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SPK Resource Page

Welcome to the resource page for St Peter’s Kids.

Each Sunday, Seekers and Diggers will normally explore the same Bible passage or theme as the rest of the church, but in ways appropriate to their different ages.

The aim is to help the children:

  • engage seriously with the Bible;
  • grasp one clear central truth;
  • understand why it matters;
  • respond appropriately to God;
  • enjoy being together and build good relationships.

How to use this page

These are resources, not a script. Please use your knowledge of the children and your own strengths as a leader. You do not need to use everything listed here.

A clear, engaging conversation about the Bible is much more valuable than an elaborate activity which does not help the children understand the passage.

Seekers and Diggers

Seekers — Reception to Year 2: think especially about short sections, concrete language, repetition, movement, visual material and questions they can genuinely answer.

Diggers — Years 3 to 6: give the children genuine opportunities to read the Bible, notice things in the text, think, question, discuss and respond. Material should feel appropriate for older primary-aged children, not patronising or babyish.

What about craft?

Craft can be excellent when it reinforces the Bible teaching or helps children respond to it. Some leaders enjoy preparing craft activities and do them very well. Other leaders find them stressful. Craft is entirely optional. Please include it when it will genuinely help. Please feel no obligation to include it when it will not.

Sunday 6th September

Service resources

Key verse

  • “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (12.7)
  • Theme: God gives different gifts to different Christians so that we can serve one another.
  • Aim: To help the children see that God makes his people different on purpose, and that what he gives us is to be used for the good of others rather than to make ourselves look important.

Things to notice in the passage

  • Verses 4–6 repeat the pattern: different gifts — same Spirit; different service — same Lord; different activities — same God.
  • Paul holds together both difference and unity.
  • Verse 7 explains the purpose: gifts are given “for the common good.”
  • The key question is not simply “What am I good at?” but “How can what God has given me benefit other people?”

Possible approach for Seekers

You might begin with several different objects which are useful for completely different jobs (eg. a spoon, a torch, a paintbrush, a screwdriver, a shoe).

  • Start with several objects designed for different jobs — perhaps a spoon, torch, paintbrush, screwdriver and shoe.
  • Ask what each is useful for. Why would it be silly to complain that a torch cannot do the job of a spoon?
  • Connect this with church: God gives different people different abilities and ways of serving.
  • Ask who helps at St Peter’s and what different things they do.
  • Keep returning to: God gives different things to different people so that we can help one another.

Possible approach for Diggers

Give the children the passage and ask them to investigate verses 4–11.

  • Read verses 4–11 and ask the children to identify what is different and what stays the same.
  • Ask who gives the gifts, who decides which gifts people receive, and what verse 7 says they are for.
  • Explore two attitudes: “Their gift is better than mine” and “My gift makes me more important.”
  • Ask what Paul would say to each.
  • Discuss: Why might Christians become jealous or proud about gifts, and how does verse 7 correct that?

Connecting it with St Peter’s

  • Think of different ways people serve: teaching, welcoming, music, coffee, children’s work, cleaning, praying, practical help, generosity and encouragement.
  • Ask which kinds of service are highly visible and which are easily overlooked.
  • The point is simple: different people serve other people in different ways, and all of it matters.

Possible activities

  • Team task: give children different roles in one shared challenge, then ask what would happen if everybody tried to do the same job.
  • Gifts for the common good: give examples of different abilities and ask how each could be used to help somebody else.
  • Craft: optional, if it reinforces the central point.

Prayer

  • Thank God for making people different.
  • Thank him for people who serve us.
  • Ask God to help us use what he gives us for the good of others.

Further resources

Sunday 13th September

Service resources

Key verse, theme and aim

  • “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (12:27)
  • Theme: Every Christian belongs to Christ’s body, and every member matters.
  • Aim: To help the children understand that Christians need one another: nobody should think that they do not matter, and nobody should think that they do not need everybody else.

Things to notice

  • Paul tackles two opposite mistakes: “I don’t belong” and “I don’t need you.”
  • Verses 15–16 address the person who thinks they do not matter.
  • Verse 21 addresses the person who thinks somebody else does not matter.
  • The church needs difference, dependence and mutual care.

Possible approach for Seekers

  • Use the picture of a body with different parts doing different jobs.
  • Ask what would happen if the whole body were one giant eye, ear or foot.
  • Explain that a hand does not stop belonging because it is not an eye.
  • Connect this with church: different people belong and help in different ways.
  • Keep returning to: Everybody in God’s church matters.

Possible approach for Diggers

  • Read verses 14–27 and ask the children to find Paul’s answers to “I don’t belong” and “I don’t need you.”
  • Ask which of those attitudes they think is easier to fall into.
  • Discuss whether someone can be very noticeable in church without being more important.
  • Ask who might easily feel overlooked or unimportant.
  • Ask whom we might be tempted not to notice or value.

Possible activities

  • Impossible body: design a body with far too many of one body part and none of another.
  • Team challenge: use a task where different roles genuinely matter.
  • Church body: think of different people and ministries at St Peter’s and how they contribute.

Prayer

  • Thank God that different people belong in his church.
  • Pray for people whose service is easily overlooked.
  • Ask God to help us value one another properly.

Further resources

Sunday 20th September

Service resources

  • Draft service sheet: to follow
  • Reading: 1 Corinthians 13
  • Summary: Paul shows that even impressive Christian gifts are worthless without love.

Key verse, theme and aim

  • “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (13:13)
  • Theme: However gifted we are, what matters most is loving others.
  • Aim: To help the children see that Christian love is more than a feeling: it changes how we treat other people.

Things to notice

  • Chapter 13 sits between chapters 12 and 14, where Paul is talking about spiritual gifts.
  • Verses 1–3 show that impressive gifts without love amount to nothing.
  • Verses 4–7 describe what love looks like in practice.
  • The passage is not merely saying “try harder to be nice.” Christian love reflects the love God has shown us.

Possible approach for Seekers

  • Focus on a few clear phrases: love is patient; love is kind; love does not boast; love is not rude.
  • Give simple situations involving siblings, school or friends.
  • Ask: What might love look like here?
  • Keep the examples concrete and brief.
  • Connect our love for others with God’s love for us.

Possible approach for Diggers

  • Ask why chapter 13 comes between chapters 12 and 14.
  • Read verses 1–3 and ask what impressive things someone can do while still getting something fundamentally wrong.
  • Discuss what a very gifted but unloving church would actually feel like to belong to.
  • Use verses 4–7 as a diagnostic: which descriptions of love are hardest?
  • Ask how the passage challenges pride, irritability, self-interest and resentment.

Possible activities

  • What would love do? Use realistic scenarios involving friendship, siblings, sport, winning, losing and exclusion.
  • Rewrite the situation: take a selfish response and ask how the outcome changes if somebody acts patiently and kindly.
  • Craft: optional; use only if it genuinely helps reinforce the passage.

Prayer

  • Thank God for his love.
  • Ask forgiveness for ways we fail to love others.
  • Ask God to help us become people who are patient, kind and concerned for others.

Further resources