Our friends at Children’s Ministry Deals have released a free lesson series for preteens (or upper elementary) students. It’s a 4 week Bible study that will help them trust in God when life gets messy. Just looking at the reviews, tons of churches have already used this and given it high marks. If you are struggling to engage this age group, this might be a great way to kickstart your preteen ministry.
How to download: Simply click the link above to their website and click “ADD TO CART.” You will go through their checkout and enter the payment screen, but no payment is needed because this is a 100% free download. While you’re there you can check out the other free lesson plans and preteen Bible studies. This would be ideal for a weeknight program, but could work in Sunday School (if they are prepared to be messy).
About the Curriculum
It’s built around a memory verse from Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
It’s packed with fun game ideas to keep the class involved in the Bible teaching. Includes resources for large and small groups.
Lesson 1 – Messy Lies
Bible Story: Abraham lies about Sarah. Genesis 20. Preteens will learn how lies can make a mess in their lives. God’s word offers hope but it starts with the truth about our sin is what starts the mess in our lives.
Lesson 2 – Messy Pride
Bible Story: The fall of Samson. Judges 16. The class will discover how pride can cause a mess in their lives from the life of Samson and his frequent failures.
Lesson 3 – Messy Plans
Bible Story: Moses kills the slave driver. Exodus 2:11-22. Students will study how impatience can create a mess in their lives. Anyone working with adolescents knows this is a constant struggle.
Lesson 4 – Cleaning Up the Mess
Bible Story: Jesus forgives Peter’s denial. John 21:15-19. In the final lesson, preteens will learn how Jesus can help us clean up even the biggest messes. This evangelistic message is an important part of any good ministry teaching program.
I’d love your feedback on this material, I’ve looked it over but haven’t had a chance to use it in my church yet. My next rotation in the Middle School Sunday School class and I’m going teach these lessons myself.
Thank you Tony. God will increase you in wisdom and ideas for our sake. I pray that you excellent in every area of your service. I hope to adopt this teaching immediate in our children Sunday school.
I’m praying you continue to help other like me dealing with children it inspire to reading .
Hi, I just want to say thank you so much for sharing all that you have especially around children to people around the world. I am a 19 year old girl and I run a preteen class. And there are many times when I feel afraid of doing something different but you have given me so much faith in myself and this curriculum of Messy is something I am definitely going to teach them. Thank You so incredibly much! Much love from your sister across the seas.
We just finished this series and our group loved it. Thank you for putting this together everything I need is in this lesson and I am looking forward to using more lessons.
Thank you so much for sharing this and saving me the time to come up with a lesson. We had recently gone over patience so I changed week 3 to bitterness. We are about to conclude this short series on Sunday. What a great way to end it by reminding them how Jesus can clean up our big fat mess. May the Lord bless your ministry a thousand times more!
We are in the 3rd week of the Messy Curriculum. It has been awesome. Our children easily get the message and apply it to their lives. The curriculum also generates a lot of discussions in our preteen class. Thank you so much.