Mini Church Sept to Christmas O.T characters + nativity

Worship Do you remember a few weeks ago we heard a story about a man who prayed to God every day even when the King said he was not allowed to? Can you remember his name? Daniel. And do you remember what happened to Daniel when he kept on praying to God? That's right, he was thrown into the lions den. Did the lions hurt him ? No! Because God kept him safe. Daniel was very brave. He was a good man who usually did what the King asked. But when the King asked him to stop praying he knew he couldnt do that because God wanted him to pray and what God wants is always more important than what anyone else wants. Even Kings. Today we are going to hear about a brave girl who was married to a King. She did something brave too. Her name was Esther. Esther was one of God's people but she was married to a King who didnt know God. She lived in the palace with her uncle Mordecai and lots of other people who looked after her and the King. They had a nice life. But the King wanted every...

 Chat time. Who likes getting their hair cut?   Maybe some of the girls have never had their hair cut but most of the boys will have.  Can you tell me what happens at the hairdressers?   What would happen if you never got your hair cut at all?  How long do you think it would grow? The person with the longest hair in the world has hair this long.  Measure out 18 .5 feet with a tape measure.   Thats really  really long hair!  How long do you think it would take to wash that much hair!! Today we are going to hear about someone in the Bible who had very long hair. But it wasnt because he wanted to look super cool or anything, it was because God told him not to cut his hair.  His name was Samson and he lived a very long time ago.  God said that if Samson never cut his hair then God would make him really really strong.   So Samson grew his hair and never had a haircut and as he grew up he got stronger and stronger...

 Song for next few weeks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6zl2hL2Uk&t=64s Talk : Who is a boy (hands up) Who is a girl?  Who is better, boys or girls? (make a joke of this as they will all say their own gender is best) Well guess what? God made boys AND girls and He says that both are super important.  Boys and girls can do different things but we need each other. We need friends who are boys and girls.  In the Bible God used boys and girls to do amazing things. Today we are going to be hearing about a girl who did something really brave . Lets pray and thank God for making boys and girls. Pray. Lesson:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFTpEdvsK1c&t=111s  watch the story of Rahab Joshua was a soldier who loved God.  God told Joshua to go to a big city called Jericho and take it away from the people who didnt love God so that Joshua and Gods people could live there and teach the people about God.   Joshua asked two of his friend...

 Song    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6zl2hL2Uk&t=64s Talk time :  How strong are you?  Whats the strongest thing you can do? Who can pick me up off the floor? Im stronger than you- I can pick you up. Look!!!  Today we are going to learn about someone in the Bible who was not very strong by himself, but was super-strong with God.  We can be strong with God too.  Lets ask God to make us all strong.  Pray. Lesson.  Read the story of Joshua or watch  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDk443nfosw God told Joshua to march round the walls.  How many times? What else did the army have to do? Could the army have knocked down the wall by themselves? ( Show them a real trumpet if possible -  Rory has one he could lend us! )We are going to see if we can knock down a wall by ourselves. (I have a large piece of board painted like bricks. Get a couple of adults to stand behind it so kids cant push it over. Get them to try for a w...

 Talk time: Who here has brothers? Who has sisters? Who has no brothers or sisters? Do you like your siblings? Whats the best things about them? Any downsides? If we dont have brothers and sisters we can have friends instead.  God says He will always give us people who love us and look out for us. Lets say thank you to God for our brothers and sisters and our friends. (write down the names of all siblings so we can name them all - I think nearly all our kids have at least one) Lesson: Today we are going to learn about someone in the Bible who had LOTS of brothers. Lets have a listen to his story.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnlqKPIZQzI  This is a 3 minute video telling the story up to Joseph being sold. You can stop at the end and talk about how mean the brothers were and how Joseph felt - the video which follows on is another 3mins talking about Joseph in Egypt. It would be good to watch both if possible. If they cant concentrate for 6 mins this is only 1...

 Talk time.  What did you do this week? Do you like coming to church - why? Pray and thank God for church. Lesson. Read Daniel and the Lions Den.  or  watch  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQlBaYSGdhg&t=38s Do you think Daniel was brave? I think he was very brave. The king told him not to worship God but Daniel kept praying to God anyway.  Even when it was really dangerous he knew he had to keep praying and worshipping and following God.  How do you think Daniel felt when he knew he was going to be thrown in with lions?  Why do you think Daniel kept following God instead of following the kings orders? Do you think God helped Daniel to be brave? Can you think of anyone else God helped to be brave ( Noah, Jonah, Jesus) Sometimes we need to be brave. Maybe when we hurt ourselves.  Sometimes we might need an injection from the doctor and it might hurt a bit.  Maybe we have to go to nursery or somewhere we havent been before and we are a...

Sing Slingshot Caz has a costume for someone to dress up as Goliath (adult) Talk time .  What makes you scared?  Lots of things are scary if we have to deal with them on our own, but the good thing is that we have Jesus as our friend so if anything frightening ever happens we can ask Him to help us.  Lets pray about the things that make us afraid or worried and thank Jesus that He helps us. Lesson . Read the story of David and Goliath. Or watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ7X84o52os     Or the Storybook Bible version from 2mins 20 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57FNUYD-RIM Now we are going to see if we can remember the story by acting it out. Pick a child to be David.  Where was David at the start of the story? Lets all be sheep. Pick a child to be Dad.  What did Davids dad ask him to do? ( give David some packed lunch)  Where were Davids brothers?  Lets all be soldiers.( march round the room) Pick a child to be King. Put some adult ...