NEW CITY CATECHISM QUESTION
What is our only hope in life and death?
BEGIN WITH A FAMILY GAME
Go on a color scavenger hunt! Design your own or use one or more of these printables. This activity may cater to younger students. Have older kids? Make up some additional rules to amp up the game. Set a time limit. Require that every item found for the scavenger hunt be “pocket-sized,” or able to fit into a pocket. Have fun with it!
ICEBREAKER QUESTION
Lay out two pieces of paper. On the top of one write “My Family.” On the other write “God’s Family.” Ask children the following questions and write answers on the sheet that says “My Family.”
What do you love about being part of our family? What makes you feel loved?
Or re-word for little ones
How do you know Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/etc. love you? What do you like about living in our house?
READ ROMANS 14:7-12
We don’t live for ourselves only. And we don’t die for ourselves only. If we live, we live to honor the Lord. If we die, we die to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and came back to life. He did this to become the Lord of both the dead and the living. Now then, who are you to judge your brother or sister? Why do you act like you’re better than they are? We will all stand in God’s courtroom to be judged. It is written,
“ ‘You can be sure that I live,’ says the Lord.
‘And you can be just as sure that everyone will kneel down in front of me.
Every tongue will have to tell the truth about God.’ ” (Quote from Isaiah 45:23)
So we will all have to explain to God the things we have done.
WATCH TEACHING VIDEO
What is our only hope in life and death?
BEGIN WITH A FAMILY GAME
Go on a color scavenger hunt! Design your own or use one or more of these printables. This activity may cater to younger students. Have older kids? Make up some additional rules to amp up the game. Set a time limit. Require that every item found for the scavenger hunt be “pocket-sized,” or able to fit into a pocket. Have fun with it!
ICEBREAKER QUESTION
Lay out two pieces of paper. On the top of one write “My Family.” On the other write “God’s Family.” Ask children the following questions and write answers on the sheet that says “My Family.”
What do you love about being part of our family? What makes you feel loved?
Or re-word for little ones
How do you know Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/etc. love you? What do you like about living in our house?
READ ROMANS 14:7-12
We don’t live for ourselves only. And we don’t die for ourselves only. If we live, we live to honor the Lord. If we die, we die to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and came back to life. He did this to become the Lord of both the dead and the living. Now then, who are you to judge your brother or sister? Why do you act like you’re better than they are? We will all stand in God’s courtroom to be judged. It is written,
“ ‘You can be sure that I live,’ says the Lord.
‘And you can be just as sure that everyone will kneel down in front of me.
Every tongue will have to tell the truth about God.’ ” (Quote from Isaiah 45:23)
So we will all have to explain to God the things we have done.
WATCH TEACHING VIDEO
RESPONSE ACTIVITY
Return to the two sheets of paper labeled “My Family” and “God’s Family.” Ask your children what would happen if you added another child to your family. Would that child benefit from all these good things, too?
Then ask your children to identify and list some good things about being part of God’s family. Be prepared to offer some prompts, such as “Think about why Jesus died on the cross,” or “What is one of the promises God has made to his children?” Write down these answers on the sheet labeled “God’s Family.”
Explain that everybody is born into a human family, but not everybody is born into God’s family. God brings people into his family and makes them his children through adoption. In order to join God’s family, God says that a person must realize they are sinful, turn to Jesus and acknowledge their sin, ask for forgiveness, and accept Jesus’ gift of life. Everyone who becomes God’s child gets all the benefits of being in God’s family. And they become Jesus’ brothers and sisters and brothers and sisters with all of God’s children!
DISCUSS
PRAY
Return to the two sheets of paper labeled “My Family” and “God’s Family.” Ask your children what would happen if you added another child to your family. Would that child benefit from all these good things, too?
Then ask your children to identify and list some good things about being part of God’s family. Be prepared to offer some prompts, such as “Think about why Jesus died on the cross,” or “What is one of the promises God has made to his children?” Write down these answers on the sheet labeled “God’s Family.”
Explain that everybody is born into a human family, but not everybody is born into God’s family. God brings people into his family and makes them his children through adoption. In order to join God’s family, God says that a person must realize they are sinful, turn to Jesus and acknowledge their sin, ask for forgiveness, and accept Jesus’ gift of life. Everyone who becomes God’s child gets all the benefits of being in God’s family. And they become Jesus’ brothers and sisters and brothers and sisters with all of God’s children!
DISCUSS
- Once we are in God’s family, we belong to God. What does it mean to “belong to God,” or, as the catechism answer states, that “we are not our own?”
- What if I can’t live for God all of the time?
PRAY
- Recognize that Jesus is the king of all creation, of the nations, and of your life.
- Praise God for the gift of life and the gift of family - your family and the family of God.