Series Overview
While choosing to follow Jesus is the most important decision a kid can make, it’s only the first step! Learning to live and love like Jesus is a lifelong journey that can feel big and abstract for kids. That’s why it’s so important to provide handholds for kids (and grownups!) to grow in four specific areas of spiritual formation. We call these Faith Skills: Hear from God, Pray to God, Talk about God, and Live for God. This month, we’ll walk through all four skills as displayed in the life of Jesus. Kids will discover the value of talking with others about God through the story of young Jesus in the Temple. They’ll practice praying to God through The Lord’s Prayer and hearing from God in the parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders. We end the month with the story of Jesus choosing Levi, also known as Matthew, to follow Him—and how Matthew left everything he knew to begin living for God. Just like learning a new instrument or skill, it takes commitment and a game plan to follow Jesus. But as kids learn to spend time daily practicing Faith Skills, even for a short time, they will become more and more like Jesus.
Memory Verse
“Training the body has some value. But being godly has value in every way. It promises help for the life you are now living and the life to come.” – Isaiah 40:31, NIRV
Week Two (January 10/11)
The Lord’s Prayer
Bible Story: Matthew 6:9-13
Bottom Line: Practice praying to God
Conversation Starter: What do you pray about?
Application: Commitment – Making a plan + putting it into practice
Insight: Connection Because of God’s Love – I live in pursuit of an infinite God who desires an eternal relationship with me
In Week 2, we follow Jesus to a mountainside where he taught what’s known as The Sermon on the Mount. At the heart of the sermon, we find the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus shared this simple, but profound, way for His followers to talk to God— acknowledging who God is, asking for God’s Kingdom to come and requesting what we need, like forgiveness and provision and protection. It’s both a beautiful link to the church throughout the ages and a template that kids can use to talk to God in their own words.
Lafayette Campus
West Campus
Week Three (January 17/18)
The Wise + Foolish Builders
Bible Story: Matthew 7:24-27
Bottom Line: Practice hearing from God
Conversation Starter: How can you hear from God?
Application: Commitment – Making a plan + putting it into practice
Insight: Connection Because of God’s Love – I live in pursuit of an infinite God who desires an eternal relationship with me
We’re staying in The Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus wraps up his teaching with the story of the Wise and Foolish Builders. Anyone who hears Jesus’ words and actually DOES them is like a wise man who built his house on a solid foundation of rock. When a wild storm whipped up, that house stood strong. But people who hear Jesus’ words and don’t follow through are just like a foolish man who slaps together a home on the sand—one that collapses when the wind comes. Truly hearing from God means putting what you hear into action. Kids can be confident that God does speak to them because, as we read in John 10:27-28, Jesus is the good shepherd and we are His sheep. And a sheep KNOWS the shepherd’s voice.
Lafayette Campus
West Campus
Week Four (January 24/25)
Jesus Chooses Levi
Bible Story: Luke 5:27-32
Bottom Line: Practice living for God
Conversation Starter: What does it look like to live for God?
Application: Commitment – Making a plan + putting it into practice
Insight: Connection Because of God’s Love – I live in pursuit of an infinite God who desires an eternal relationship with me
We wrap up the month with Jesus calling Levi, also known as Matthew, to follow Him. Levi was a tax collector, and no one liked tax collectors. They were seen as traitors to their people since they collected taxes for the Roman government… and skimmed plenty off the top for themselves. When Jesus showed up, Levi suddenly faced a huge decision: stay in his lane and live for comfort—or step out in faith and follow Jesus. As we know, Matthew made the leap. He even welcomed Jesus to his house for dinner and invited other tax collectors and outcasts to share this new freedom. From that point, Matthew spent his entire life following Jesus and sharing the story of Jesus.
Lafayette Campus
West Campus