Free Preteen Ministry Lesson on Going the Extra Mile

Here’s a free lesson for your preteen ministry on what it means to go the extra mile!

In this lesson, students will explore Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 5:41 and discover that following Him means doing more than the bare minimum. Instead of asking, “What’s the least I have to do?” they’ll be challenged to look for opportunities to serve, encourage, and love others in unexpected ways.

Preteens will learn that going the extra mile is one of the most practical ways they can reflect God’s love in their everyday lives.

(This lesson comes from The Extra Mile – check out the full series breakdown here.)

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 GOING THE EXTRA MILE

Lesson: What is the Extra Mile? (From The Extra Mile Series)

Bible: Matthew 5:41

Bottom Line: Jesus calls us to look for ways we can go beyond the bare minimum and do more to show God’s love to others.

SUPPLIES

Opening Game:

• 10 plastic cups
• 3 balloons
• 1 piece of paper
• Waste bin / basket
• Small prizes for each challenge (stickers, small fidgets, etc.)
• Big prizes for each challenge (share-size candies, etc.)

Teach:

• Backpack
• Optional: Small weights / books to weigh down the backpack

Small Group Activity:

• 1 clipboard per preteen
• 1 sheet of paper per preteen
• 1 writing utensil per preteen

OPENING GAME: Extra Mile Upgrade Challenge

Objective:

To illustrate the benefit of going the extra mile, along with the challenges it may bring.

Game Prep:

Have each set of challenge supplies ready.

How to Play the Game:

In this game, preteens will be selected to compete in various challenges. Call up willing preteens one at a time and give them the first challenge. If they think it’s too easy, you can offer them a chance to “go the extra mile” and make their challenge more difficult. Once a player has chosen to go for the extra mile challenge, they must attempt it. If the preteen completes the more difficult challenge, they receive a larger prize. Play multiple rounds with the challenges below.

SAY: This game is called the “Extra Mile Upgrade Challenge.”

Here’s how it works.

I’ll pick someone from the group who wants to try a challenge.

Here’s the catch – you can complete the easy challenge, and we’ll give you a nice round of applause.

Or … you can “go the extra mile” and get a harder challenge.

If you complete the harder challenge, you’ll be given a bigger prize you can share with your whole group!

Choose a player and bring them up front.

SAY: Alright, for Round 1, I’ll tell you the challenge.

Then you can decide if you want to just try the regular challenge or “go the extra mile” and win a prize if you complete it.

Round 1: Stack 10 cups into a pyramid

• Extra Mile: Stack 10 cups where cups are stacked base to base, top to top, in one single tower

Allow the preteen to choose, and congratulate them whether they succeed or fail. If they fail, give them the small prize, but if they succeed, give them a larger prize.

SAY: Great job, now for Round 2, who wants to give it a shot?

Choose more preteens, repeating the process with the challenges below.

Round 2: Keep a balloon in the air for 15 seconds

• Extra Mile: Keep 3 balloons in the air for 15 seconds

Round 3: Name 3 fruits in 10 seconds

• Extra Mile: Name 7 fruits in 10 seconds

Round 4: Toss a crumpled piece of paper into a basket

• Extra Mile: Throw a crumpled piece of paper into a basket from 10 feet away with your non-dominant hand

Round 5: Say the alphabet

• Extra Mile: Say the alphabet backward

SAY: Some of those challenges were super easy, but going the extra mile made them super hard!

A lot of the time, we want to take the easy path, but God tells us that when we go the extra mile, big things can happen!

Let’s check out what God’s Word has to say about that today.

TEACH

SAY: As you have already heard, we’re talking about the idea of going the extra mile.

This is a really popular teaching of Jesus.

In fact, many people around the world who don’t even know Jesus use this saying.

But what does it mean to go the extra mile for someone?

And then there are questions that come out of that question:

• Who do we go the extra mile for?
• How often should we go the extra mile?
• Is just going the extra mile for someone once enough?

The whole extra-mile thing can get really tricky really quickly, but it was really important to Jesus.

So let’s take a look at what Jesus has to say about going the extra mile.

Open your Bibles to Matthew 5:41.

41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.

SAY: That is it, everyone! Great lesson today, I’ll see you next week!

Okay, I’m kidding, but that does feel a bit short.

When we’re talking about going the extra mile, that is where it comes from.

So why is one sentence so important for us as Jesus followers?

In order to understand it, we need to zoom out!

We’ll start with a history lesson.

About 90 years before Jesus gave this teaching, the Roman Empire conquered Jerusalem.

Their army took over, and all of the people living there had to follow Roman law.

The Romans were not very nice about it either.

They were often unkind, mean, hateful, and violent.

They also charged taxes on all of the people who lived there.

Some people think it could have been over 50 percent of all they made.

Can you imagine having to give more than half of your money to the people who took your land and gave you a ton of hard rules to follow?

So, as you can imagine, Jewish people did not like the Romans at all.

One of the most annoying rules they had is where we get this teaching from.

Can I have a volunteer come help me?

Call up a volunteer and pull out the prepared backpack.

SAY: You see, the Roman soldiers were all around, and Roman law said if any of them ever asked you to carry their stuff, you had to.

You didn’t get a choice, and you had to go a full mile with it.

So imagine you’re super busy and in a hurry like my good friend here.

Motion to your volunteer.

SAY: If I were a Roman soldier, I could stop you.

Stop the volunteer.

SAY: Then I could make you carry my big, heavy backpack.

Place the backpack on the volunteer’s shoulders.

SAY: There was nothing you could do now but follow me.

Dramatically pace back and forth, urging the volunteer to follow.

SAY: And you would keep going … and going … and going … until you hit a mile.

Then you could drop the pack and head all the way back to where you started … a mile away.

Motion for the volunteer to drop the bag and run back the way they came.

SAY: You can imagine how annoying it must have been.

That is why this one line from the book of Matthew makes such a big impact.

Jesus was telling His followers to not just do the bare minimum.

He was telling them to do more.

To go above and beyond what they were supposed to do.

This teaching of Jesus comes from the Sermon on the Mount.

That’s the longest teaching we have recorded from Jesus.

In the Sermon on the Mount, He flips everything on its head, including how we should treat others.

Our world today tells us to be nice if someone is nice … to be mean if someone is mean … and pretty much ignore everyone else.

That is the opposite of what Jesus tells us to do.

Jesus is telling us in Matthew 5:41 that we should do more than we’re asked.

Even if the person asking is the meanest, stinkiest soldier, making you carry their stuff in the hot desert, all while taking over your homeland and taking half your money!

What Jesus is calling us to is radical love.

Jesus calls us to look for ways we can go beyond the bare minimum and do more to show God’s love to others.

He’s calling us to look at even the worst person … or the worst job … or the worst situation … and ask ourselves, “How can I do more than I’m asked?”

Think about the way people would respond normally to a Roman soldier.

They would probably be rude, unkind, mean, and angry.

I don’t think anyone would think less of someone being rude to the Romans in this case.

But what if we flipped it as Jesus told us to?

What if someone was extra kind, willing to have a nice conversation, and keep walking on like they hadn’t even passed the first mile?

That Roman soldier would be so confused!

More than that, the soldier would know there was something different about you.

What if we replaced that Roman soldier with a bully?

Instead of returning the name-calling with more unkind words, what if we complimented them?

What if we learned their favorite snacks and brought them?

What if we invited them to sit with us and took any chance we got to tell them about Jesus’s love?

That bully would know you weren’t like everyone else, and when we shared God’s love, they would know there was something different about God’s love.

Going the extra mile shows others just a glimpse of what God’s love is like too.

When we do something for someone who doesn’t deserve it, we show them the same love Jesus showed us on the cross.

Jesus wants us to look at our siblings and say, “How can I do something kind for you, even though you try to annoy me all the time?”

Or “How can I do something extra nice for my school bully?”

Or “What can I do to help out that teacher I don’t really like?”

Jesus doesn’t want us to just be kind to those who are nice to us.

Why? Because He did it first.

ASK: Who can tell me what Jesus did that could be considered going the extra mile for us?

Allow preteens to respond. Answer: Anything related to dying on the cross for our sins.

SAY: Jesus came to earth to die a death He didn’t have to.

He sacrificed His life for us so that we could know Him and have a relationship with God.

Because of that, He calls us to sacrifice as well.

He tells us that we should go the extra mile.

Jesus calls us to look for ways we can go beyond the bare minimum and do more to show God’s love to others.

So this week, think about that.

Think about ways you can go into your home, your school, your sports team, or whatever it is you do, and go the extra mile.

Jesus calls us to go the extra mile, so let’s do it together!

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY

For this activity, preteens will create an action plan to go the extra mile. They’ll be given a sheet of paper and will create four spaces where they can write down four different areas of their life. Then, in each space, they will write down names and ways they can plan to go the extra mile this week.

SAY: So now that we know what it means to go the extra mile, let’s actually plan out how to do that.

Hand each preteen a piece of paper, a writing utensil, and a clipboard.

SAY: What I want you to do first is create four squares by drawing a line down the middle of your paper from top to bottom, then side to side.

In each square, I want you to write a place you spend a lot of time.

For example, square one could be home, two could be school, three could be a friend’s house, and four could be the sport you play or a club you’re in.

Give preteens time to write and help them brainstorm ideas if they need help.

SAY: Now that we’ve got our four squares, I want you to think of the people and things that could happen in each of them.

Then I want you to write out a few ways you could go the extra mile for them.

Like maybe at home, your mom asks you to clean your room.

You can write that your extra-mile action would be to also clean up all your toys from the living room.

Spend some time talking out ideas and help your preteens make a plan.

SAY: Great job! Let’s pause and pray that God helps us go the extra mile this week!

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

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.