Elijah – March 9th 2014

1.     Game – Busy Bees

Ask each child to find a partner and to space themselves out in the room.

The leader calls out various commands which the children are to obey, such as "Stand side to side", "Back to back", "Link Elbows","Join a the knees" etc.

However when the leader calls "Busy Bees", each player has to try to find a new partner. The leader also joins in and finds a partner. The one who has no partner becomes the leader for the next round.

 

2.     Game – Handover

Select a player to be the King.

This person faces the wall and the other players stand behind the King without moving.

The King throws the ball over their head to the players behind.

If the ball is caught the catcher becomes the new king.

Often the ball is not caught and players scramble to get it. Once the ball is recovered by someone it is hidden behind the back of one of the players. When they are ready,   The King then turns round and has to guess who has the ball.

This game can be continued as long as necessary.

Once you have finished the game sit down with the children and discuss handovers.

-          What did you have to do in the game to become the new King?

-          Ask the children how people might feel once they have to move on from a situation.

-          Can they think of any examples when they have had to move on

 

 

Introduced  Elijah and who he was. we spoke about how cool he was.. and that he was taken up in to heaven (never died), showed a quick picture to introduce Elisha...

 

 

3.     Drama

Before you begin divide the children into the following groups

-          Elijah ;

-          Prophets of Baal;

-          people;

-          Ahab.

Give the children a brief description of what each group was like

-          Elijah the prophet was a man of God, trusting in God for what was about to happen, keen to get it right.

-          The prophets of Baal believed in rituals, in dancing and shouting - in putting on a good show for the people.

-          The people were easily led, supposedly supporting the prophets of Baal at the beginning but then possibly changing sides if it looks as though they were supporting the wrong side.

-          Ahab was a worshipper of Baal - a hen pecked husband,  a man who did not like to be contradicted. He hated Elijah.

Read the story from the bible - from 1 Kings 18:16-40. Let the children have fun and act out the story as you read it - this means that it will tend to be fresh and spontaneous.

 

At the end ask the different groups how they felt. Provide a "hot seat" (chair), and ask one of the children who played Elijah to explain how they felt as the story progressed.

-          Were they confident all the way through?

-          Were they frightened by the noise and shouting of the prophets of Baal?

-          Did they feel intimidated because there was one of them and 450 of the prophets?

Help the children see that Elijah acted in faith - he believed God and did what he believed God was

telling him to do. He was obedient and trusted God in spite of other people, in spite of the fact he was the only one, in spite of the fact that everyone else seemed to be against him.

Do we trust God in the same way that Elijah did.

Are they willing to do what they think is right regardless?

 Are they willing to trust God for the outcome - sometimes we want to know what will happen before we begin work.

The example of Elijah reminds us to trust and obey. 

4.     Quiz (after reading 1 Kings 19:1-18)

kids split in to teams, if they answer a question right, they select a picture of an item of food stuck on the wall, on the reverse of each picture is a number = points won.

 

1. The name of the King was	8. What did the angel bring to Elijah?
a) Jeraboam.	a) A copy of the scriptures to read.
b) Ahab.	b) A list of things that needed doing.
c) Charles.	c) Some food and drink.
2. Jezebel the Kings’ wife promised to do something to Elijah. What was it?	9. Where did the angel tell Elijah to travel to?
a) Give him a slap up meal.	a) Mount Hore.
b) Invite him to the palace.	b) Mount Carmel.
c) Kill him.	c) Jerusalem.
3. How did Elijah react:	10. How long did it take Elijah to travel there?
a) He was frightened and ran away.	a) 5 months.
b) He went and had a party to celebrate God’s victory.	b) 3 days.
c) He couldn’t care less.	c) 40 days and 40 nights.
4. Where did Elijah run to?	11. What did God ask Elijah?
a) His friend’s house.	a) Have you had a good journey?
b) The nearest city.	b) Did you enjoy the food?
c) The desert.	c) What are you doing here?
5. What sort of a tree did Elijah sit under?	12. What did God promise He would do?
a) An oak tree.	a) Pass by.
b) A broom tree.	b) Bring him another meal.
c) A palm tree.	c) Send him back to sort out Ahab for God.
6. What did Elijah pray for?	13. How did God’s voice sound to Elijah – was it in:
a) That he could die.	a) An earthquake?
b) A miracle.	b) The wind?
c) Help.	c) A gentle whisper?
7. What did God send to help Elijah?	14. What did Elijah say when God asked him why he was there?
a) An angel.	a) He was sorry for himself and said the
b) A friend.	Israelites were trying to kill him.
c) Another prophet.	b) Pretended that everything was ok.
	c) Made out he had come on holiday.
	15. How did God reply to Elijah?
	a) He told him off for being afraid
	b) He told Elijah that Elijah had messed up
	and was no longer fit to be his prophet.
	c) He gave Elijah a new job to do.

 

 

 

At which point we ran out of time, final prayer and time to go…