Children Take the Next Step

To encourage the children to think of ways they can take the next step in sharing what they have

The children will tell the story of the rich young man to explain how Jesus wants us to live by helping all people in need.

• Writing paper with the headline Children Take The Next Step on top
• Pencils

• Tell the children that this activity will give them a chance to think of ways they can take the next step in sharing what they have with others as Jesus did.
• Write the headline Children Take the Next Step on the board and invite the children to read it with you. Tell them to imagine that this is the headline for a special feature section of the newspaper. Tell them the section is for stories about children who planned their own ways of getting together to help those in need.
• Divide the children into small groups. Give each group a sheet of writing paper with the headline Children Take the Next Step on it. Tell the children that they are groups of reporters who are telling stories about kids who helped people in need.
• Have each group brainstorm an example and write a title to appear under the major headline (examples: Kids Plan Walk for Ill Classmate; Kids Save Allowance for Food Pantry; Kids Collect Children's Clothing).
• Encourage groups to discuss their headlines and write a brief news article explaining what the group of children might have done.
• Have a sharing time and then ask how these children's responses to Jesus were different than that of the rich young man. (They did what Jesus wanted them to do and took the next step, sharing what they had in addition to following the Ten Commandments.)

People Smart, Word Smart

Printing the headline in a fancy font and having double-column writing paper will make the children's work look more like newspaper stories.