Aim to learn that God is like a shepherd and we are like sheep

Aim
* to learn that God is like a shepherd and we are like sheep.
* He loves us, protects us and helps us to be good.

Materials
Visual aids – Pictures of sheep, the good shepherd, the lost sheep
Stories – The Littlest Lamb, The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15: 3-7)
Lost Sheep Maze
Pictures of sheep to hide
Materials for making Lift the flap, Find the lamb – scenery picture, lamb pictures , extra plain paper,
scissors, coloured pencils, glue
a picture to colour

Lesson Outline

Introduction
Story
Discussion
Activities – find the sheep game, lift the flap craft activity, sheep maze, a picture to colour
Review the aims
Prayer

1) Introduction
Show picture of sheep and talk about them
Sheep are beautiful creatures made by God. They need a shepherd to protect them from wild animals like wolves that want to eat them. Every now and then one of the sheep wanders away from the other sheep. Whenever this happens the shepherd uses his shepherd’s crook to guide the lost sheep back where he belongs. The crook is simply a long stick with a curved shape on one end that will fit around the sheep’s neck. The shepherd can shoo away wild animals that creep up on the sheep with it. Today’s story is about a shepherd and his sheep

2) Story
The Lost Sheep from Luke 15: 3-7
One day Jesus told this story to a group of people who were following him. He told them that a shepherd had 100 sheep. He would count them every night. One night the shepherd only counted 99 so he left the 99 sheep and went looking for his little lost sheep. He looked everywhere and he didn’t give up until he found it. He was so happy when he found his little lost sheep that he invited all his friends to his house to have a party to celebrate ﬁnding his little sheep.

The Littlest Lamb
There was a shepherd who loved his sheep very much, even the littlest lamb.
One day as he was counting his sheep he could not find the littlest lamb. “1-2-3-4-5….”
This is what happened ….
“I won’t run away mother.” But …
The littlest lamb did run away when he mother wasn’t looking!
He ran and he jumped and he smelled flowers! Then he began to wonder where his mummy was …
“I will run back home to the good shepherd and my mummy.”
And as he ran he fell over a cliff to a ledge below!
“BAA, BAA,” cried the littlest lamb, because it couldn’t get up or get down from where it was lost!
But the good shepherd was out looking for the littlest lost lamb. He heard it crying.
The good shepherd climbed down to where the naughty little lamb was lost.
Then he put it on his shoulders and took it safely home and it was never lost again.

3) Discussion
How many sheep did the shepherd have altogether? – 100
Why did the shepherd leave the 99 sheep to look for the missing one? – He loved the lost sheep.
What did the shepherd do when he found the sheep? – He called his friends to celebrate with him.
God is like the shepherd and people are like sheep, who wander away from God at times, wanting to do things their own way. God loves us and will search for us until he ﬁnds us. God sent his Son Jesus to be our shepherd also.

Jesus said he was a Good Shepherd. He came to protect us and show us the right way. He is always ready to lead us back on the path of doing the right things. He told many stories to teach us about God. The story of the lost sheep is one of them.

Sheep are gentle animals. Jesus wants his followers to be gentle as well. And to be kind, loving. We can be thankful that Jesus is always protecting us like a Good Shepherd.

4) Activities
Find the sheep
Hide the sheep pictures in classroom before the lesson. Play like a traditional Easter Egg hunt, only the children are the “shepherds” who go look for all the lost sheep.
Lift-the-Flap, Find the Lamb
Colour the scene and lamb. Teacher cuts around top part of bush and part of rock and log. Help children glue picture onto a blank sheet of paper, but being careful not to glue under the pictures that will lift up. Glue the lamb on the bottom blank sheet of paper beneath where the bush lifts up.

Lost Sheep Maze
Help the shepherd find his lost sheep
* A picture to colour

5) Review the aims
to learn that God is like a shepherd and we are like sheep.
He loves us, protects us and helps us to be good..

6) Prayer
* Say a prayer to thank God for being a good shepherd to us, and for loving us, protecting us and helping us to be good.