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The Shrewd Manager

Unit 16 / Lesson 3

The Shrewd Manager

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • Drawing With Limited Crayons

      • Materials:

        • Two crayons per child

        • Two sheets of paper per child

    • Red Solo Cup Behind Back

      • Materials:

        • Two plastic cups per ten children. Red solo cups work great.

    • Balloon Relay Race

      • Please see this YouTube video for the concept of the game:

      • Materials:

        • For every two children, blow up one balloon before the lesson. The balloon should be a standard size, about 10 inches across. Alternatively, you can use a beach ball, as in the video.

        • Blow up one or two spare balloons in case one of them pops.

      • Before the lesson, decide on the path that each pair of children will follow during the race.

        • The simplest way to run the race is to travel to a far wall and back. 

        • If you have a small room, you can require that each team do three round trips.

        • Alternatively, you can make a pylon system. You can spread out five chairs throughout the room, which will serve as pylons. Children will start at the chair of their choice, and then they will travel to all four of the other chairs with the balloon in between their heads. One of them will touch all the other chairs, and then they will return back to the chair at which they started.

        • The instructions in this lesson are for three round trips.

  • Main Activity (Banana Splits):

    • For the concept of a banana split, please refer to this video:

    • Note: the banana split above is for a "breakfast" banana split. For a dessert banana split, you may want to substitute some ingredients. The recipe is quite flexible, as it just depends on what toppings you want to provide.

    • Please refer to this website for detailed instructions and more ideas for toppings:

    • You will, of course, want to prepare ingredients, bowls, and spoons before the lesson.


Intro

SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

    SLIDE 2

  • Intro Game: Drawing With Limited Crayons

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our lesson with a game! It's a drawing game. Each of you will get two crayons, and a couple pieces of paper. I'll tell you what to draw, and you'll have two minutes to draw each picture. Make the picture as nice as you can in two minutes. And then, we'll share the pictures that we drew.

      • Our first picture is: a truck

      • Teacher: wait two minutes for the children to draw. Extend the time a bit if it looks like they could use it

      • Time's up! Let's see what we all drew.

      • Alright, let's draw a couple more pictures.

      • Please flip over the page that you drew on, so we'll draw on the backside.

      • Our second picture is: a castle

      • Teacher: for each picture, give the children two minutes to draw, and then have them show each other what they drew. If there is time and interest, you can have them draw a third and fourth picture. They could draw a city, or a helicopter, for example.

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, we didn't get everything we wanted. It would have been nice to have more crayons, and more colors. BUT, we got everything we needed. We had enough colors to get the job done.

  • Relevance

    SLIDE 3

    • And, life is like that too. In life, we don't get everything we want. But, God has given us everything that we need to do our job. The Bible tells us, our job is to do good work. God wants us to help people in all kinds of ways. But, helping people can be tricky. Some people are really good at helping, and others are not.

  • Big Question

    SLIDE 4

    • So, our big question today is, how can we be wise about helping people?

  • Big Idea

    • Our big idea is, in order to be wise: 

      • 1. Don't waste time, but 

      • 2. Focus on people.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 5

    • We will get this idea from a story that Jesus told. It's a story about a manager. A manager is a person who looks after things. A manager might look after a store, or they might look after another person’s money. A rich person will pay a manager to look after things for them. But not all managers are very good. Our Bible story is about a manager who didn’t do his job, even though a rich person paid him money to do that job. So the rich person got mad.

    SLIDE 6

    SLIDE 7

    • Luke 16:1-9 (CEV)

      • Jesus said to his disciples: A rich man once had a manager to take care of his business.

    SLIDE 8

    • But he was told that his manager was wasting money. So the rich man called him in and said, “What is this I hear about you? Tell me what you have done! You are no longer going to work for me.”

    SLIDE 9

    • The manager said to himself, “What shall I do now that my master is going to fire me? I can’t dig ditches, and I’m ashamed to beg. I know what I’ll do, so that people will welcome me into their homes after I’ve lost my job.”

    SLIDE 10

    • Then one by one he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, “How much do you owe my master?” “A hundred barrels of olive oil,” the man answered. So the manager said, “Take your bill and sit down and quickly write ‘fifty’.”

    SLIDE 11

    • The manager asked someone else who was in debt to his master, “How much do you owe?” “A thousand bushels of wheat,” the man replied. The manager said, “Take your bill and write ‘eight hundred’.”

    SLIDE 12

    • The master praised his dishonest manager for looking out for himself so well. [Jesus said to his disciples:] That’s how it is! The people of this world look out for themselves better than the people who belong to the light. My disciples, I tell you to use wicked wealth to make friends for yourselves. Then when it is gone, you will be welcomed into an eternal home


    Point 1

  • The first thing we learn in our story is: don't waste time.

    SLIDE 13

  • Game: Red Solo Cup Behind Back

    • Instructions

      • We'll start this point with a game! It's a really simple game. 

      • We’ll form teams of about five people each. Each team will have two plastic cups. 

      • Everyone on your team will take turns dropping the cup behind their back. If it lands right side up or upside down, you’re done, and you can pass the cup to someone else on your team. If the cup lands on its side, you need to pick it up and try again.

      • You have two cups so your team can have two people at a time doing the challenge. You win when everyone on your team has finished the challenge.

      • So, help each other out -- you can pick up the cup for each other, and you can cheer each other on.

      • Teacher: you may want to do a demonstration for how to drop the cup behind your back, and what counts as a good landing (right side up, or upside down, but not resting on the side). Also, you may want to play two or three rounds of this game depending on time and the level of interest.

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, we didn't get everything our way at first. Maybe it felt like the cup would never land the right way. Well, there are different things we can do when the cup doesn’t land the right way.

    SLIDE 14

    • We can complain, or we can give up, or we can get distracted. OR, we can just concentrate on what we can do. We can just pick up the cup and try again.

    • And our Bible story has a bit of that idea.


  • Bible Reference and Explanation

    SLIDE 15

    • Our story is about a manager who got into big trouble. He was supposed to look after things for a rich man. BUT, the manager did a really bad job. So, the rich person was angry at him, and the manager was about to lose his job. If the manager lost his job, he wouldn't be able to earn money any more, and he would be in big trouble.

    • What would you do if you were in big trouble like that?

    • Well, the manager had a great idea! He decided he wouldn't just sit there and be sad. Instead, he did what he could.

    SLIDE 16

    • So, right before he lost his job, he made a lot of friends. He helped a lot of people, and he was super nice to them. That way, they would always remember him as the guy who helped them out. Then, when the manager lost his job, he could ask his friends to help him back.

    • It was a very clever idea, and it kept him out of trouble.

  • Application

    SLIDE 17

    • Jesus told the story because we are all like the manager. We need to remember that eventually we will run out of time. So, we need to do things that matter, before we run out of time.

    • So, one thing we can learn from our story is: wise people don't waste time.

    • Wise people are always trying to use their time better. 

    SLIDE 18

    • If you want to use your time better, one of the best questions you can ask is: "what things can I do less of?" Everything we do takes time, and we should always try to do less of the things that don't matter.

    SLIDE 19

    • Maybe we can watch one less TV show.

    SLIDE 20

    • Maybe we can play one less round of a game.

    SLIDE 21

    • Maybe we can have one less argument.

    SLIDE 22

    • Maybe we don't need to impress everyone, and we don't need everyone to like us.

    SLIDE 23

    • We are always being slowed down by things that don't matter, so we should keep asking “what thing can I do less of?” If we do less things that don’t matter, we will have more time to do things that really matter.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 24

    • Now, let's pause for a discussion question:

      • If you had to give up one thing for a year, what would you give up?


    Point 2

  • The second key to being wise is:

    • We need to focus on people

    SLIDE 25

  • Game: Balloon Relay Race

    • Instructions

      • Let's start this point with a game. This one's called the balloon relay race! Let's watch a video to see how it's played:

      • Teacher: please play this YouTube video:

    SLIDE 26

    • Here are the rules: everyone will find a partner. Each pair of you will have one balloon between the two of you. You aren’t allowed to touch the balloon with your hands or your arms when you’re moving. But, you can use your hands to put the balloon between your heads. If the balloon drops, you need to stop and pick it up, and put it between your heads before you keep moving.

    • You'll start at one wall of the room, and then you will go across the room. And you will make THREE trips back and forth. So, you will touch the far wall three times on three different trips, and you will touch the near wall three times.

    • Once you finish your three trips, you win!

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, we had to think about our partner. We couldn't just run off on our own. We needed to keep thinking about someone else, and we had to make sure our friend was okay.

      • This kind of thinking helps us understand our Bible passage, because Jesus teaches us to think about friends.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 27

    • Let's read what Jesus said at the end of our Bible passage:

    • Luke 16:9 (CEV)

      • My disciples, I tell you to use wicked wealth to make friends for yourselves. Then when it is gone, you will be welcomed into an eternal home.

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 28

    • Jesus was saying, money won’t last forever, but friendship can last forever. Wise people hurry to make the right kinds of friendships. If you have the right friendships, you can work together to do big things. And, you can also help people to find Jesus. If you are a friend to someone, then sooner or later you will get a chance to say everything you want to say about Jesus, and they will listen because they respect you. And, if they trust Jesus, they can be in heaven with you someday.

  • Application

    • Friends are so important. So, it helps to make a plan for your friendships. Make a plan for what kinds of friends you are looking for. Make a plan for keeping up with friends and helping them.

    SLIDE 29

    • Make a plan for the kinds of things you want to talk about, and the things you want to do. If you have the wrong friends and you just make trouble for each other, you might want to spend less time with them so that you can focus on other people. Then, you can have a lot of really good friends, if you follow a good plan.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 30

    • Let's pause for a discussion question.

      • Do you have any tips for how to be a really good friend?


    Conclusion

  • Let’s wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again. Our lesson today was about being wise in all of life.

  • SLIDE 31

  • If you want to be wise, you need to be careful not to waste time. Always ask what you can do less of, because there are lots of things in life that don't matter and they can slow you down.

    SLIDE 32

  • The second key to being wise is to focus on people. God's plan for us is to make friends and be really good at friendships. If you do it right, you will have friendships that last forever.


SLIDE 33

Main Activity: Banana Splits

  • Now it's time for our main activity. Today we are making banana splits! Let's watch a video to see what a banana split is like:

  • Teacher: play this YouTube video:

  • Banana splits help us to remember our lesson. When you make a banana split, you need to think about how much time you have. You can't get too distracted, or else you might have to go home before you can enjoy what you made!

  • And, a banana split also helps us to think about people. People are like ingredients. Maybe you’re like a banana. And, maybe your friend is like a delicious topping. You’re okay by yourself, but you’re even better together! That’s what good friendships are like.

  • Teacher: lead the children in making banana splits.


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