Prepare your children's session
Prepare your under 5s session
Prepare your young people's session
Prepare your children's session
The choices made by everyone in the passage will impact the generations that follow: the Israelites choose to be led by a king; Samuel tries to persuade them that this is not what God would choose; the people insist; God chooses Saul as king; Saul isn’t sure, but is anointed by Samuel as king. And, as we will discover over the next few weeks, this chain of events will have some big consequences.
Spend some time reflecting on how you make good choices. What contributes to these? Where is God in the choices you make?
Help the children to discover, through the activities you choose, that God is with them in their choices. Enable them to see that even when the consequences aren’t as we had hoped, God is still with us in these
Don't forget:
Activity and colouring sheets
Thrive: A resource to encourage family faith at home.
Plus: Songs, Prayers, Images
and links to templates and other online resources.
Prepare your under 5s session
Read: Prepare and reflect - see Children's session Prepare
Play ideas: a book corner filled with books encouraging the children to choose including lift the flap, That’s not my... and You Choose books
Don't forget: Colouring sheet
Prepare your young people's session
Read Bible notes on 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
God’s people ask for a king. God warns the people how a king will burden them, yet the people are so desperate to be like the nations around them that this warning doesn’t appease them; the passage finishes with Samuel acknowledging Saul’s kingship. Fundamentally, this passage is about how our choices have consequences.
Can you think of any times where you have experienced God’s influence in your decision-making?
As the young people think about how decisions have consequences, reassure them of God’s grace; even if we have made a poor decision, God can use this to draw us closer to the kingdom.
Don't forget:
Check-in: a weekly biblical reflection on youth and contemporary culture.
Thrive: A resource to encourage family faith at home.
Plus: Images and links to templates, music tracks and other online resources.