Today you begin something special and new! Think of yourself more as a listener than as a leader. Together with the children in your group, you will sit at the feet of Jesus, discovering God’s love in fresh new ways and being transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Your role is to help your group get swept up in this story of God’s love. It’s a story that begins in the pages of Scripture and continues in our lives today. As you explore Bible stories together, you can help members of your group find their place in God’s family and in the world. One of the ways you can do that is by creating a warm, inviting atmosphere where all present can pause from their busy, noisy lives to meet with God. Help the kids see your time together each week as special and important. Expect them to be changed by the stories they hear and the time they spend with God. Model that kind of expectancy in your own life as you grow in Christ together!

Arrive early to set up everything you’ll need for the session before kids begin to appear. Have the Dwell CD playing softly in the background as you greet each member of your group with a friendly smile and learn their names. Make it your goal to memorize every new name by the end of the gathering time.

Give each member of your group a mini notebook and pencil and encourage them to keep it with them throughout today’s session (you’ll let them know how to use it a little later on). If you’ll be making mailboxes from a shoe organizer, set out markers and blank note cards for everyone to use to make name cards as they arrive.

Also use this time to learn a little bit about each person in your group. Here are some questions you could ask:

• What school do you attend?
• What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
• What was the best thing that happened to you this summer?
• Do you have a pet?
• What sports do you like?

Let your curiosity keep them busy talking until the name cards are finished. If time is tight, welcome everyone and get the session started while the kids decorate their name cards and then staple them to a pocket. Let the group know how excited you are to be their leader and to grow in faith with them this year. Express your hope that this meeting place will be a space where each feels welcome to share their stories, questions, and ideas, to experience God’s love and presence, and to grow into the person God is calling them to be.

Tell the group that the first few minutes of your time together each week will usually involve sharing your own stories in some way, as you get ready to hear God’s story. Choose one of following questions to ask your group:

• Name something you always seem to lose. Where is the funniest place it has turned up?
• What is the most valuable thing you’ve ever lost? What do you regret most about losing it?
• Tell about a time when you were lost. What did you do? Who came to find you?

To get the ball rolling, start by answering the question yourself.

When everyone (who wants to) has had the opportunity to answer, point out that each of you has experiences and stories that make you unique but that you also share a common story that binds you together—it’s the story of God’s amazing love, shown to you through Jesus Christ! Let your group know that this week, and every week, you’ll be hearing a little more of that story

To help quiet your thoughts and open your hearts to God’s Word, teach kids this short prayer in sign language: “Speak, Lord, your people are listening.”
 

This is the prayer you’ll offer for the rest of the unit each time you enter the story. When everyone has mastered the signs, say the prayer together twice: once verbally and in sign language, and a second time in sign language only.

Have the group take out their Bibles, and explain that today you’ll be sharing a story that Jesus told to a crowd of tax collectors, “sinners,” and Pharisees. It comes from Luke 15 and also includes some description Jesus used, as recorded in John 10. Ask whether anyone would like to share what they know about tax collectors, “sinners,” or Pharisees in Jesus’ time. Pause to listen for their answers. Then encourage your group to use their notebooks to jot down things they wonder about or anything that catches their attention as you share the story.

The story follows:

Our story begins with two groups of people who lived in Jesus’ time: the Pharisees on the one hand and the tax collectors and “sinners” on the other.

The Pharisees were religious leaders who wanted to do things “right.” In fact, the Pharisees were so good at being “good” that some of them self-righteously figured God loved them more than anyone else.

Once, a bunch of tax collectors and “sinners” gathered around to hear Jesus teach. At least some of them were probably robbers, addicts, cheaters, or violent outlaws. The Pharisees were upset that Jesus would even talk to this motley, low-life crowd. “Jesus is always spending time with those troublemakers—he even eats with them!” the Pharisees grumbled.

I wonder why the Pharisees were so upset. How might we feel if Jesus were to come today and spent his time with murderers and drug addicts instead of with Christian leaders? (Pause for responses.)

The Pharisees thought the tax collectors and “sinners” were a lost cause—and they were pretty sure God thought so too.

(Lean in and whisper the next line conspiratorially.) But they were wrong!

So Jesus told this story to help them see people the way God sees them, and to let them know about God’s incredible love.

(Set down your Bible and this script for a moment and turn to the board/newsprint. Quickly sketch the story symbol for today’s story before continuing. Or use the symbol from the printable page.)

Once there was a shepherd who took very good care of his sheep. He led them all over the mountains of the region later known as Palestine, taking them to the sweetest grass and the freshest water.

This shepherd went ahead of the sheep on the path. He pulled out poisonous plants and tossed aside rocks and branches that might harm the flock. He carried a heavy club to ward off animals that might try to attack the sheep.

He also used a long, thin staff with a curve at one end. If a sheep fell into a hole or began to wander off, the shepherd would reach for the animal with the crook of his staff and pull the sheep gently back to safety.

The sheep loved their shepherd. They knew his voice and trusted him. Wherever he walked, the sheep would follow behind. He watched them carefully and counted them often to make sure all one hundred were safe.

But one day a single sheep drifted away and left the flock without the shepherd noticing.

The sheep drifted farther and farther away until he could no longer hear the shepherd’s voice. The lost sheep stumbled into a ravine and couldn’t climb out.

The shepherd was taking the flock back along the path toward home when he noticed that one of the sheep was missing. He stopped and looked around at the other sheep; they were tired from the long day of grazing. Then he looked back at the trail.

The shepherd could have gone home with the other ninety-nine sheep and put them all safely to rest. But he loved that missing sheep, and he wouldn’t leave it alone to die. So he decided to search for it.

What do you think—was the shepherd being fair to the other ninety-nine? Who might have been keeping them safe? Why was that one sheep so important to the shepherd? (Pause for responses.)

The shepherd made the flock lie down before he walked off to look for the lost lamb. He searched for a long time, stumbling over rocks and tearing his coat on thorns. Finally, the shepherd heard a faint bleating sound in the distance.

His heart leaped with hope as he scrambled down the steep slope of a hill toward the sound of a sheep’s “baaah.” There, at the bottom of the ravine, he found his lost sheep—its wool matted and full of thorns, its ear torn and bleeding. The sheep was shaken, hurt, and unable to walk.

The shepherd gently pulled out the brambles and thorns and put medicine on the sheep’s cuts. Then he hoisted the heavy sheep up onto his shoulders and slowly climbed out of the ravine.

All this time his heart was bursting with joy. He had found his lost sheep!

What words could you use to describe the shepherd? (Pause for responses.)

When he arrived at the place where the rest of the flock lay sleeping, the shepherd counted them all again. He laughed with relief when he counted all one hundred sheep. Still carrying the injured sheep, he led the flock home in the dark, settling them down in their pen for the night.

The shepherd was so thrilled to have found his lost sheep that he threw a party for his friends and neighbors. “Let’s celebrate!” he invited. So they danced and ate under the stars, delighted that the one missing sheep was back in the fold!

(Pause for a moment, smiling at the good news, before continuing.)

After he had finished telling this story, Jesus said, “Like the shepherd, God and the angels also sing and shout for joy whenever one sinner comes back to God! God is happier over one lost person who returns than over ninety-nine people who never went astray.”

Remind the group that the crowd who had been listening to Jesus tell this parable included some Pharisees—good religious leaders who always obeyed the law—and some sinners who cheated, stole, and perhaps even murdered or acted violently. Wonder together about how each of these groups might have reacted to the story Jesus told.

Ask the children what they noted or wondered about during the story. What surprised them or stood out for them? Listen as they share and then briefly discuss this question:

What does this story tell us about God’s love?

You may also want to ask the children what they think the word “sinner” means in this context and talk together about how all of us are sinners—even those who are good, religious people who obey the law (like the Pharisees). The good news of this story is that God chases after sinners like us and forgives us, welcoming us back with joy.

Hand out copies of the story frames, along with crayons, markers, or pencils. Give one page to each pair or individual (depending upon how large your group is) and encourage the children to create a graphic novel/comic strip that depicts what happened during that portion of the story. Assure everyone that stick figures are perfectly acceptable! Ask kids to use thought and dialogue bubbles to imagine what people (and animals) might have been thinking or saying. If they run out of ideas, encourage them to look up the Bible passages that are listed at the top of each of the printable pages.

Allow everyone to work for 8-10 minutes. Then gather the group back together and include everyone in retelling the story in sequence, with each person or group sharing their work. You may want to display each set of story frames on the wall (using tape or poster putty), or you could spread the story frames across the table or floor and have everyone gather around.

Thank each person and group who shares, and note anything in their story frames that might spark conversation within the group. Wrap up this step by addressing one or more of the following questions or thoughts to help your group consider the way in which this story intersects with your lives:

• In what situation have you have felt like the lost sheep in this story?
• Can you think of a time when Jesus rescued you, comforted you, or called out to you?
• Why do you think Jesus wanted us to hear this story today?

Be patient as you wait for answers. Some kids may be reluctant to share personal stories about times when they’ve felt distant from or particularly close to God. That’s OK—don’t push. They’re thinking about the questions even if they aren’t comfortable sharing. Receive every answer with respect, and in time your group will begin to open up.

Distribute Storymarks and explain that they’re designed to fit in their Bibles and mark the location of each week’s story. Point out the devotional ideas on the back of the Storymark and ask them to try one or both of them this week. Let them know that you’ll be doing the same.

Give the children 3-5 minutes to fill in the first part of their Storymark and to pray silently, using the prompts in the “My Prayer” section.

When everyone has finished, close by asking your group to stand to read Psalm 23 aloud together as a prayer. End with “Amen.” Tell the group that for the next six weeks they’ll be memorizing this psalm. Challenge them to work on verse 1 during the coming week. If you have time, you may want to introduce the memory work by playing “My Shepherd Is Near” from the Dwell CD. Your group will enjoy the rhythm, and the rap will make the words easier for them to remember.

Thank your group for a great first session! Remind children to take home their Storymark and a copy of the unit Memory Challenge and to slide their notebook and pencil into their “mailbox” (or hand them to you) for next week. Challenge them to do some of the other “sheep” focused activities during the week.

If you've purchased God's Big Story cards for your families, talk a bit about them and how they can be used at home. Direct them to search for today’s symbol in the box. Their family may want to do some of the activities suggested on that card as part of their family devotions this week. Connect with families this week with the Dear Family letter (printable page or email  version) about this unit.