Free Preteen Ministry Lesson on Creation

Here’s a free preteen ministry lesson on creation from our Best Story Ever series!

Best Story Ever is part of the Deeply Rooted curriculum. Deeply Rooted is a three-year, continuously updated curriculum designed specifically for preteens that includes additional features.

Each week provides three hours of content – included you’ll find content for large group, small group, teacher prep, interactive activities, games, video clips, slides, and more.

Looking for preteen ministry curriculum? Check out our latest bundle!

One Year Preteen Bundle – Image Bearers Edition:Get a full year of preteen ministry curriculum designed to help 4th-6th graders own their faith and follow Jesus with confidence.

FREE PRETEEN MINISTRY LESSON ON CREATION

Bible: Genesis 1:1-13, 1 Timothy 3:16, Genesis 2:7

Big Idea: God tells us how life began and shows us we can trust His story of creation.

INTRODUCTION: TRUE STORY

(Introduce any ministry-specific announcements.)

[LEADER TIP: You, or a preselect leader, could dress as the “Story Teller” (think Court Jester, Shakespearean Mistrell, or Victorian Librarian) and speak the introduction each week, up to “Best. Story. Ever.”]

[Slide01 Best Story Ever]
[AUDIO01 Intro Story]

Once upon a time, in the enchanted land of [name of city/town you are in], there was a fantastical kingdom called [name of your preteen ministry]. In the kingdom of [ministry name], there was an astonishing group of spectacular preteens who gathered together weekly to worship God and celebrate all that God had done for them. One day, that group started a new series together. And that series was called:

[Slide02 Best Story Ever]
[AUDIO02 BSE Sound Effect]

Best. Story. Ever.

That group of preteens is US! And that day is today!

That was a fun way to introduce our new series! I’m excited for us to dive right into this 4-week series called “Best Story Ever.” Over the next four weeks, we’re going to be exploring the Best Story Ever, which is told to us in God’s Word, the Bible.

At the beginning of each service during this series, we’ll start with something called “True Story.”

[Slide03 True Story]
[AUDIO03 True Story]

During this part of service, you’ll have a chance to tell us a true story from your life. Each week, we’ll have two categories to choose from. After you see the categories, you’ll have a chance to think about a true story from your life that fits one of the categories. We’ll give everybody a chance to think about it for a moment without talking. Then, once the story bell rings, it will be time to hear your stories.

Let’s see today’s categories.

[Slide04 Categories Week 1]

(Pause for a moment so preteens can read the slide. Then say:) OK, our categories are “animals” and “making something new.” I could tell the true story from my life when (say something brief that’s a summary of a true story from your life involving animals, like “I was attacked by a raccoon”), or I could tell the true story from my life when (say something brief that’s a true story from your life involving creating something, like “I tried making a peanut butter and bean burrito. That did not go well.”)

Let’s give everybody a moment to think about their own true stories. When the story bell rings, I’ll call on some of you to share.

[AUDIO04 Thinking Music]

(After the story bell rings, call on a few preteens to share their stories, as time allows.)

[LEADER TIP: As an alternative to calling on preteens to share their stories, you could have them share their stories in small groups of 3-5 people.]

WELCOME

[Slide05 Best Story Ever]

You just told some great true stories. But, none of them were the Best Story Ever. The best story ever is found in God’s Word, the Bible. (Hold up a Bible.)

We don’t have time over the next four services to read the entire Bible, but reading the entire Bible IS a great thing to do. I’m curious – has anybody in here read the whole Bible ever? (Look for responses.) Maybe that’s something you could think about doing this summer. That would be a great goal before you start 5th grade or 6th grade or whatever grade you’ll be starting in the Fall.

In any case, we definitely won’t have time to read the entire Bible during our services in the next few weeks. So, I’ve created another book which tells the whole story of the Bible in just four pages.

AND, to make this book even simpler, it has no words written in it! That’s right! The whole Bible summed up in 4 pages, and with no words.

Who’s ready to see the best story ever? (Pause for response.)

Silence please. Listen to this true story…with your eyes!

[AUDIO05 BSE]

(”Read” the BSE Book without saying a word, prepared according to the instructions in the Supplies and Prep. Watch the LEADERS ONLY Video: How to share the BSE for more information)

The end!

Over the next few weeks, you’ll understand what each page of this book means. This week, we’ll start with the first page, the green page. This is PART 1 of the Best Story Ever, and it’s called “Creation.” Everybody say, “Creation.” (CREATION)

[Slide06 Part I: Creation]

This is Part 1 of this book (hold up the BSE book), and it’s also the first part of this book (Hold up the Bible.)

M.A.P. SETUP

During this series, we’re going to set aside some time during service for each of you to read a portion of the Bible for yourself. We’ll call this portion of service M.A.P. Time.

[Slide07 MAP]

During M.A.P. time today, since we’re talking about Creation, we’re going to take some time to look at Genesis 1, where we have a description of how this world was created, including animals and plants and human beings. If you brought a Bible, you can open to Genesis 1 right now. It’s at the very beginning of the Bible.

[Slide08 MAP Genesis 1:1-13]

If you don’t have a Bible, here’s how you can get one: {explain how somebody at your church can get a Bible}. If you don’t have a Bible today, you can use a M.A.P. card like this (hold up a M.A.P. Card). Raise your hand and a leader will give you one.

Now that you have today’s M.A.P. Scripture, we’re going to watch a video to be sure everybody understands how M.A.P. time works.

[VIDEO01 MAP 1]
[Slide09 MAP Genesis 1:1-13]
[AUDIO06 MAP Time]

(After the video/instructions, hand out MAP Cards to preteens who didn’t bring a Bible, and give preteens time to complete MAP as explained in the video. When it looks like most preteens are done, you can have preteens describe what they highlighted and wrote in their Bibles – or on the MAP Cards– either in Small Groups or with the whole group. After this, transition into a time of worship.)

NOTE: Since this is a longer M.A.P. passage, you may want to have a leader read it aloud while the preteens read along, or split it up and have several preteens/leaders read each paragraph.

[Slide10 Small Group]
[AUDIO07 Dismissal]

LESSON

ENGAGE: Best Story Ever Chant

[Slide11 Best Story Ever]
[AUDIO08 Welcome Back]

Let’s learn a chant. We’re going to be adding to this chant each week, but for today, we’ll start off pretty simple. I’ll say, “What’s the best book ever written.”You say back, “I know! The Bible.”

[Slide12 Chant, part 1]
[AUDIO09 Chant]

Let’s try it:

LEADER: What’s the best book ever written?
PRETEENS: I know! The Bible.

Very good! But I think we can say it even better. Let’s try again.

LEADER: What’s the best book ever written?
PRETEENS: I know! The Bible.

Nice. Let’s add more to it. I’m going to say, “Who tells us life began?” and you say, “God does. In the Bible.”

[Slide13 Chant, part 1-2]

Got it? Let’s try it out.

LEADER: Who tells us how life began?
PRETEENS: God does. In the Bible.

Nice. Now, let’s put the two parts together.

LEADER: What’s the best book ever written?
PRETEENS: I know! The Bible.

LEADER: Who tells us how life began?
PRETEENS: God does. In the Bible.

(Stop AUDIO)

TEACH: God-Breathed

Nice! Each week during this series, we’ll add to our chant.

For today, let’s talk for a little bit about the that second part of our chant. The part where I said, “Who tells us how life began,” and you said, “God does. In the Bible.”

During M.A.P. time, you read part of God’s description of how the world began. Two questions might come to mind right away though.

The first question is this: “How did God’s description of Creation end up in the Bible?”

[Slide14 Question 1]

I mean, how is it that I have words from the Creator of the world that describe to me how the world began right here in my hand (hold up the Bible)? Let me explain.

Several thousand years ago, a human being wrote the book of Genesis. It was a human being named Moses, but Moses didn’t write his own thoughts. He wrote the words that God inspired him to write.

God tells us how life began, how the earth began, how day and night and light and darkness and plants and animals and all of it began. But the way God tells us about Creation is like this: thousands of years ago, he spoke to Moses and told him what to write, and Moses wrote down the words God showed him to write. Now we have God’s Words in this book (hold up the Bible). Moses didn’t write the whole Bible, but he did write Genesis and the next four books, too: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

In 2 Timothy 3:16, there’s an explanation of how the Bible came to be.

[Slide15 2 Timothy 3:16a]

Raise your hand if you can read it for us. (Have a preteen read this.) So God breathed the words that Moses, and other people, wrote down in the Bible. God’s breath is mentioned a few other times in the Bible, too. When God created human beings, the Bible says this.

[Slide16 Genesis 2:7]

(Read Genesis 2:7 or have a preteen read it.) God’s breath is full of creative power and wisdom and life. So, our first question was “How did God’s description of Creation end up in a book?” The answer is, “God breathed it out. Moses wrote it down.”

[Slide17 Answer 1]

ILLUSTRATION: Science is the Wrong Tool

I’m thinking about our chant now, and thinking it might need some motions. Everybody stand up. Let’s say our chant again, but this time, maybe you could think about some motions that could go with it. Let’s go.

[Slide18 Chant, part 1-2]
[AUDIO10 Chant]

LEADER: What’s the best book ever written?
PRETEENS: I know! The Bible.

LEADER: Who tells us how life began?
PRETEENS: God does. In the Bible.

(You may want to repeat this a few times, and allow preteens to come up with motions to go with it.) OK. Everybody have a seat. Nice job.

Let’s take a look at a second question you may have about what we’re saying in the chant. When I ask, “Who tells us how life began?” and you answer, “God does. In the Bible,” you might have wondered, “Doesn’t Science tell us a different story of how life began?

[Slide19 Question 2]

That’s a great question. In school, some of you may have learned about something called evolution in your Science classes. You may have also heard something about a Big Bang being the beginning of all life.

Here’s the thing about science, though: It’s a great tool, but it’s not the best tool for telling us about everything there is in the history of the world. Science is a great tool, but it isn’t the right tool for many things in life. Some people have tried to use science for things it shouldn’t be used for.

If you Google “What is Science?” it will tell you something like this:

[Slide20 Science Definition]

(Read the slide.) Now, I do think science is great. If we want to understand God’s Creation, Science can be very helpful. However, Science is not good for telling us everything there is to know.

Science is the study of the world through observations. That means, Science helps us understand things that we can look at or touch or listen to. So, we can use Science to understand (look around and pick something that everybody can see. For example, “we can use Science to understand my hand.”) That’s something we can all observe. It’s something we can see and touch and do experiments on.

Look around you. What’s something we can all observe in this room and do scientific experiments on? Shout something out that you see on the count of three. 1…2…3… (Listen to response.)

Great answers, but you know what I didn’t hear any of you say? I didn’t hear any of you say, “The Creation of the World.” And do you know why? (Allow a preteen to answer. You’re looking for something like, “We can’t observe the beginning of the world.”)

Science can tell us a lot of amazing things about the world that God has created, but because science is based on observations and experiments, and because no scientist has ever observed the creation of the world, and no scientist can do an experiment and create a universe out of nothing, science is NOT a good tool for us to understand how life began.

(Hold up a tape measure. Pull out the tape and let it fling back in.) Is this a useful tool? (YES) What could I use this tool for? (Call on preteens to give answers.) Yes. The tape measure is a useful tool, but is it the right tool to measure the temperature in this room? (NO.) Is it the right tool to tell me what color my eyes are? (NO) Is it the right tool to tell me about the creation of the world? (NO.)

The tape measure is a great and wonderful tool, but it’s not the right tool for everything. In the same way, science is a great and wonderful tool, but science is not the right tool to tell us about Creation.

Remember, science is based on observations, and no one was there to observe the creation of the world. Well, actually, there was one who was there. Who was there at the creation of the world? (GOD.)

Right. God was. So that means that God is the only one who can tell us about Creation based on his personal observations of it.

Let’s think about our question again,“Doesn’t Science tell us a different story of how life began?”The answer is, “Science is not the right tool to tell us about the beginning of life.”

[Slide21 Answer 2]

ILLUSTRATION: Evolution Puzzle Pieces Earlier, I mentioned the word “Evolution.”

[Slide22 Evolution]

An evolutionist is somebody who believes that long ago, the earth was a goo of chemicals and elements. This goo mixed together in an amazing way without any help from a living being, and somehow, a simple 1-celled living thing came out of the mud. Then, that first living organism had a baby, and over time, the babies had babies, and those babies had babies, until eventually, one of the babies was something else, like a palm tree or a frog. Then, evolutionists will tell you, over time, the palm trees had babies, and the frogs had babies and those babies had babies, and eventually the frogs and palm trees created something else, like monkeys and ostriches. Evolutionist will tell you that every living thing in the world, from a rose bush to a salamander to you and me were the result of accidental mutations and random chance.

The basic idea of evolution is,“From goo…to you.”This idea about Creation doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense when you think about it.

Look at this puzzle. Tell me, which of these two ideas makes more sense:

[Slide23 Puzzle]

IDEA 1: A living being took the puzzle pieces and put them together to make this puzzle.

IDEA 2: The box of puzzle pieces was shaken by a random-shaking machine and all of the pieces came together in the right order. (Optionally, shake a jigsaw puzzle in a box to help solidify this illustration in the preteens’ minds.)

Which idea makes more sense? (IDEA 1) Of course Idea 1 makes more sense, and true science proves it! There’s actually a scientific idea called The Law of Entropy, or the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Here’s what it says.

[Slide24 The Second Law Says]

(Read the slide.) That’s a lot of fancy words, but here’s what it means. Things do not, on their own, get more organized over time. In fact, things get more disordered and random when left on their own.

A box of puzzle pieces, left on its own, is not going to get more organized over time. Without some living thing to bring order to things, the pieces will just stay the same, or they will, over time, decay and become more disorganized.

Without God to create order out of chaos, the chemicals in the earth’s mud are going to do nothing, or they’ll become more random and more disorganized. They will not organize themselves into a living creature.

According to the second law of thermodynamics, chemicals in the mud, without any life around to help it, are not going to organize themselves into giraffes and oak trees and [name of a preteen in the room].

Here’s what makes way more sense than evolution, and it’s the truth that the Bible shows us: In the beginning, God was full of life. And he, by his words and by his breath, lovingly created the world and all the living things that are in it. God put all of the pieces together of the puzzle together to create life.

The Bible explains how the world was created in a way that makes sense. Evolutionists and people who don’t believe in God tell us how the world was created in a way that makes about as much sense as me telling you that this puzzle was put together by the random shaking of a box of puzzle pieces.

WRAP UP: Best Story Ever

The Bible is the Best Story Ever.

[Slide25 The Bible is the Best Story Ever]

My 4-page version of the Bible is here to show why the Bible is the Best Story Ever. (Hold up the BSE book and open to the green page.) The first page is what we looked at today, this green page that represents Part I: CREATION. Everybody say “Part 1: Creation.” (PART 1: CREATION)

Let’s add that to the end of our chant. Let’s stand up and do this all together. If you have motions, let’s see them.

[Slide26 Chant, part 1-3]
[AUDIO11 Chant]

LEADER: What’s the best book ever written?
Preteens: I know! The Bible

LEADER: Who tells us how life began?  
Preteens: God does. In the Bible

(Do this a few times, as time allows. Optionally, add in motions.)

The Bible is the Best Story Ever. And one reason is because it tells us how life began. [Slide27 It Tells Us How Life Began]

God is like a good shepherd who cares for his sheep. He’s so good to us that he reveals to us, through the Bible, how everything around us came to be here. God’s Word, the Bible, gives us God’s observations about the beginning of the Universe and the beginning of the world and the beginning of life on Earth.

Let’s pray. (Pray, thanking Yahweh Rohi for the Best Story Ever, the Bible.)

WORKSHOP

[Slide28 Best Story Ever]

The Bible uses different names to help us understand what God is like. One of those names is Yahweh

Rohi, which means “The Lord is my Shepherd.” A shepherd cares for sheep – guiding, protecting, and

providing for them – and this name reminds us that God cares for us.

[Slide29 Yaweh Rohi – The Lord, My Shepherd]

During today’s Workshop, we’re going to think more about Creation, and how it demonstrates to us that God is a loving caring shepherd. God created the world as a place where we are cared for. There is food and water and air to breath here. God is a loving shepherd who cares for us, and one way we see this is when we look at how God created this world.

Here’s how we’re going to do this: Each of you is going to get a printout of Genesis 1. During M.A.P. time, we looked at the first 13 verses, but this page has the WHOLE thing written. We’re going to put on some music and give you a chance to read Genesis 1 for yourself at one of the tables [or areas] around the room. The tables [or areas] also have markers on them as well. If you have trouble reading, you can ask a leader or a friend to read it to you.

As you’re reading, stop from time to time and use the markers to draw something in the spaces on the pages. For instance, after you read about God creating plants, draw a tree or a flower. After you read about the sun and moon, draw the sun and the moon.

You’ll be creating, just like God did. However, you’ll be creating pictures of things that already exist. The awesome thing to think about as you’re drawing is this: God created all of this stuff out of NOTHING. He created all of the colors when there were NO colors. He created gravity and butterflies and rivers and stars out of nothing and with nothing to get ideas from except his own creativity.

Let’s make this a time of worshipping God as we think about the awesome Creation around us, and as we read the first chapter of the Best Story Ever!

(Play worship music as kids read and create. Afterward, go into a time or worship and/or dismiss to Small Groups.)

[Slide30 Small Groups]
[AUDIO12 Dismissal 2]

SMALL GROUP GUIDE

SMALL GROUP 1

M.A.P.: Ensure that everybody has a Bible or the Bible Verse Card. Have them begin M.A.P. (explained during Large Group).

DISCUSS: As preteens finish, allow them to share what they highlighted and wrote in their Bibles or on the Bible Verse Cards.

PRAY: Allow what the preteens share to inspire a prayer, thanking and praising God for what he’s showing the preteens.

SMALL GROUP 2

REVIEW: During the Workshop Time, preteens drew pictures to go along with Genesis 1. Give them a chance to share what they drew and why.

READ: Have the preteens see if they can find the six times in Genesis 1 where it says that “God saw that it was good.” and tell the group the verses. Ask, “How can we see God’s goodness in Creation?

PRAY: Finish your Small Group by thanking God for Creation, and by thanking him for giving us the Bible so we can know about the Creation of the World. Without God telling us, we’d have no other way of knowing the details of Creation.

End Lesson.

Looking for preteen ministry curriculum? Check out our latest bundle!

One Year Preteen Bundle – Image Bearers Edition:Get a full year of preteen ministry curriculum designed to help 4th-6th graders own their faith and follow Jesus with confidence.