May 2009 Sharing Time
Week 1: Baptism is the first ordinance of the gospel
May theme:
Baptism and Confirmation are ordinances that bless my family
Scripture: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Song: Baptism or I Want to Be Baptized
Week 1: Baptism is the first ordinance of the gospel
References: 2 Nephi 31:17; Articles of Faith 1:4; Baptism, TTF, 21-26; GP, chapter 20
Singing Time: Baptism
Sharing Time: Ask the children to recite the fourth article of faith. Ask them if they know what a principle is, and then what an ordinance is. Show the poster for the fourth article of faith. Which of these four things are principles? Which are ordinances? Which is the first ordinance?
Take the children through each of the steps leading up to baptism, according to this article of faith. Display signs for each.
Faith
Send a teacher of older children out of the room. While the person is out, ask the children to select and read a scripture about faith. (Show them how to use the topical guide to select one.) The reason you sent out a teacher is that this will take a little time. Then ask the teacher to return. Ask the teacher if she knows what happened while she was gone. Invite a child to tell her what happened and another child to read the scripture the children chose. Ask the teacher if she believes what the children told her. When she says she does, remind her she didn’t see it and doesn’t really know. How does she know they’re telling the truth? (You may want to coach the teacher in advance to respond that she trusts the children who told her what happened.)
Help the children to understand that faith is something we believe even though we don’t have proof, because we trust the person who told us it’s true.
Who tells us the gospel is true? (The Holy Ghost.) Why do you think faith is the first thing in this article of faith? (We need to know the gospel is true before we are baptized and become members.)
Music: Faith
Sharing Time: Repentance
Show the word strip for repentance. Ask the children what it means. Call up children to hold word strips with the steps to repentance. Use a story to illustrate the steps, such as, “Andrea was not allowed to play ball in the house. However, she had a beautiful new ball with lots of colors in it and it was raining, so she couldn’t go outside. She didn’t think it would hurt to toss it around a little if she was very careful. Even though she was careful, the ball hit a statue her mother especially liked and it broke. Andrea was tempted to hide the broken statue or to run to her room with her ball and pretend she was reading. She realized that would not be the right thing to do, and that she should repent.” As you focus on each word strip, have the children say what Andrea should do.
After the story, rearrange the children so the wordstrips are out of order. Invite a child to put them back in the correct order. Do this a few times.
Ask the children to tell you why repentance must be done before baptism. How can faith make it easier to repent?
Music: Repentance
Sharing Time: Baptism
Once a person has faith and has repented, he can be baptized. If any of the children have been baptized, invite them to tell about it. If possible, include a child who was not baptized by his father or one who was older than eight, so children understand not all baptisms are exactly the same. Also invite at least one adult to tell of her baptism and to testify of how she felt. (Ask her a few days in advance so she can prayerfully prepare.)
Invite children to tell you why we are baptized. Then ask some questions about baptism to see what they know:
- How old do you have to be to get baptized?
- Can you get baptized if you are younger than eight? Older than eight? (Some children don’t realize older children and adults can be baptized if needed.)
- Who can baptize you?
- If your father doesn’t have the priesthood or isn’t alive, who can baptize you? This is a sensitive subject for some children. Show a picture of Jesus being baptized and ask them who baptized him. Point out that John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, so even He wasn’t baptized by His Father, or even by Joseph, who is believed to have already died. Ask children to suggest other people who could baptize a child whose father can’t do it (home teachers, bishop, Primary teacher, etc.)
Read 2 Nephi 31:17. Be prepared to help the children understand what it means—some of them may be curious about the reference to fire. Be sure they know it isn’t a literal gate that is being discussed, nor is it a literal fire.
Have two children come up and form a gate. Have three other children come up and hold word strips that say, “repentance,” “baptism,” and “remission of sins.”
Tell the children which side of the gate is the entrance side. Ask them to organize themselves so the things that are before you enter the gate are on that side and the other is on the other side. Remission should be on the “exit” side.”
Have a small child come up from and stand in front of the child holding the repentance sign. Ask the children to remember the steps to repentance. Move the small child to the baptism sign. As a few additional questions about baptism: How are we baptized (by immersion.) What does that mean?
Explain that now that both steps are done we can go through the gate. What’s on the other side? Remission of sins!
Have all the children return to their seats. Ask what remission of sins means.
Music: Sing baptism songs.
Sharing time:
Game: Who Is This?
Adam: Moses 6:64–65
Alma: Mosiah 18:8–16
Jesus Christ: Matthew 3:13–17
3,000 in one day: Acts 2:38–41
Paul: Acts 9:17–18
Limhi and his people: Mosiah 25:17–18
Zeezrom: Alma 15:12
Joseph Smith: JS—H 1:68–71
From: "Questions and Answers about Baptism,” Friend, Aug 2008, 24–25
For older Children: Put the scriptures on a poster or paper (You can just use part of it if it’s long.) Leave off the name—just put a line where the names would go. Have the missing names displayed on word cards on the board.
Invite children to choose a scripture and read it. Then let them guess what names go in the blanks. They can choose people to help them if they don’t know. (The church doesn’t allow competition on Sundays, so don’t form teams. Let the children all play together.)
For younger children: Put up pictures of each story. Post names on word cards. Have children who can read partner with younger children. The older child reads the scripture and the younger child, with help if needed, chooses the picture.
Alternate: Give each class a scripture reference. Post the pictures. Have the classes read the scriptures together and figure out which picture goes with it. When everyone is ready, have each class read their scripture or tell about it, and then show which picture they think it is. Don’t keep score.