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Unit 7 :
Rescue!
PURPOSE : For the children to explore and understand that Jesus is the one person
who is able to rescue us fully from the consequences of the bad choices that we
sometimes make.
‘God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom
of his dear Son, who forgives our sins and sets us free.’
Colossians 1:13–14
Consider & Prepare
Read:
Matthew 27:32–54
Colossians 1:11–23
Good Friday is a day for reflection; one that is more solemn than others leading up to Easter. It would be helpful for the children if Good Friday can have its own focus and activities for children. Below you will find an outline that can be used for a
standalone Junior Soldier lesson or for a Kids Church lesson during the Good Friday service; it can also be done, if you wish,
in conjunction with another Easter lesson – lesson 4 Unit 7 in the JS curriculum.
What you will need:
For ‘Tying In’
• Bibles
• Large paper and textas
For ‘Home & Beyond’
• Print off the Home & Beyond cards for each child
Connecting In
Stuck in the mud...
Play a game of ‘stuck in the mud’ with a slight modification—there is only one rescuer who can crawl through and free
those playing from being ‘stuck in the mud’.
One child or leader is ‘in’. They must run around and try and tag others playing the game. When someone
is tagged, they must stand still with their legs apart so the rescuer can crawl through their legs. The
rescuer cannot be tagged. The game ends when everyone has been tagged. Play again if there is time.
Link: Today we have been playing a game of ‘stuck in the mud’
→ How did it feel to be stuck and not be able to move in the game?
→ Was there anything different that you noticed about the game today?
(Some children will have played a similar game before and usually all the
children that are not ‘stuck in the mud’ can rescue the others who are
stuck.)
→ We have been playing a fun game about being rescued and today we are
going to explore the idea of being ‘rescued’ and what Jesus might have to
do with that in our lives.
The Main Thing
‘Who rescues who?’
I love animated movies, I am sure that you seen plenty of these yourselves. Let’s brainstorm together a list of the movies,
the characters who might have been rescued and what they have been rescued from. (Below is a list to help you but I am
sure that you have seen your share of animated movies.)
• Toy Story – Woody rescues Buzz from being launched into space on the rocket.
• Toy Story 2 – Woody and Dog rescue Wheezy from the yard sale and Buzz, Slinky, Rex, Mr Potato Head and Pork Chop
rescue Woody and the gang from the collector.
• Toy Story 3 – Woody rescues all the toys from the Daycare Centre.
• Shrek – Shrek rescues Princess Fiona from the dragon.
• Tangled – Flynn rescues Rapunzel from the tower and Gothel.
• The Incredibles – The Incredibles rescue the world from Syndrome.
• Finding Nemo – The fish in the tank rescue Nemo from Darla.
• Horton Hears a Who – Whoville is rescued from the Kangaroo and Vlad.
• The Lorax – Ted rescues Sneedville from Mr O’Hare and pollution.
• Monsters & Aliens – The monsters rescue the world from the aliens.
We watch so many movies that have a rescue theme somewhere in them. It is not only in movies that we see this but also
in books and in real life, too. In life, there are always going to be things that are not good for us and people who don’t
care about us and want to hurt us or be nasty to us, and so there are always going to be things that we need to be rescued
from. We looked at some things that characters in animated movies might need to be rescued from but I wonder what we
might need to be rescued from.
• Ask the children for some suggestions.
• You might need to give some examples to get them started.
• e.g. bullies, being greedy or selfish, perhaps a storm or something happening in nature, dangerous situations,
being tempted to do something naughty, getting angry at someone, wanting to lie to a parent, thinking about stealing
something etc.
I wonder if you can think of any stories/situations in the Bible where someone was rescued.
• Ask the children for some suggestions.
• You might need to give some examples below to get them started.
• e.g. God rescued Daniel from the lions (Daniel 6:22), Reuben and Judah helped save Joseph from
dying in the well (Genesis 37:19–28), God saved Jonah from drowning (Jonah 1:17), Jesus saved a
woman from being stoned to death (John 8:1–11).
Rescue—saving someone from something that might harm them or that is not
good for them—is a major theme not only in stories, movies and the Bible but
also in our lives in relation to Jesus. Today is Good Friday and we know that Jesus
did something to rescue us. Let’s explore in our small groups how Jesus can rescue
us.
Tying In
Jesus rescues us...
The Bible tells us in lots of places about how Jesus took our place, how He rescued us from the consequences of our choices, how He stepped in to take the
punishment that we should have received. Let’s look at some Bible passages and
discover how Jesus stepped in to rescue us.
Read the following verses in small groups and then respond to the questions below. (You might like to provide the small
groups with some large paper and textas to explore the questions below.)
• Colossians 1:13–13 (NLT)
• Romans 5:6–8 (CEV)
• Isaiah 53: 3–6 (CEV)
• John 3:16–17 (CEV)
→
→
→
→
→
What stands out to you in these verses?
What do you like? What don’t you like?
Why do you think that Jesus chose to rescue us? (i.e. you, me, humanity, the world)
How do you feel that Jesus stepped in to take the punishment for our wrong choices?
What do you want to say to Jesus in response to this? (Give the kids the opportunity to share how they would
like to respond, this might be saying thank you, praying, writing or drawing something etc. You will need to be
sensitive to the children that you might have in your group on this day as some of them may not have made a
decision to have Jesus as their friend, you might have visitors or other children that would like to make a re-commitment.)
→ Pray together to finish this time.
Home & Beyond
Print off the ‘Home & Beyond’ cards attached. The children might like to keep these in their journals or notebook where
they could write or stick the challenges, reflect, answer questions or complete activities each week.
Rescuer spy…
•
•
•
Throughout this week I want you to be on the lookout for ‘rescuers’. I wonder where you might see them, perhaps on a
television show or in the newspaper or maybe in a book that you are reading or even in real life.
Make a list of those that you have seen rescuing someone else and share it next time.
Remember to pray and thank God each day for rescuing you and for sending Jesus.
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