God's People Grow (Story of Joseph Lesson)

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The following children’s Bible lesson about Joseph will teach kids the basic outline of Genesis 21 – 50. It continues a children’s church curriculum based on The Big Picture Story Bible. These children’s church lessons can easily be modified to serve as children’s Sunday School lessons.
Download this lesson plan as a Microsoft Word document from this link – God’s People Grow Lesson Plan
This kid’s Bible lesson is offered as a guide for your own teaching. Be sure to modify the content to best fit the children in your ministry.

Need more help?  try this Joseph Coat craft.

About This Children’s Bible Lesson Plan

Title: God’s People Grow: The Big Picture of the Bible Lesson #5. This could also be called “Sunday school lesson about Joseph” or “Joseph Children’s Church lesson.”
Learning Objectives: After this Bible lesson, children will demonstrate a basic knowledge of the story of Joseph by answering simple review questions.
Target Age Group: 5 – 10 years old {U.S. Kindergarten – 3rd Grade}
Bible Story: Genesis 12 – 20 (overview)
Teaching Setting: This lesson was first taught in our children’s church on Sunday morning to about 25 children. Before the lesson the children participated in several songs and group Bible memory exercises. Target length of this lesson is 20 minutes.
Items Needed:

  • Printed “One Page Teaching Plan” from this lesson plan.
  • The Big Picture Story Bible (or summary of the Bible story in your own words)
  • Clock or wrist watch for “Introduction” below

Explanation: God’s promise to Abraham is the storyline for the rest of the Old Testament. The second half of Genesis tells how the promised family began to grow and how God preserved that family through trials.
This story presents God at work behind suffering to bring about the best possible outcome. Even through Joseph was the victim of his brother’s sin, God was with him and blessed him. Be sure to emphasize that God was keeping his promise through saving Joseph and the promised family.
This lesson plan is part of my series based on The Big Picture Story Bible by David R. Helm and Gail Schoonmaker. These lessons can be used with other story Bibles or by telling the Bible stories in your own words. However, I strongly recommend this book for it’s excellent illustrations and unifying approach to salvation history.


Children’s Bible Lesson:God’s People Grow

Introduction: Stand silently before the class. Look carefully at your clock (or wrist watch). Pretend that you are waiting for something to happen. Wait for one of the children to ask you what you are waiting for. (This may take a few minutes.) Then say, “I was actually waiting for you to ask that! In today’s lesson, you will learn more about the promise God made to Abraham and how even his children had to wait for God’s Big promise to come true.”
Active Listening: Say, “Please listen carefully while I read our Bible story. When I’m done I’ll ask some questions to see how well you understood the story.” The questions under “review” below are the key points for them to understand from the lesson, so be sure to emphasize them as you read.
Read: “Part 5” from on The Big Picture Story Bible. (Or tell the story of the Genesis 21 – 50 in your own words emphasizing the answers to the questions below.) Be sure to engage the children with good story telling. Ask unscripted questions to clarify points in the story.
Review: Call on volunteers to answer these questions from the story you just read. Some possible answers are written as italics below.

  1. What bad thing did Joseph’s brothers do? They hated him, and tried to get rid of him.
  2. Was Joseph alone in Egypt? No, God was with him.
  3. How did God take care of Joseph? Gave him wisdom and made him ruler of that land.
  4. How did God make Joseph a helper to the Egyptians?  He let him know about the coming famine and gave Joseph the job of storing up food.
  5. When Joseph’s brothers came for food, how did he respond? He forgave them and welcomed them.
  6. What parts of God’s promise to Abraham can we see in this story? (God’s People – God’s Place – Bless All People) God’s people kept growing, they were a blessing to the people of Egypt, but they still were waiting on their land.

 
True or False: Ask the children to choose which of the following statements are correct. If the statement is correct they should stand, if it is false they should remain seated.

  • God can do anything. {True}
  • Abraham’s family was always nice to one another {False}
  • Joseph’s family deserved to be rescued. {False – it was God’s choice}
  • The promised family helped the Egyptian people survive. {True}
  • The promise came true right away. {False}
  • The promised family was still waiting to get the Promised Land. {True}
  • God can use bad things that happen to make something better happen. {True}

{Optional} Act It Out: If time allows, this would be a good story to act out with the children. Call on the volunteers (Joseph, Jacob, several brothers, several Egyptians, Pharaoh-king). Place them on different sides of the room to represent Canaan and Egypt. Review the key events of the story and emphasize the key teachings from the questions above.
Pray: Lead the children in prayer…

Improve This Lesson: If you notice any typing errors, or think of a way to improve this lesson plan – please leave a comment below. Your help is important and makes this website more useful for everyone.

3 thoughts on “God's People Grow (Story of Joseph Lesson)”

  1. I feel blessed when I prepare for my Sunday school class taking tips from your lessons . They really help me to understand the story better and I inturn can help the children understand better .
    May God bless you all as you put in your Labour n efforts to put this all together .

  2. I really gained from this work though I think the objectives should be specific. Identifying the morals of the story. For example
    It’s not good to be jeolous – Joseph brothers.
    It’s good to persevere.- Joseph.

  3. Dropped Joseph down a pit.
    No he had God.
    Telling him what not to do and what not to do.
    by god giving Joseph a gift of telling what peoples dreams mean.
    He cried then tested them if they changed. Then told them it was him.
    That God has giving everyone a gift and he wants you to forgive those who have sin against you. because god had forgiven those who have sin against God too.

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