252 Groups
September 2015, Week 2
Small Group, K-1
Building Permit
Bible Story: Building Permit (Nehemiah asks to rebuild the wall) • Nehemiah 2:1-9, 11-18
Bottom Line: When you see what needs to be done, don’t wait for someone else to do it.
Memory Verse: “Work at everything you do with all your heart. Work as if you were working for
the Lord.” Colossians 3:23a, NIrV
Life App: Initiative—seeing what needs to be done and doing it.
Basic Truth: I need to make the wise choice.
Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes)
Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience
today’s story.
Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group
for the first time. Ask God to use kids’ natural impatience to prompt them to stop waiting for someone
else to do the things that they can do themselves. Pray that Nehemiah’s story would encourage kids to
take action when they see a need instead of waiting for someone else to meet that need.
1. Early Arriver Idea
What You Need: An offering container, building blocks
What You Do:
 Greet kids as they arrive and encourage them to place their offerings in the container.
 Ask the kids a few questions about their week as they build with the building blocks provided.
 What was the BIGGEST job you had to do this week? Why did it feel so big? Initiative is seeing
what needs to be done and DOING something about it. Did you show initiative? Why or why
not?
2. My Jobs
What You Need: Paper, crayons or markers
What You Do:
 As a group, talk about some jobs kids are normally asked to do like make their bed, clean their
room, gather the trash, set the table, brush their teeth and hair, etc.
 Talk about what happens if you don’t do those jobs.
 Hand out the paper and place the markers or crayons in the center of your area.
 Ask kids to choose one of their regular “jobs.”
 Tell them to draw a picture of what it might look like if they never completed this job. Maybe it’s
a messy room, maybe it’s a mouth full of cavities, or maybe it’s a bathroom with towels and
water all over the floor.
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
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252 Groups
September 2015, Week 2
Small Group, K-1
What You Say:
“Wow, some of these pictures are pretty crazy. I would bet that if you didn’t get your jobs done,
hopefully someone would step in before things got this bad. But the truth is you need to learn to show
initiative now. Your job should be YOUR job! You can’t wait for someone else to do it. [Transition]
Let’s head to Large Group and find out how someone saw a big job to be done that didn’t wait
for someone else to do it.”
Lead your group to the Large Group area.
Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (Small Groups, 25 minutes)
Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible story applies to real life experiences, through
interactive activities and discussion questions.
* 1. Build That Wall (application activity / review the Bible story)
What You Need: Masking tape, building blocks
What You Do:
 Mark off a small area around your Small Group area with tape.
 Discuss today’s Bible story using the questions below. As you review the story, ask the kids to
construct a wall with their building blocks, along the tape line.
 Review Questions
1. Why was there a wall around the city of Jerusalem? (To protect the city and keep the people
safe)
2. Why was it bad that the walls were broken down and the gates were burned? (Because
without the wall, the city could be easily attacked and the people wouldn’t be safe.)
3. What did Nehemiah have to do before he could go to Jerusalem? (He had to talk to the king
and get permission to go.)
4. Once he arrived in Jerusalem, what did Nehemiah do before he could start rebuilding the
wall? (He went to inspect or “check out” the wall with a group of people. He went at night
and did find that the wall was badly broken and the gates were burned.)
5. When the people saw how bad things were, what did they do? (They agreed to help
Nehemiah rebuild the wall.)
What You Say:
“You guys did a great job building your wall. Nehemiah had a MUCH bigger job in front of him. He could
have easily said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. That’s just WAY too much. Find someone else, please.’ But instead, he
showed initiative by not only seeing what needed to be done but also by getting busy DOING
something about it. When there is a job to be done, the easy thing is just to assume that someone else
will take care of it. But what if everyone thought that way? Then nothing would ever get done! Just like
Nehemiah showed initiative, we all need to take responsibility and follow through when there’s a job to
be done! [Bottom Line] When you see what needs to be done, don’t wait or someone else to do
it.”
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
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252 Groups
September 2015, Week 2
Small Group, K-1
2. It’s MY Job! (application activity)
What You Need: Paper, crayons or markers
What You Do:
 Allow kids to select a partner.
 Once they’re paired up, ask each pair to think of a job that they are regularly asked to do.
 Then give them five minutes work together to draw a picture of that job.
 When finished, ask them to fold their papers in half and place them in a pile in the center of your
Small Group area.
 Mix up the papers.
 Let each pair take turns drawing a paper from the pile and acting out the job for the group to see
if they can figure out what it is.
 When finished, lay out all the drawings and discuss what happens if they DON’T do these jobs.
What You Say:
“When there is a job to be done like the ones you’ve drawn here, it’s tempting to just ignore them, isn’t
it? I would bet that most of the time, you just hope that either your mom or dad won’t notice or that they
will do it instead. But initiative means that you DO something about it. Initiative means that you see this
(hold up one of the papers) and say, ‘It’s MY job!’ This week, when you see something that needs to be
done, I want you to say to yourself, ‘It’s MY job!’ and then DO it. Just think how much better things will
be if we all choose to show initiative when there’s a job to be done. What if we all said, ‘It’s MY job?’
Remember this week, [Bottom Line] when you see what needs to be done, don’t wait for
someone else to do it!”
3. Build a Verse (memory verse activity)
What You Need: Masking tape, building blocks with a word from each verse taped to them
What You Do:
 Open your Bible to Colossians 3:23a and read it aloud to your group. Make sure to stop after
the word “Lord.”
 Repeat the verse together several times.
 Show the group the prepared building blocks.
 Ask them to work together to stack the blocks in verse order.
 To make it more interesting, time them to see how long it takes for them to build the verse.
 Take the tower apart and try again to see if they can beat their time.
What You Say:
“I love how this verse reminds us that even in the little things like making our bed or putting our
backpacks away, those jobs can be done as if we’re doing them for God! What a great thing to
remember as we work at showing initiative this week. [Make It Personal] (Tell the kids about one of
your ‘jobs’ that you don’t really enjoy. As an adult, talk about how you don’t have a mom or dad
in your house to pick up the slack if it doesn’t get done. Discuss how you will make sure to have
the right attitude this week and remember that all your “work” should be for the Lord anyway.)
My challenge for you this week is that [Bottom Line] when you see what needs to be done, don’t
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
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252 Groups
September 2015, Week 2
Small Group, K-1
wait for someone else to do it. Look at the tasks in front of you and say, ‘It’s MY job!’ and remember
that God sees your hard work and He is SO pleased.”
Pray and Dismiss
What You Need: No supplies needed
What You Do:
 As a group, take a look at the kids’ “Job” pictures from the “It’s MY Job” activity.
 Remind them to say ‘It’s MY job!’ this week as they see something that needs to be done and
DO it.
 Pray together that they would follow through with this challenge this week as they show
initiative.
What You Say:
“When Nehemiah finally saw the broken down walls and just how bad the problem was, did he give up?
Did he wait for someone else to do it? NO WAY! Nehemiah knew that it was HIS job. [Bottom Line]
When you see what needs to be done, don’t wait for someone else to do it. Say to yourself, ‘It’s
MY job!’ and then get busy getting it done! Let’s pray and ask God to help us show initiative this week.
“Dear God, we love You. Thanks for reminding us today that You care about us and that You are
always there to cheer us on. When we see a job that needs to be done this week, help us to DO it. We
don’t want to wait for someone else to do something that we can do. Help us to follow through and say,
‘It’s MY job,’ this week. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up.
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com
If you change the content of this document, please add to the copyright: Adapted by (your name/organization name/date).
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