Preteen Ministry Lesson on Stewardship

As you know…

Stewardship is the act of managing someone else’s assets.

The money that God has given to us is not really our money. It still belongs to God!

We are called to make wise choices with our finances so that we can use these resources to build up God’s kingdom.

When we understand that it all belongs to Him, it changes the way we use and feel about money.

Use this free lesson to help preteens in your ministry become wise managers of their money.

Enjoy!

Nick Diliberto, Preteen Ministry

PRETEEN BIBLE LESSON ON STEWARDSHIP

The Point: How well do you manage the money that God has given to you?

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-27

Opening Game: What Do You Know about Money?

Let’s start this morning with a little trivia game about money. I’m going to give you a few multiple-choice questions about money, and we’ll see who’s the smartest about money.

Put the questions and multiple choice answers on screen or on a poster board. Allow kids to shout their guesses for each question. Randomly pass out chocolate coins to those who shouted the correct answer. *Answers are highlighted in bold.

1. Whose face is on the $2 bill?
2. a) James Monroe b) Ben Franklin c) Thomas Jefferson
3. Who is the only non-president to appear on a bill?
4. a) Paul Revere b) Ben Franklin c) Christopher Columbus
5. How many grooves are on the side of a quarter?
6. a) 119 b) 211 c) 307
7. How many times can a $5 be folded back and forth before it tears?
8. a) 600 b) 2,000 c) 4,000
9. If you had a mile of pennies, how much money would you have?
10. a) $844.80 b) $643.32 c) $538.12

Those are some really interesting facts about money, and you guys did pretty well with the answers. Unfortunately, knowing some fun facts about money does not make you wise with money. It doesn’t help you make wise choices about how you deal with money that you may or may not have. So, where do we go to learn how to be wise with money? (Pause for responses)

Yes! We look to God’s Word for help. The Bible has thousands of verses that teach us about money. Whether you have money now or not, this is a great time to learn how God wants you to deal with money. 

Teach – Stewardship

Today, we’re going to be talking about MONEY! Whether you have a lot of it or none of it, we need to understand what the Bible teaches us about money.

How many of you get an allowance or something similar? (Pause for responses) How many of you typically get some cash for your birthday or around Christmas time? (Pause for responses) How many of you have ever just found some money lying in the parking lot? The point is that we’ve all possessed some cash at some point in our lives. $5, $10, or $100—it’s really exciting to think of how we’ll spend it or what we could possible do with that amount of cash!

When we talk about money, we need to understand the word STEWARDSHIP. Does anyone know what this word means? (Pause for responses.)

Stewardship is managing someone else’s stuff. It’s like this, say, I took a cupcake and gave it to you. Then I said, “This is my cupcake. Will you please hold it for me and make sure that no one else takes it, eats its, licks the icing, or even touches it with their grubby hands!”

You are now holding the cupcake, but is it really yours? No, it’s still mine! You’re just holding it for me, and you are supposed to be following the instructions that I gave you. This is stewardship.

Stewardship is important because everything belongs to God. It’s all His! Our money, our time, and our talents—it all belongs to God. He has given it to us to use, but it still belongs to Him. Since “our money” is really God’s money, we need to follow His instructions on how to use it. Let’s study one of Jesus’ parables about money and stewardship. Open your Bibles to Matthew 25:14-18. Let’s read the first part of this story…

Read Matthew 25:14-18

Beforehand, prepare 15 bags of coins. Use the bags to illustrate the rest of the parable. (Matthew 25:19-27)

The story begins with the master entrusting his money with three servants. This was a lot of cash, and he wanted to see how the servants would deal with the responsibility. After being gone for a period of time, the master returned and called for the servants to see what they had done with the money.

The first servant came and showed the master that he had doubled the 5 bags of gold. When the master saw the 10 bags of gold, he said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” 

Then the second servant returned with his 2 bags of gold plus 2 more bags of gold! He had also doubled the master’s money. Again the master said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Then, the third servant arrived with just the 1 bag of gold that he had been given. He said that instead of investing it or trying to work for more, he had hid the money in the ground. The master was furious with the third servant. He asked the lazy servant why he didn’t at least invest it in the bank so that it would gain a little bit of interest. He took away the bag of gold and gave it to the first servant who had been wise with the master’s money.

The first and second servants were wise with the money given to them. They showed that they could be trusted. They took the responsibility seriously and they doubled the master’s money. Then, the master let them share in His happiness because they had been wise with the money he gave them.

This parable is a great picture of how God wants us to deal with money—an all the other resources he has given to us. The master in this story represents Jesus. Just as the master went away for a while, Jesus has gone to Heaven but will one-day return. When he does return, he will want to know what we did with the resources He gave us to use? He’ll ask, “How well did you manage my stuff?”

The reason God gives us His resources is so that we can use them to build up His kingdom. When it comes to money, God wants to know that we manage it wisely and use it to bring glory and honor to Him. We still get to use it for our needs and enjoy it, but its main purpose should be to bring glory to God and build up His kingdom.

We really want you to focus on being wise with money. How well do you manage the money that God has given to you?

When you get your allowance, do you spend it all as fast as you can or do you have a plan to save some? When your grandma drops a $100 bill in your Christmas stocking, do you give part of that back to God or just keep it all for yourself?

Being wise with money doesn’t come naturally. I think that’s why the Bible says so much about money and warns us not to let the love of money control us. To be wise with money, we have to have a plan.

You can develop a wise-money plan by first talking with you parents. Ask them to help you set up some rules and be accountable for the way you deal with money. You can also create a budget to wisely use the money that you’re given. If you get $10 a month, decide how much of that you’re going to give back to God, how much you’re going to save, and how much of that you’re going to spend on the things you need or want. You can think about that more and get started on that plan in small groups.

We want you to remember that it everything belongs to God. Every last penny is His, and we’re just managing it. He has given us His money to do His work. How we manage our money tells a lot about our relationship with God.

Our bottom line for today is a question that we want you to think about. Here it is..

How well do you manage the money that God has given to you?

You’ll have a chance to talk more about that in small group. I want to encourage you to also talk with your parents about this. They are the best help that you have for making wise choices with money. Plus, if you show them that you want to work on being wise with money, they might just start trusting you with more of it!

Small Group – Being Wise with Money

Print a copy of My Budget Worksheet forr each preteen.

Begin a discussion with the preteens in your group about being budgeting money wisely. Start by defining the different words used in the Budget Worksheet. 

Explain the following definitions for preteens:

• Salary—the amount of money you receive weekly, monthly, or on a special occasion. This could include an allowance, money earned for chores/work, or gifts that are received.
• Tithe/Offering—the amount of money that you give back to God through the Church. This can also include additional offerings to other ministries or charitable causes.
• Long-Term Savings—the amount of money that you do not touch, borrow, or spend. Long-term savings is a good practice that will help once you’re a late teenager or adult.
• Short-Term Savings—the amount of money you put aside to buy something that costs more than you get on a weekly or monthly basis (phone, iPad, clothes, shoes)
• Spending—the amount of money you have available to use for immediate needs and wants

The budget suggestion that will be used with preteens looks like the following:

For any given amount of Salary (allowance, gift money, etc.), the preteen budgets:

• Tithe 10%    
• Long-Term Savings  10%    
• Short-Term Savings  40%    
• Spending 40%

After explaining the definitions, give each preteen a copy of “My Budget Worksheet.”

1. Instruct them to begin by entering a Salary that they might receive in a typical month. If they don’t receive money on a regular basis, have them use $40/month ($10/week). This is just an exercise!
2. Instruct them to decide what portion of the salary they will give back to God. Explain that 10% is a common amount that is used based on Old Testament examples, but it could be more or less than that.
3. Instruct them to figure 10% of their salary into Long-Term Savings. Have them write out some of the things this money could be used for: wedding, car, college, house, etc.)
4. Instruct them to 40% of the salary for short-term savings. Have them think of a large item they really want to purchase. How much is the item and how quickly do they want to buy it? (Example: If you receive $10/week and you put $5 a week into short-term savings each week, then you could purchase a $50 video game by the end of just 10 weeks.)
5. Instruct them to figure 40% of their salary for spending. Encourage them to think through the things that they would use this money to purchase. After they’ve made a list, have them label each item as a need or want. Remind them that just because this money is called Spending, it doesn’t have to be spent. If their list includes more items in the want category, then they could put a larger percentage into tithe/offering or into savings.

Strongly encourage preteens to share the “My Budget Worksheet” with their parents. Remind them that their parents have the right to change anything on the worksheet because they are in charge.

After preteens have finished their worksheet, discuss the following questions as a group:

1. What questions or comments came to your mind during Large Group?
2. What is stewardship?
3. How does knowing that “our money” is really God’s money change the choices we make?
4. How were the first and second servants wise with money? Why did the master call the third servant lazy and punish him?
5. What does this parable teach us about the way God expects us to handle His resources (money, talents, etc.)?
6. What are some things that can help us be wise with money?
7. On a scale from 1 to 10, how well do you manage the money that God has given to you? How can you improve?

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