Junior and/or Earliteen
Sabbath School
August 30, 2008
This Quarter the Thirteenth Sabbath
Offering is going to the
North American Division
Information adapted from
Adventist Mission, Youth
and Adult Magazine and
the SDA Encyclopedia.
How is the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering
going to be used?
This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath
Offering will help:
 Place rebroadcast radio stations
in communities across Canada
 Expand the reach and
effectiveness of Life Talk Radio
across the United States
The division is
made up of two
of the world’s
largest
countries—the
United States
and Canada—
and the island
nation of
Bermuda.
Every year, one million people from
countries around the world come to live in
North America.
Thousands of Adventists serve as missionaries in
countries around the world. North America has
frontlines of mission too. “Project Hope for Montreal,”
part of the worldwide “Hope for Big Cities” initiative,
plans to plant two new congregations in the metropolis
by 2010. Bible workers are reaching out through health
and family seminars, in addition to conventional
Discover Bible Courses.
While the Adventist Church started in
North America, nine out of ten Adventists
live outside North America. In fact, five of
the church’s 13 world divisions have
larger memberships than North America.
As of June 2007, church membership in
the division is 1,030,361. That’s less than
8 percent of the Seventh-day Adventist
church’s 15 million members worldwide.
Millions of people living in
North America have never
heard the Adventist
message. North America is
a mission field with many
who need to feel Jesus’
loving embrace.
According to world church
president Jan Paulsen, “It's
up to individual church
members to shape how the
Adventist Church is
perceived. Our faith finds its
most compelling expression
in the everyday words and
actions of Christians in their
communities."
Whether you are a student, or become a gardener, a
teacher, a store clerk, a nurse, or a doctor. Whatever
you do, do it to honor God, and you will be God’s
missionary.
Another way we can be a missionary is to bring our
mission offerings every week. And on Thirteenth
Sabbath, we can bring an extra large offering to spread
God’s love via radio waves to millions of people in North
America.
Collect Offering
Exploring God’s World
In this section we study one of the countries in the division where our Thirteenth Sabbath offering is going.
Today we are going to
learn about Oregon.
Where is Oregon
Country Flag
United States
State Flag
Oregon
Time for the Mission Story
We are taking the good news to
the entire world.
Read the Mission Story on pages 20 and 21 of the Third Quarter Adventist Mission Youth and Adult Magazine
while slowly progressing through the next 3 slides.
The names
of the
people in
the story are
“Anne and
Jeff.”
This story is from the United States.
The title of the story is “A New Beginning.”
Lesson Study
Time
Today we’ll study about being:
At Home in My Church
Photo by Neva MacPhee
Do you like organizing
things and people? It’s
a gift to be able to do that.
Photo by Bill Z.
The disciples had their hands full
after Pentecost with people losing
homes and jobs because of
their faith.
But they pulled together and
everyone had food, clothing,
and a place to live. Let’s listen
in on some conversations that
might have occurred within the
fellowship of believers.
Photo by Neva MacPh
POWER TEXT
Galatians 6:10, NIV
“Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers.”
Photo by Neva MacPhee
POWER POINT
Photo by Neva MacPhee
Our church is a family of believers
who take care of one another.
After Pentecost the number
of believers continued to grow.
Everyone was in awe of the
miracles that the disciples
performed.
They listened eagerly to their
teaching. They spent hours
together praying, praising, and
studying.
Since they were together most
of the day, they shared their
meals in one another’s homes.
Those who were able sold their
possessions and gave to people
in need.
For a while even nonbelievers
were excited about the changes
made in their friends and family
members. The believers were a
popular group of people.
Then the priests, elders, and
other religious leaders started
getting nervous.
They thought the
new believers
would get tired of
their meetings and
prayer services.
But instead temple attendance
and offerings were down.
Quietly the priests began to
spread rumors about the
believers.
Suddenly there were splits in
families between believers and
nonbelievers. Following Christ
was becoming more difficult.
The disciples
decided it was
time to do
something.
“Peter, we’ve got a problem,”
James said as the disciples met
for their daily planning time. “We
have so many people following
Jesus . . .”
“That’s wonderful!” Peter
interrupted.
“Yes, it is,” agreed James, “but we
still have a problem.”
“Many of the new
believers are
being thrown out
of their homes by
their families.
They have no
place to go.”
“James is right,” John interjected.
“And often the father has lost his
job. So they have nothing to live
on.”
“We have to find
some way to
help them,” Peter
said. “Does
anyone have any
ideas?”
“Why don’t we
put out a general
announcement?”
Matthias
suggested.
“We can have
everyone contribute
what they can to
help those who
don’t have food,
clothing, or a place
to stay.”
Photo by Neva MacPhee
“Andrew, will you
and Matthew
organize this right
away?” Peter asked.
“We’ll need a list of
what is turned in so
we know what we
have to distribute.”
In just a few days Andrew and
Matthew made contacts with
other believers.
They had plenty of
things for people,
but now they
needed help
distributing them.
They decided to ask for people’s
time as well as their supplies.
Within a short time the volunteers
were ready to start working.
Some were willing to help
because they wanted to work
in return for the food and
shelter they would be given.
Others helped because they
loved God and His people.
Someone had even donated a
room in their house for the
volunteers to work in. Daily they
began to process
the donations
that came in.
After finishing distributions each
day Andrew and Matthew met
with the volunteers to talk about
how things were going.
Photo by Neva MacPhee
“I have a concern,”
said one of the
volunteers. “I know
there are people we
are missing. Some
just aren’t coming to
get the things they
need.”
“Why do you think that
is?” asked Andrew.
“Some are too old to
come and carry the
things home,” he
replied. “Others are
embarrassed to come
and get the things for
nothing.”
“It sounds as though we need to
make some deliveries,” Matthew
said. “We can assign some of
you to do that.”
Gathering the small group around
him, Andrew said, “As you go out to
deliver the food, I want you to be
aware if there are still others we are
missing.”
“Also, if you see something a
family needs that we don’t have,
let us know,” added Matthew.
“We’ll try to get it for them.”
Soon everyone connected with
the followers of Christ had
everything they needed: food,
shelter, clothing.
Photo by Neva MacPhee
Photo by Bill Z
With these needs taken care of,
the new believers were free to
share the good news of the
gospel with others.
One morning Andrew and
Matthew reported that some of
the believers had sold property
and donated the money to the
community of believers.
Several others were also
planning to contribute in the
same way. One man, Barnabas,
from another country, sold his
land and journeyed to Jerusalem
to give the money
he received for it
to the apostles.
“I now see why Jesus
commanded us to care about
our neighbors as much as we
care about ourselves,” Matthew
said.
The apostles and the other
believers were happy and grateful
for the outpouring of love.
It made them want to love and
serve God—and one another—
even more.
We’re going to throw some Bible
texts up on the screen.
As we look at each text, take your pen or
pencil and paper, and write the message of
the text in your own words (paraphrase).
Please share the meaning you found in each
text with the class.
1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV
Therefore encourage one another
and build each other up, just as in
fact you are doing. 15 Make sure
that nobody pays back wrong for
wrong, but always try to be kind to
each other and to everyone else.
How would you put it?
Write it down, and share with the class.
Galatians 6:10, NIV
Therefore, as we have opportunity,
let us do good to all people,
especially to those who belong to
the family of believers.
Ephesians 4:32, NIV
Be kind and
compassionate to one
another, forgiving each
other, just as in Christ
God forgave you.
Romans 12:13, NIV
Share with God's people who are in need.
Practice hospitality.
Why do you think
it’s important to
be extra kind to
other believers?
What are some examples in the
Bible of persons who treated
another believer in God with
kindness?
See if you can identify the stories in the
pictures on the following slides and
discuss how kindness was used.
Our church is a family of believers
who take care of one another.
Important Information
PowerPoints® art copyrighted © 2003 by the Review and
Herald® Publishing Association.
Text and illustrations from Adventist Mission Youth and
Adult Magazine is copyright © by the General
Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists.
Scriptures quoted from NIV are from the Holy Bible, New
International Version, copyright © 1973, 1980, 1984,
International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Bible Publishers.
ClickArt Infinity by Broderbund, © 1999 TLC Multimedia
Inc.
Notes to Teachers
You will want to have a hard copy of the Mission Story ready to
read during the Mission Story section. You can find the story
on pages 20 and 21 of the Third Quarter Adventist Mission
Youth and Adult Magazine. The title of the story is “A New
Beginning.” You can go to the website
http://www.adventistmission.org/ and find the link titled
“Publications” to download the Adventist Mission Youth and
Adult Magazine.
Copyright Notices
Art and graphics copyrighted by the General Conference and
the Review and Herald® are included on slides 45, 47-50, 59,
62, 64-68, 71 and 72.
Images and artwork are copyrighted by the Pacific Press
Publishing Assoc., Review and Herald Publishing Assoc., It Is
Written and others. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Copyright Grants Pass Seventh-day Adventist School