1 Kings 17 v 1 – 6

Lesson Aim

To understand that God cares for us.

Hook 1: Precious gifts

Tell the children that you are going to give them one of the most important and precious things in the world.  What do you think it could be?  Hand them a glass of water.  Also have some small pieces bread and meat (e.g. small pieces of ham) to illustrate the story.  Eat the small pieces of bread and ham and offer some to the children.

Hook 2: Bird pictures

Show pictures of 6 different well known birds.  Can the children name them?  Birds are important in the Bible.  Can you think which birds were in the story of Noah?  Birds also come in today’s story…

Hook 3: Letter

Open a letter address to you which contains bad news or have a leader come up to you saying that someone has just crashed into your car. Have you ever had to deliver a message which was bad news?  Can you imagine delivering this message about a drought (no water) to an angry king?

Hook 4: Questions

Who looks after you each day? Who makes sure that you have food, drinks, clothes and shelter? In today’s Bible story listen for who is looking after Elijah.

Application

God cared for Elijah, he made sure that he always had enough to eat and drink.  He also cares for you and loves you.  Can you think of any ways that God shows you that he cares for you each day?  Have an outline of a bird and some post- it notes.  Give them out to parents or leaders and ask them to write something that God has given to them because he cares for them.  Stick the post-it notes to the picture of the bird. You could finish with a prayer of thanks for the things mentioned.

NB You could use this story to talk about some children in the world who don’t have access to clean water.