Free Preteen Ministry Lesson on Trusting Jesus

Here’s a free lesson for your preteen ministry on trusting Jesus when life feels shaky!

If your preteens ever feel overwhelmed by change or unsure what to do next, this lesson meets them right there. Students will explore the story of the storm in Mark 4 and discover how Jesus brings calm in the middle of chaos—and how they can trust Him no matter what changes come their way.

(This lesson comes from What’s Next – check out the full series breakdown here.)

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 TRUSTING JESUS

Lesson: Calm in the Storm (From the What’s Next series)

Bible: Mark 4:35-41, Psalm 18:2

Bottom Line: Jesus brings calm even when life is shaky.

SUPPLIES

Opening Game:

• 6-10 indoor gym discs (as an alternative, tape marks on the floor work also)

Small Group Activity:

• Bowl of water
• Rock big enough to stick out of the water and hold a Lego minifigure
• 2 Lego minifigures
• Paper towel
• Super glue

OPENING GAME:

Objective: To demonstrate that life can feel shaky sometimes, but having a solid place to stand matters.

Game Prep:

Decide ahead of time how many “rocks” you’ll need for the game. The rocks will be made with the supply you chose – indoor gym discs or taped X’s on the floor.

You’ll need enough rocks so that most of your preteens can get a foot onto a rock when you tell them to (two preteens per rock), but few enough rocks so that some preteens won’t be able to. This is how preteens will get out. See the game summary below.

How to Play the Game:

For this game, everyone begins by moving around the play space while the leader calls out different actions like crawling, jumping, skipping, etc. At random moments, the leader will yell, “SHAKE!” and players must quickly place one foot on a “rock,” which the leader has already placed around the play space. Only two players are allowed per rock, and anyone who isn’t on a rock is out. After each round, one rock is removed, and play continues until only two players remain as the winners.

SAY: We are playing an awesome game tonight.

It’s called Rock Solid.

All around the room are “rocks.”

Point to the rocks.

SAY: In a minute, you will start walking around the room.

I will call out different actions to do as you move.

For example, if I say “swim,” you will all pretend to be swimming.

Demonstrate swimming.

SAY: But if I yell out “SHAKE!” … you must find your way quickly to a safe, solid spot, like a rock.

Point to the rocks again.

SAY: A couple of things, the rocks are not huge … so only two of you can fit on a rock at one time.

Also, after every round, I will remove a rock.

If you can’t find your way to a rock when the world starts shaking, you sink and are out.

The last two remaining on solid ground are our winners.

Play the game, then get preteens settled in for the lesson.

SAY: That was a super fun game.

I’m glad at least a couple of you made it to solid ground when things started to shake up.

TEACH

SAY: Today we are kicking off a new series called What’s Next.

We are talking about what happens when our world starts shaking things up.

For you, that might look like a new school year, a friend acting differently, your schedule changing, or something unexpected happening at home.

ASK: Can you think of any other common changes preteens might experience?

Allow preteens to answer, interacting with their answers.

Add additional ideas if necessary, like siblings being born, moving, a new animal in the house, loss of a pet or loved one, a new class, friendship struggles, divorce, etc.

SAY: Some of these changes are small, and some are really big.

The point is that everyone experiences change in their lives.

And I really want you to be able to answer the question “What’s Next?” confidently when a change comes up that makes you feel shaky.

So, today we are looking at how God helps us when changes are shaking up our lives.

In this story, you’re going to see that the change the disciples experience is pretty big.

But even small changes can make us feel shaky – and this story helps all of us know how to face changes – big or small.

Turn in your Bibles to Mark 4:35-39.

If you go up higher in chapter 4, it says that Jesus was teaching a large crowd and that He also spent time explaining all the parables taught that day to His disciples.

So I want you to imagine for a second that you have just spent all day long teaching and explaining … you would probably be pretty tired!

Let’s read what happens next:

35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”

36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).

37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!”Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.

SAY: So we’ve got Jesus and His disciples.

They had been around a large crowd all day, and Jesus had taught all day.

Jesus said, “Let’s get in the boat and go to the other side of the lake where it is quiet.”

Many of the disciples were fishermen.

They had ridden in boats on lakes tons of times.

It would have been completely normal for them.

So they pushed off and headed on their way.

Jesus, who was tired from teaching all day, took a nap in the boat.

ASK: But can someone tell me what happened next?

Allow preteens to answer.

SAY: Suddenly, the disciples were faced with an unexpected change – a bad storm came out of nowhere!

This wasn’t just a little rainstorm.

This was the kind of storm that made experienced fishermen like the disciples terrified!

It made them think they were going to die.

It was a scary moment.

ASK: So, what was Jesus doing during this terrible storm?

Allow preteens to answer.

SAY: He was sound asleep!

The disciples were panicking, so they woke Jesus up.

The passage says that they “woke him up, shouting, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?’”

Let’s pause for a second right here before we move on.

Have you ever felt like this when something changed in your life?

Maybe you lost a loved one or found out you had to move to a new school.

Maybe someone in your family got sick or you got sick.

Maybe life turned upside when your new little brother or sister came home or your parents got a divorce.

And you wondered why Jesus didn’t seem to be doing anything.

Feeling this way doesn’t mean you’re a bad Christian.

We see the disciples in our Bible passage feeling the exact same way, and they brought their question to Jesus.

This is HUGE for us to notice!

There was a sudden change in their situation that left them feeling uneasy, to say the least.

And they brought their question to Jesus.

They asked Him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

We can do the same thing!

When we are up against a change in our life, and that change leaves us feeling uneasy or shaky …

The answer to the question “What’s Next?” is simple: Bring that concern to Jesus.

So then what happened when the disciples brought their question to Jesus?

Well, He stood up in the boat, completely calm, and told the weather to be still.

Instantly the wind stopped, the waves died down, and the water became smooth again.

It was totally calm.

ASK: What do you think the disciples were thinking?

Allow preteens to answer.

ASK: What do you think Jesus was thinking?

Allow preteens to answer.

SAY: Let’s turn back to Scripture to see what happened next.

Mark 4:40-41 says this:

40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

SAY: Jesus looked at His friends, the disciples, and asked two very important questions.

1. “Why are you so afraid?”
2. “Do you still have no faith?”

Jesus wasn’t angry with the disciples or disappointed in them.

He wasn’t saying, “You’re bad for being scared.”

He was telling them, “I’m right here with you. If I’m with you, you’re in good hands.”

Having faith doesn’t mean we’ll never feel scared.

It means we choose to trust Jesus even when we are.

The disciples saw Jesus’s power, and it helped them realize something we need to know too: Jesus brings calm even when life is shaky.

Sometimes we think that trusting Jesus means life will always be calm.

But trusting Jesus really means knowing He’s with us even when everything around us is changing.

Jesus is always in the boat with us.

For a preteen, trusting Jesus during a storm might look like:

• Pausing before you react to a change
• Putting reminders where you’ll see them that say, “Jesus is with me”
• Or stopping to send up quick prayers to Jesus whenever you need to – prayers like “Jesus, help me with this” … just like the disciples did

Let’s look at one more passage today.

Turn to Psalm 18:2.

ASK: Would someone read this for us?

2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
  my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
  He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.

SAY: Thank you for reading that.

A rock doesn’t move when things shake – and God doesn’t either.

This verse tells us He is a fortress, a savior, a rock, a place to find protection.

He’s a shield with the power to save and a place of safety.

The disciples started the trip thinking Jesus was just their teacher.

They ended it realizing He had the power to calm a storm and the authority to make the wind stop blowing.

When our lives feel stormy, when they are shaking and we are afraid and anxious, Jesus is our calm, our safety, and our peace.

We can trust Him no matter what waves come our way.

Let’s pray.

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY

This object lesson uses a bowl of water, a paper towel, a rock, and two glued-on minifigures to show the difference between trusting unstable things and trusting Jesus. As the “storm” (moving water) begins, the paper towel quickly falls apart and sinks, illustrating how feelings, routines, or self-reliance can’t hold us steady in hard times. But when the second minifigure stands on the rock, it remains firm even as the water moves.

Before you begin the activity, use superglue to attach one minifigure to the paper towel and one minifigure to the rock.

At the start of the activity, set the bowl of water where everyone in the group can see it.

SAY: This bowl of water represents our lives.

Sometimes life is calm, but sometimes it gets stormy.

Gently move the water in the bowl as you describe storms we face.

SAY: Things change, problems appear, and life feels out of control.

Storms can be things like moving or losing someone you love.

They can be friendship drama, school stress, or feeling left out.

Storms shake up our lives.

Place the folded paper towel with the glued-on minifigure in the water.

SAY: This paper towel represents things we sometimes trust to hold us steady.

Maybe our feelings, other people, routines, or thinking we can figure it all out and handle it on our own.

Our minifigure here is glued to the paper, because he’s relying on those things to help him.

Gently shake the bowl so the water moves. Pause and let the group watch as the paper towel sinks and the Lego minifigure plunges to the bottom.

ASK: What’s happening to the paper towel and the Lego man?

Allow preteens to answer.

SAY: Even though it looked fine at first, the paper towel couldn’t hold up the Lego guy once the storm started.

A lot of the things we trust to feel strong when life is calm can’t handle a fierce storm.

Remove the paper towel and Lego minifigure.

Place the rock with the glued-on minifigure in the water.

Shake the water again.

SAY: This rock represents Jesus.

The storm is raging again and the water is moving all over.

And just like our other minifigure was relying on the paper towel to help him, this minifigure is relying on Jesus to help him!

Because he’s relying on Jesus, our Lego man is standing on the rock and he is not sinking in the storm.

The rock isn’t soaking up the water.

It’s not collapsing.

The rock stays steady.

In the passage we read earlier in Mark 4, the disciples were in a real storm.

The waves were crashing, the boat was filling with water, and they were terrified.

But Jesus was in the boat with them, and the storm was not stronger than Jesus.

Jesus never promises that storms won’t come into our lives.

But He promises to be our rock in the middle of them.

ASK: Will someone read Psalm 18:2 for us again?

2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
  my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
  He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.

SAY: When things change and life is scary or uncertain and we don’t know what’s next, we can choose to stand on our Rock, Jesus, trusting He is steady, even when everything else isn’t.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

End Lesson.

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.