Children's session

Read Bible notes on Mark 10.17-31

The rich young man is self-confident and self-contained, he has wealth, status and is morally upright – but he can’t let go of what he has, in order to follow Jesus. What might you need to let go of in order to put your relationship with God first?

Explore with the children the things that fill our hearts. Help them to think about these as ‘treasures’ or the things we value, and that they are not necessarily bad, but we should remember how to put Jesus first in our hearts, minds and in our lives.

Wants/needs game                                                    E A

You will need: wants and needs template cards.

• Give a set of cards to the children to sort into a ‘wants’ pile and a ‘needs’ pile. You can do this in small groups, or as a whole group, depending on the number of children.
• Discuss the decisions they have made.

Read the story and pause at the  to share these points with the children (see Stop and share below). Then use the activity to explore the passage together. (10 mins)

Click on the image to view a PDF.

 Stop and share

• Eternal life means fullness of life in God’s presence, both now and after death.
• Use the illustration to show what Jesus meant, how small the eye of a needle is compared to a camel.

Read and respond                                                         W E

• Each time the following words are mentioned, ask the children to shout the phrases and do the action:
  Jesus  - put hands on heart and shout ‘Give it away!’
  Young man  - pretend to cry and say ‘Oh dear!’
  Disciples  - put hands up as if questioning and say ‘We don’t understand!’
  Camel  - crouch down in a ball and say ‘I don’t fit!’
• Practise these together before you read the story through slowly, allowing space and time for the phrases and actions.
  

Tunnel challenge                                                              E

Demonstrate how things get in the way of our relationship with God 

You will need: two large backpacks; various bulky items.

• Split the children into two teams and invite the teams to make a ‘tunnel’, by standing in two lines and linking hands with the person opposite, up above their heads.
• Give one child in each team an empty backpack, and the others in the line a bulky item.
• Invite the child at the front to go through the tunnel with the empty backpack. As they run back to their team, they should hand the backpack to the next child in the line. They then add their item and go through the tunnel. The last child will have a very full backpack!
• Challenge the group to see which team can get their whole team through first. Then think together about things that get in the way of our relationship with God, demonstrating how these things can hold us back.

What fills our hearts?                                                   E S

Illustrate what is important to us

You will need: heart template one per child, scissors, magazines, glue, pens/crayons.

• Give each child a large heart shape and talk together about the things that fill our hearts or things that are important to us.
• Ask the children to cut and stick pictures or draw and write the things that can fill our hearts. Explain that these things are all important and can take up lots of space, but ask them to leave some empty space for where God is in their heart.
• Finally, ask them to draw/illustrate where God is in their heart.

Sing

Preview song, then buy online and download.

Reason, Unspoken on Reason

Find more suggestions on the Hymns, songs & music page.

Talk together and talk to God

Use these questions to discuss the Bible passage and then bring your thoughts together by praying to God.

Talk together

• What things are really important to you?
• What was the most important thing in the rich man’s life?
• How can we work out what is most important to us?

Talk to God: Relationships prayer                                W E A

Think about how we maintain relationships

• Ask the children to think about someone who is really important to them.
• Discuss ideas about how they maintain their relationship with that person and pray about each one, e.g. they talk together: Dear God, help us to talk to you every day; or, they have fun together; Dear God, we ask you to bring us fun and joy in everything we do.
• Talk about how we need to maintain our relationship with god in the same way we do with those around us.

Activity sheet 

• Lead the children in a reflective Examen. The Examen is a way to look at our day; what we did and the choices we made, but also to examine our hearts and think about our relationship with God. See below for text to guide the Examen.

1. Invite the children to find a comfortable place and remind themselves that God is there. 
2. Encourage the children to look back at the day so far. Ask: What made you happy? Did anyone say or do something that made you feel good? Did you say or do anything that made you feel good? Was there something that you really enjoyed? Whatever made you feel happy today, thank God for those things now.  
3. Next ask the children to think if anything made them sad. Ask: Was it something that happened? Or that someone said, or did? Did you do something that made you unhappy? Maybe there is something that you want to say sorry for. Whatever made you feel sad or unhappy, remember that you are precious to God, and that nothing ever changes that.  
4. Now invite the children to think about tomorrow and putting their hearts in the right place for a good day. Ask: Is there anything you would like to ask God to help you with, or anything you are worried about, or anything that you need? Talk to God about it now, and ask God to be with you through your day. 

Go with God 24/7

Encourage the children to put their faith into action

At the end of each day this week, look back and think about whether you have put God first in what you have done and said.  E S A

Before you finish, give out the ROOTS at home resource  to encourage faith at home.