Children’s Social Principles – Introduction Message – Representing and Becoming More Like God

Wondering what this is all about?  Check out my post from yesterday

Wondering what the Social Principles are? Check out this page from Discipleship Ministries

Materials/Visuals Needed:

• Either have physical uniforms, uniform/carreer costumes/or pictures of people in uniforms.  If you use pictures be mindful of gender, racial, ability diversity.  These can include sports team uniform, professional uniforms, even uniforms for favorite kid restaurants. (If your church has a preschool or a day care you may already have career costumes like these from Lakeshore Learning. If not you can easily substitute either printed images or projected images of career or sports uniforms.)

• A copy of the book of resolutions
• A Bible, or Bible Story Book

Main Ideas (Taken from “What Every Child Should Experience.”)  

• I am God’s child and God loves me.
• I can understand and participate in the order of worship, and can learn the prayers, creeds, and litanies of the church
• I can participate in servant ministry in the community and continue to understand how my actions impact those around me
• I can understand that being a part of a faith community expands beyond the physical walls of the church I attend.
• I continue to identify and express attitudes, ideas, and feelings about social injustice
• God commands us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength
• God commands us to love others as we love ourselves
• The Bible helps me to know how God wants me to live

The Message: 

Raise your hand if you can tell me what a uniform is?

[Time for Answers]

It’s an outfit, or a style of clothes that shows you what someone does or who they represent. 

I’m going to show you some uniforms and I want you to tell me what kind of work that person does, or who they represent.

Now I have another question.

Can anyone tell me what the very very first book of the Bible is?

[Time for answer]

Genesis is the very first book of the Bible and in that book it tells us something really important about what we do and who we represent.  It says we are “Made in the Image of God,” and it says that it is our job as human beings, as the creatures who are God’s representative, what we do is take care of the world and show the world what God is like.  We don’t need a uniform, because every single person is made in God’s image, every single person can help take care of the world and show the world what God is like.

And as Christians, we believe that not only are we made to show the world what God is like, we can grow in Jesus and become more like God.

The most important thing that we can know about God is that God is love.  And as people who God has invited to take care of the world and show the world what God is like, the most important thing we can do is love God and love all of our neighbors in the world.

Our church has tried to make a list of what it looks like to love all of our neighbors in the world.  If I was writing this list I might call it the “how to love all our neighbors in the world list, and show them that God loves them list” but that’s kind of a long name for a list, so our church leaders gave it a different name.  They call it the “Social Principles.”

[show where the social principles are in the book of resolutions]

So every four years leaders from our church from all over the world get together and they look at the list and they say, is this still the best way to show love to the world? And they work on the list together.  So for the next few week during our children’s time, we’ll be looking at the things on this list.  Because we want to be growing to be more like Jesus, to be more like God, to be changed by the Holy Spirit to become more like love.

Each of you is made in the image of God.  No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done you are loved by God.  You are made in the image of love and you are deeply deeply loved by God.

Using in Worship

There is a great responsive litany available on Discipleship Ministries that would fit beautifully with the lesson.

A Companion Litany to Our Social Creed

God in the Spirit revealed in Jesus Christ,
calls us by grace
        to be renewed in the image of our Creator,
that we may be one
in divine love for the world.

Today is the day
God cares for the integrity of creation,
wills the healing and wholeness of all life,
weeps at the plunder of earth’s goodness.
And so shall we.

Today is the day
God embraces all hues of humanity,
delights in diversity and difference,
favors solidarity transforming strangers into friends.
And so shall we.

Today is the day
God cries with the masses of starving people,
despises growing disparity between rich and poor,
demands justice for workers in the marketplace.
And so shall we.

Today is the day
God deplores violence in our homes and streets,
rebukes the world’s warring madness,
humbles the powerful and lifts up the lowly.
And so shall we.

Today is the day
God calls for nations and peoples to live in peace,
celebrates where justice and mercy embrace,
exults when the wolf grazes with the lamb.
And so shall we.

Today is the day
God brings good news to the poor,
proclaims release to the captives,
gives sight to the blind, and
sets the oppressed free.
And so shall we.