Materials
Bring in a variety of items that may be unfamiliar to children. These items should have a special purpose and be useless apart from that purpose. Examples might be:
* the little wrench that is used to tighten a drill bit in a power drill – useless without the drill
* a jumper from a computer board – useless without the computer card
* a zipper from an old backpack – useless without the backpack
* Corkscrew – useless without a cork
* watch battery – useless without a watch
* can opener – useless without a can
* staples – useless apart from a stapler
* power cord – useless without an appliance
* monopoly or other game peices – useless without the game board
* eyeglass / sunglasses lense – useless without the frames
* telephone handset – useless without the telephone / phone line
* roll of film – useless without a camera
* cap from an ink pen – useless without the pen
* lid from a teacup – useless without the cup
* lock – useless without a key
* doorknob – useless without a door
* Pull ring from a soft drink
* etc.
You can also use car parts, adapters, components of power tools, parts of kitchen appliances, and various parts and peices of items found around your home.
Activity
Ask children to identify the purpose of each item. Award prizes to individuals for each item correctly guessed or to teams who correctly identify the most items. You may wish to number items for identification purposes.
Application
Explain that each item has a very special purpose. It was created to fulfill a very specific task or need. While it might be used for other things, it has a very specific purpose. Apart from that purpose it is basically a piece of junk. According to Acts 28:30-31, the church was also created with a purpose. Apart from that purpose it is useless. The purpose of the church is to
1) Focus on Jesus;
2) Focus on the Kingdom of God;
3) Focus on Koinonia (fellowship).
Variation
Use this to discuss the idea that God created each of us with a purpose (1 Corinthians 12)
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200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.