MARCH
W-4
2
PRELUDE
Chief Executive Officer
Reggie Joiner
Creative Team
Kristen Ivy
Mike Clear
Molly Bell
Elloa Davis
Elizabeth Hansen
Brandon O’Dell
Greg Payne
Phil Pierce
Dan Scott
Jon Williams
Contributing Writers
Becky Jarrett
Julie Tiemann
SOCIAL
15 MINUTES
Editors
Molly Bell
Elloa Davis
Illustrations & Graphic Design
Brian Bascle
Mike Davis
Joe Goode
Technical & Web Support
Hadley Brandt
Orange Specialists
Amy Grisham
Abbey Carr
Amy Fenton
Leslie Galema
Misty Phillips
Stephanie Porter
Courtney Templeton
STORY
25 MINUTES
WORSHIP
10 MINUTES
Statement of Faith
ABOUT GOD
God is the one and only true God, yet He exists in three
persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. God is the Creator, so everything belongs to Him
and is under His control. God is holy, so He is righteous,
majestic, and loving. God is all knowing and purposeful, so
He’s at work to bring about His will. No person, thing, or idea
compares to God.
ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES
God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100%
accurate, reliable, and authoritative.
ABOUT PEOPLE
People are made in God’s image and for His pleasure. But
everybody falls short of God’s intention, or ideal, for people.
In other words, everyone has sinned. As a result, we are
all separated from Him, even though He wants an intimate
relationship with each of us.
ABOUT SALVATION
That’s why Jesus—God’s Son—came and lived on this earth,
died, and rose again. God offers His free gift of salvation
to all who believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior—the
only way to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Anyone who
accepts this gift is adopted as a son or daughter into God’s
family and will live with Him forever in heaven.
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GROUPS
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25 MINUTES
HOME
User Agreement
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and other licensees to tailor 252 Basics® materials to fit
their unique leadership requirements, locale and format
preferences, and physical environment needs. However, if
you wish to edit the content substantively, including Bible
stories, learning activities, scripts, and any other content
in which biblical principles and concepts are presented,
you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines
we’ve expressed in our Statement of Faith. These resources
are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by
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incorporation into a new work is a direct violation of US
copyright laws. ©2017 The reThink Group. All rights reserved.
252 Basics® and the 252 Basics® logo are trademarks of
Orange and the reThink Group.
Scripture marked “NIrV” is taken from the NEW
INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION®. Copyright © 1996,
1998, 2014 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world.
Used by permission of Biblica.
Scripture marked “NIV” is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All
rights reserved worldwide.
MARCH
W-4
2
PRELUDE
SOCIAL
15 MINUTES
STORY
25 MINUTES
BOTTOM LINE
Since
K-5
GROUPS
25 MINUTES
HOME
SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction
Ideas for Early Arrivers
Pop Scramble
25
STORY: Communicating God’s truth in engaging ways
Opener
Worship
Bible Story
Prayer
Closer
MINUTES
MINUTES
10
MINUTES
“Put up with one another. Forgive
one another if you are holding
something
against
someone.
Forgive,
just
as
the
Lord
forgave you.”
Colossians 3:13, NIrV
7
15
God forgave you, you
should forgive others.
MEMORY VERSE
10 MINUTES
1
PRELUDE: Setting the tone for the experience
For Leaders Only
Create the Environment
BIBLE STORY
Dude, Where’s Your Forgiveness
77 Times / Unmerciful Servant
Matthew 18:21-35
WORSHIP
0
GRADES
25
MINUTES
LIFE APP
WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God
“Happy Day” from Live It Out
“Let Revolution Start” from Living Inside Out
GROUPS: Creating a safe place to connect
Hammer and Claw
77 Seconds
Tools of the Trade
Prayer
HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience
GodTime
Parent Cue
Forgiveness—deciding that
someone who has wronged you
doesn’t have to pay.
BASIC TRUTH
I should treat others the way I
want to be treated.
©2017 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
PAG E 2
MARCH
W-4
2
PRELUDE
SOCIAL
STORY
25 MINUTES
WORSHIP
10 MINUTES
0
1
7
GROUPS
GRADES
K-5
HOME
STORY: COMMUNICATING GOD’S TRUTH IN ENGAGING WAYS
(LARGE GROUP, 35 MINUTES)
Engage kids’ hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible story, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group
setting.
SFX: Play high-energy music as kids enter.
Leader enters, wearing work coveralls and a ball cap.
OPENER
LEADER: “Hey, everyone, welcome back to [your environment’s name], where all month long we’ve been working on a
project together. It’s a little something I call “Fix It Up” and it’s a forgiveness project. When we forgive each other, we fix
our relationship. But what does it mean to forgive?
CG: Forgiveness Slide
“Forgiveness is deciding that someone who has wronged you doesn’t have to pay.
“It’s not easy to fix things when we mess up, but God gives us the power to forgive. We’ve been fixing up a lot this month,
haven’t we? “You guys won’t believe it—that chair that I worked so hard to fix these last few weeks? Well, it’s finally
perfect! OK, well maybe not perfect, but it is looking amazing and it doesn’t wobble at all anymore. I decided it was time
to give it a permanent home on my front porch. Since we don’t have any chairs up here today, we’re going to be our
OWN chairs.
If you have fewer than eight kids, divide them into pairs and have them sit back to back and link arms and
try to stand halfway up into a squat pose. The winning group is the one who can get to the chair position
and stay there the longest.
If you have more than that, divide them into two groups and have them sit in a circle with their backs
facing inward, arms linked (they have to sit really close to make it work). Without unlinking their arms,
everyone tries to stand halfway up into a squat pose. The trick is to push against each other for leverage
to stand. The winning group gets everyone to the chair position and stays there the longest.
If this goes really quickly, you can do a best out of three, or shuffle partners/groups and play additional
rounds.
“That was hilarious and challenging!
SETTING UP THE STORY
LEADER: “Even when things are hard, it’s worth seeing them through, isn’t it? Before you guys got here, [Small Group
Leader or other adult volunteer’s name] and I were playing another game that was pretty hard, but we haven’t finished it
yet. I think we should finish it now, don’t you?
©2017 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
PAG E 8
MARCH
W-4
2
PRELUDE
SOCIAL
STORY
25 MINUTES
WORSHIP
10 MINUTES
0
1
7
GROUPS
GRADES
K-5
HOME
Bring the SGL up and set out the board game pieces. Place a piece of one color of construction paper
down on four of the properties. These will represent all the ones that the SGL has already purchased.
“We’ve been playing the game of Monopoly. I’m the banker, and [SGL’s name] has been buying up properties on the
board. So far she’s got [names of property’s already purchased by SGL]. Okay, let’s get back to playing.
SGL rolls the dice and when she lands on a property she hasn’t already purchased, she pays her last
money to the bank and gets her color of construction paper to put down on the property to mark it as
hers. She rolls again but is out of money. The leader/banker gives her the property anyway. Repeat one
more time, so it’s clear that the SGL owes the bank a lot of money and all but one of the properties are
owned by the SGL. Keep things moving at a quick pace.
“You know, this would be a lot more fun if we had someone else playing with us. Let’s get a kid up here to play.
Select a volunteer. Give the kid just a tiny bit of money – just enough to buy the one remaining property
in case they land on that. Allow the kid to roll the dice. If the kid lands on a property not owned by the
SGL, the kid can buy it. But if the kid lands on the properties owned by the SGL, they have to pay the
SGL. After just one or two rolls of the dice, the kid should be out of money. The next time the kid lands
on a property that is owned by the SGL, the SGL should demand the money. (Note: If somehow it ends
up that the kid needs money to buy a property, the banker can lend the kid money too—the main point is
that the SGL won’t extend the same grace that the banker did.) The SGL should be forceful in demanding
the money from the kid, but not at all mean.
“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Are you seriously going to pressure [kid’s name] to pay you after I showed you all that grace?!
[SGL’s name], here’s your “Go to jail” card. (Hand the card to the SGL.) Why don’t you both have a seat and let’s talk for a
minute. I think today’s story about Peter will help us all figure out what we should do next.
“Peter was one of Jesus’ most passionate followers and closest friends. But even he didn’t always understand that
following God isn’t about rules . . . it’s about what’s going on in your heart. One day Peter came to Jesus with a question.
Perhaps he’d just had a fight with his brother Andrew. Or maybe he and Judas had argued over who should be in charge of
the money. Let’s read what He asked Jesus and what Jesus said. I’m reading from Matthew 18.
(Open your Bible and read Matthew 18:21.) “‘Peter came to Jesus. He asked, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my
brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”’ (NIrV).
“Peter probably thought being willing to forgive seven times made him pretty awesome stuff. But Jesus had a different
answer.
(Read Matthew 18:22.) “‘Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times,”’ (NIrV).
“Jesus didn’t actually mean we should stop forgiving after 77 times. He simply meant that it’s not about numbers; we
should forgive as many times as it takes. And like Jesus was known to do, he told a parable, a story He made up to make
©2017 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
PAG E 9
MARCH
W-4
2
PRELUDE
SOCIAL
STORY
25 MINUTES
WORSHIP
10 MINUTES
0
1
7
GRADES
K-5
GROUPS
HOME
it easier for His followers to understand something important about following God. He used this next story to explain
something to them about forgiveness. If Jesus told that story today, it might sound something like this.
Throughout the story Leader can use the Monopoly money and game board as props. Use the Top Hat
game piece to represent the king in the story.
KING FORGIVES SERVANT
LEADER: “There once was a king who lived in a glorious palace. One afternoon he called for his bookkeeper. He had
decided he wanted to collect all the money his servants owed him. There was one servant in particular who owed the king
a LOT of money. I mean, a LOT. In the Bible it says it was 10,000 bags of gold. That’s somewhere around 29 MILLION
DOLLARS. Yeah, like I said, a lot of money.
Hold up all of the Monopoly Money.
“But there was a problem: the servant didn’t have the money to pay the king back! So the king ordered his servants to sell
everything the man owned and then hire him and his family out to work for the rest of their lives until the servant could pay
him back what he owed.
Make two of the Monopoly pieces act out what’s happening in this part of the story.
“The servant fell down on his knees in front of the king and begged him for mercy. He begged for more time so that he
could pay the king back. The king felt sorry for him, so he not only gave the man more time, he actually completely forgave
the debt and said the servant didn’t have to pay him back. Whoa. That’s some serious forgiveness right there.
SERVANT DOESN’T FORGIVE
LEADER: “It sounds like a wonderful story if it ended there, but unfortunately, the servant didn’t learn from his mistakes.
After he left the king’s palace where he had experienced great forgiveness, he found one of the other servants who owed
him 100 silver coins, which is around a couple of hundred dollars.
Use a third Monopoly piece to serve as the second servant.
“The servant grabbed the other servant and began to choke him, demanding him to pay back what he owed! And just as
the first servant had fallen down on his knees and begged for mercy from the king, this second servant also fell down and
begged for more time to pay back the money he owed.
“But the first servant refused to forgive the debt. (Pick up “Go to Jail” Chance Card) He actually had the second servant
thrown into prison. He could not pass go. He had to go directly to jail until he could pay back what he owed.
Send the third Monopoly piece to jail.
“The first servant had made such a fuss the other servants saw what happened. They went and told the king.
©2017 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
PAG E 1 0
MARCH
W-4
2
PRELUDE
SOCIAL
STORY
25 MINUTES
WORSHIP
10 MINUTES
0
1
7
GROUPS
GRADES
K-5
HOME
KING THROWS SERVANT IN JAIL
LEADER: “The king was furious. He called the first servant back in to see him. Let’s see what Jesus said the king said to the
servant. (Open your Bible and read Matthew 18:32-33) ‘Then the master called the first servant in. “You evil servant,” he
said. “I forgave all that you owed me because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on the other servant just
as I had mercy on you?”’
“The king was so angry at the first servant for the way he refused to forgive that he threw the servant in prison. He would
now have to stay there until HE could pay the KING back everything he owed.
Remove the second servant game piece from jail and replace with the first servant game piece.
WRAPPING UP THE STORY
LEADER: “As Jesus finished the story, He studied Peter and His other friends and followers who had gathered to listen.
Check out what He said to them. (Open your Bible and read Matthew 18:35) ‘This is how my Father in heaven will treat
each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart,’ (NIrV).
“Jesus’ meaning was clear. God has forgiven us of SO much. He wants us to forgive others in the same way—even if we
have to forgive over and over and over.
CG: Bottom Line Slide
[Bottom Line] “Since God forgave you, you should forgive others.
Small Group Leader loudly clears her throat.
SMALL GROUP LEADER: “I’m pretty sure I see what went wrong here. [Kid’s name], I’m really sorry I didn’t show you the
same forgiveness that [Leader’s name] showed me. Will you forgive me? And here, you take this property as a part of my
apology.
As the kid responds, the SGL should place the kid’s color down on the property.
LEADER: “Way to go, [Small Group Leader]. You can leave jail now and you both can go back to your seat. Thanks for
playing with me. You guys showed us how this forgiveness stuff isn’t easy, but it definitely is possible when we remember
what God has done for us. Let’s pray and ask Him to help us.”
PRAY
LEADER: “Dear God, thank You most of all for forgiving us. You didn’t have to send Jesus, but You did, out of Your great
love for us. We love You too, and we want to follow Your example. Please help us forgive others just as You have forgiven
us. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.”
©2017 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
PAG E 1 1