Image Courtesy Creative Commons License Flickr.com by themanfromutah June 2006
Monthly Theme: The Church of Jesus Christ Has Been Restored.
Monthly Scripture: “I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other— This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! ”
Joseph Smith—History 1:17
Week 1 The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored.
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What does the dictionary define restored as? Ask a child to come and help you demonstrate. Give them a book or a toy. Now have them give it back and return it to you. Key words: "Give back and Return". Now have the child hold a picture of the earth. Have a sign that says "TRUTH". Have the child with the earth picture hold the truth sign, then you take it away. (Apostasy!!) Return the truth or restore it back.
* Have a large basket of rocks. On the rocks attach questions, songs, and scriptures having to do with Joseph Smith, the 6th Article of Faith and the Restoration. Try to have the children come up and choose rocks that get bigger in size.
"The restored gospel is the kingdom of God on earth, the stone cut out of the mountain without hands that would become a great mountain and fill the whole earth, as seen by Daniel (Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45). It is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was organized 6 April 1830 in preparation for the Second Coming of the Savior."
(Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manuel pg. 61)
* Have a few guests come to sharing time dressed up as ancient apostles who prophesied and foretold of the Restoration of the gospel in the dispensation of the fulness of times. (Such examples could include Isaiah 29:14, Peter Acts 3, Micah 4:2, Daniel 2:44, Paul Ephesians 1:10)
* "God knows the end from the beginning and is the author of the grand design of human history. He directed the affairs of history so that America was appropriately fertile soil for the seed of the restored gospel to be planted and tended by His chosen seer, Joseph Smith." (Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manuel pg. 12)
Go through the events that led up to the Restoration backwards!!! God knows everything whether its the beginning or the end. Have a piece of tape from the back of the room to the front. Have envelopes evenly spaced on the side of the tape. Choose a child to start from the back of the room and walk backwards to the front, but they stop at an envelope. Have them open the envelope which has different events that led up to the Restoration.
Of course have pictures also to correspond with the envelopes.
A timeline could include the following:
(Again taken from the Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manuel pg.1)
34-100 Apostles lead New Testament Church
60-70 Peter and Paul Martyred
1300-1500 European Renaissance (Exploration/Sailing, Religious Art, Martin Luther translates Bible into German making it easier for more people to read)
1438 Gutenberg refined movable type
1492 Columbus made first voyage to Americas
1620 Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth
1775 American Revolutionary War (Freedom of Worship!)
1789 American Constitution established
1790-1830 2nd Great Awakening (A religious revival in America that was big on missionary work!)
April 6, 1830 The Church is Restored!!
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Here is a roller box idea from the Friend.
Week 2 Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration.
* Joseph Smith and Restoration Jeopardy!!
Categories and ?'s :
He was a child too!!
100 When Joseph was small (7 years old) he had to have surgery on this part of his body. He wouldn't drink alcohol to ease the pain and held his father's hand while enduring the hurt.
His leg
200 What month was Joseph Smith born?
December (right before Christmas, the 23rd!)
300 How many brothers and sisters did Joseph have?
10
400 What was the name of Joseph's mother?
Lucy
500 True or False: Joseph had to work hard as a child on the family farm.
True!
The Early Church
100 Sing the 6th Article of Faith Song
200 After the church was organized on April 6, a miracle happened! The Prophet Joseph met a man named Newel who was possessed of a devil. Acting on Newel's faith as well as his own, Joseph cast out the devil in this name?
Jesus Christ
300 At the first conference of the church, the sustained leaders by doing what we do today. What do we do?
We raise our right hand to the square in support.
400 Emma Smith, Joseph's wife was called "An Elect Lady" of the Lord. She was commanded to do something special and put together this book. A hint: It's often green!
The first hymn book.
500 True or False: When Brigham Young was introduced to the church he immediately joined. False!! He studied and pondered the church for 2 years before joining.
Truth Restored!100 Read 2 Nephi 3:24
200 True or False: The church started in 1830.
False!! The church started with Adam and was restored many times, including the last dispensation with Joseph Smith.
300 Sing the Priesthood is Restored (CS pg. 89)
400 Name a witness of the Book of Mormon.
Answers can include the 8 witnesses from the beginning of the Book of Mormon, to prophets to even children who have a testimony it's true.
500 True or False: All truth has been revealed!!
False: Much truth has been revealed, but there is a lot more that is yet to come!
Final Jeopardy Question: What is something you've learned about Joseph Smith or the Restoration?
* A good talk to read and personally study in preparation for this week's sharing time is
Joseph Smith- Prophet of the Restoration by Tad Callister.
* Who was the greatest prophet sent to earth?
"The scriptures record that throughout history, on occasions of exceptional importance, God the Father’s voice has been heard. On repeated occasions Jesus Christ has personally appeared to select individuals. Yet there is only one supernal, singular instance of which we have knowledge that God the Father Himself appeared in person. This was done with His precious Holy Son, Jesus Christ, to an audience of one. That one was young Joseph Smith Jr., an extraordinary spirit prepared before the foundation of the earth. He would become the greatest prophet sent to earth."
Truth Restored, Richard G. Scott, October 2005 General Conference
* Divide into small groups. Give each group a story about Joseph Smith (a teacher can read it to them) and have them draw a picture to share with the primary along with a brief summary of the story.
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Here is an idea from the Friend with an early church for the children to make.
Week 3 The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.
* Click
HERE for a Reader's Theater.
Week 4 The Priesthood has been restored.
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Here is an awesome sharing time from the Friend. You could easily attach questions, scriptures and songs about the priesthood to the puzzle pictures and have the children come to the front to answer and put together.
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Here is an awesome diorama idea from the Friend. You'd need lots of shoe boxes!! But it would be fun and memorable for the children!
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Here is a crossword puzzle about the priesthood. (Scroll past the bug search and find)
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Here is a sharing time on how the priesthood blesses our lives with a flannel board story.
* In my humble opinion, a lot of children don't understand what the priesthood is. Let every child draw a short fact about the priesthood from a brown paper bag. Have the room set up with 2 lines of chairs facing each other. Have younger children sit on one side and older children on the other. Each child may tell his/her fact to his/her partner and talk about it for 30 seconds. Then the younger children get up and move one chair to the right while the older ones stay seated. Repeat! Have pictures to go along with some of the facts. For senior sharing time, see if they can come up with their own facts to share about the priesthood! A good reference is
HERE, Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual Chapter 25.
* Play musical chairs reverently. Have them in a circle with #'s taped to the back. It's actually
more like a cake walk where you draw numbers and whoever is sitting on that number gets to answer a question or read a scripture about the priesthood.... don't take away chairs! Have them sing songs about the priesthood as they walk around the circle.
* Good scripture to know in case you're ever in the Bible belt and some "friend" wants to tell you there is absolutely no biblical scriptural fact to support the concept of the Melchizedek priesthood.
Psalms 110:4, "The Lord has sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek" Am I in any way suggesting you argue back and be cantankerous? Absolutely not.
I'm not even saying to stress the words FOR EVER, hence why I didn't use bold or italics on those extremely obvious words. A simple "Boo-Yah" will do.
