: a compound of “charcoal, vegetables gums and water”


  • Activity: Books of the Bible outdoor scavenger hunt
  1. 1 Samuel 2:2 - “There is none holy like the Lord; for there is none besides you; there is no ROCK like our God.”
  2. Genesis 2:9 - “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every TREE that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The TREE of life was in the midst of the garden, and the TREE of the knowledge of good and evil.”
  3. John 4:10-11 - “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living WATER.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw WATER with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living WATER?
  4. Isaiah 40:8 - “The GRASS withers, the FLOWER fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
  5. Psalm 104:19 - “He made the MOON to mark the seasons; the SUN knows its time for setting.”
  6. Genesis 9:13 - “I have set my bow in the CLOUD, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”





Rooted Kids: Week 3: The Story of Redemption: Sin and the Gospel
  1. Sin is when we do things our way instead of God’s way. 
  2. Sin makes God sad and separates us from him, often hurting us and other people. This can be fighting with a brother or sister, disobeying your mom or dad, or stealing from a friend. 
  3. Don’t worry! We all make mistakes and sin, but I promise there is some good news coming! 

  • The word gospel means “good news”!
  • Jesus teaches us to share this good news.
  1. *Use either an inflatable globe or photo of the world map for the following* - Before Jesus went back to heaven, He commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel.   Point out where we live, and point out a few other continents or countries. Point out that the blue parts are water, and the other colored parts are land where people live. Explain that Jesus wants everyone in the whole world to hear the gospel and know that He loves them.
  2. Do you know what a missionary is? We may first think of a Christian who has traveled to another country to share the gospel, but we are all missionaries! If we share the gospel with our neighbor, we are being a missionary! We are all called to be missionaries whether near or far. 

  • Craft: Create a mini booklet
  • Encourage the children to write or draw what they imagine for each part of the gospel. 
  • The cover page will say “The Good News!” and have the children draw and color planet earth. Then, the pages are as follows:
  1. Jesus came to save us. (Example: draw baby Jesus in the manger)
  2. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. (Example: draw a cross)
  1. Jesus is alive. (Example: draw the stone rolled away from the tomb)
  2. Jesus is making a home for us in heaven. (Example: draw a castle or other incredible place)
  3. Jesus loves you. (Example: draw their friends and others)

  • Activity: Around the World
  1. Have the children sit in a big circle. Play the song “Go! Worship song” as the children pass the inflatable globe around. Randomly pause the music. The child holding the globe when the music stops, stands up. Have them hold a pretend megaphone and loudly repeat Mark 16:15 - “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”





Rooted Kids: Week 4: The Already and Not Yet: The Church and Eternity

  • Activity: God’s Kingdom Comics
  1. Hand out strips of paper and colored pencils. Invite kids to draw a comic strip showing how they can use their talents to grow God’s kingdom (similar to a super hero comic book).  Before the end of class, ask for kids to share theirs with the class.
  2. Play these songs while creating comics:
(2) Shout Praises Kids - Wonderfully Made (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube
(2) Shout Praises Kids - Open The Eyes Of My Heart (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube
(2) Shout Praises Kids - Hosanna Praise Is Rising (Official Audio Video) - YouTube

  • Activity: Message Circle
  • Let children sit in a circle and secretly pass a MESSAGE around the circle. (The children will sometimes PRETEND to be passing the "message" and other times they really WILL put the small slip of paper with the "message" in the next child's hand. The ONE in the middle can try and decide WHO has the important MESSAGE. IF the one in the middle FINDS the one with the message, then THAT person will be in the middle and continue to play as time allows.
Play song during activity: Books of the Bible Song and Lyrics by Mary Rice Hopkins. - YouTube

  • Activity: Talent Show
  1. Give the class a few minutes to prepare a talent to share.  Singing, drawing, touching their tongue to their nose…ANYTHING.  Then put on a mini talent show so everyone can share.
  2. Remind all the children that God made some people to be amazing singers, so they could worship and lead others in that same worship. He made some people good listeners so they could listen to the needs and struggles of others and help them.  He made some people strong and handy, so they could lend a helping hand to those that needed it, just like Jesus did. God gave all of us talents, but they aren’t all the same. Each one of us has different talents and different ways to use them. Even though they are different, they aren’t better or worse than another’s. God wants us to use those talents to bring more people to him and to grow His kingdom. I want you to try to find a way to use one of your talents this week to grow God’s kingdom.  It can be as simple as reading someone else a story or helping them pick up something they dropped.  It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be for God.