Gospel Project - The Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel Genesis 11 1

The Tower of Babel Genesis 11

Story Point: People tried to build a tower to glorify themselves instead of God. Big Picture Question: Who is God? God is our Creator and King.

Christ Connection: People chose to give glory to themselves instead of God. They ignored God’s plan, so God confused their language and scattered the people all over the earth. One day, Jesus will gather together all of God’s people—people from every tribe and people who speak all kinds of languages— and they will worship Him together.

(Revelation 7:9-10) Key Passage: Colossians 1:16b-17 2

The Tower of Babel Genesis 11

Key Passage: Colossians 1:16b Babies & Toddlers Christ Connection: One day, people from all over the world will worship Jesus together.

Preschool Christ Connection: People chose to make themselves famous instead of God. God mixed up their language and spread out the people all over the earth. One day, Jesus will bring His people back together. People from every group and every language will worship Him together. (Revelation 7:9-10) Big Picture Question: Who is God? God is our Creator and King.

Story Point for Babies & Toddlers: God made everything.

Story Point for Preschoolers: People wanted to build a tower to make themselves famous.

Gospel Gems: • God mixed up people’s words.

• People spread out all over the earth.

• One day, Jesus will bring people together again.

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Parents: 3 Easy Step Lesson 5: The Tower of Babel Genesis 11 #1) Watch: The Video with Cindy Garcia, our Kids’ Director, teaching the main story through the Gospel Project Video: The Tower of Babel found on the Sunday Liturgy #2) (Optional) Re-Read: The BIBLE Story as a family or Life Group & Ask the BIG PICTURE QUESTION to each other. (Notice there are 2 different ages for the story) #3) Do: Optional activities broken down by age groups (Edited to be quick and easy with family and/or Life Group)

The Tower of Babel- Genesis 11 PreK-5th Grade level After the great flood, God told Noah and his sons to grow their families and fill the earth. Noah’s sons and their wives had children. Their families grew, and the people started to travel through the land.

At this time, everyone in the world spoke the same language.

One day, the people traveled through a valley. They liked it there, and they decided to stay.

“We don’t want to be scattered all over the earth,” they said. “Let’s build a city and a tower so big that it touches the sky. The tower will make us famous!”

The people were not doing what God had told them to do. They wanted to be as important as God. They were saying “Look how great we are,” instead of “Look how great God is.” They wanted glory for themselves instead of God. But God is greater than anyone. God created people to give glory to Him alone.

The people made bricks out of clay and baked them in the fire to make stones. Then they used the stones to start building the tower.

God came down to look at the tower. God said, “If they are doing this, they will keep thinking up more bad things to do.” So God mixed up the people’s words. Instead of everyone speaking the same language, everyone spoke different languages.

When people tried to make plans, they could not understand what other people were saying. If one workman said, “Hand me another brick,” nobody else knew what he wanted.

The people had to stop building the city. Families had to move away from each other to live with people they could understand. God made it so the people did just what He had told them to do after the

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flood. They were scattered all over the world. The city with the unfinished tower was called Babel (BAY buhl).

Christ Connection: People chose to give glory to themselves instead of God. They ignored God’s plan, so God confused their language and scattered the people all over the earth. One day, Jesus will gather together all of God’s people—people from every tribe and people who speak all kinds of languages—and they will worship Him together. (Revelation 7:9-10)

The Tower of Babel Bible Story for Toddlers After the flood, God told Noah’s family to spread out and fill the earth again. But the people did not listen! They moved to a valley to build their own city and tower out of bricks. They wanted the tower to reach up to the sky.

They wanted to be as great as God is, but God is greater than anyone. God mixed up their words so the builders could not understand one another. They had to stop building the city. People spread out all over the earth to live with others who spoke words they could understand. The city with the unfinished tower was called Babel (BAY buhl).

Gospel Gems God mixed up people’s words.

People spread out all over the earth.

One day, Jesus will bring people together again.

Christ Connection: One day, people from every nation will worship Jesus together.

PreK-5th: Easy & Quick Activities: Option 1: M-um-umble J-um-umble Teach the kids a “secret” language by inserting an um sound directly before each vowel sound in a word. For example, the story point would become Pumeople trumied tumo bumuild uma tumowumer tumo glumorumifumy thumemsumelves uminstumead umof Gumod.

Say • Wow! It was very hard to understand one another when we used that mumbled, jumbled language!

When you expect a person to speak a language you understand, it can be frustrating to hear him or her speak a language you don’t. Do you think it would keep you from finishing a project together? Today we will hear about a time God mixed up people’s languages. Why do you think He did that?

Option 2: Opposites challenge (change this to fit your family size) Form two teams. Invite a player from each team to stand at the front of the room. Position a bell or buzzer between the players (or use your phone). Explain that you will announce a word, and the player who can name its opposite must hit the bell.

Call on the first player who hits the bell to give an answer. If she answers correctly, award her team one point. If incorrect, allow the other player to answer and earn a point for his team.

Invite two new players to compete in each additional round. Begin with simple opposites and then increase the challenge in subsequent rounds. Use the pairs suggested or provide your own: hot/cold, wet/dry, on/off, up/ down, light/dark, long/short, back/front, under/over, full/empty, top/bottom, low/high, apart/ together.

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Say • Have you ever done the opposite of what a parent or teacher told you to do? Did you face any consequences? In today’s Bible story, God told the people on earth to spread out, but they decided to stay put. We will find out what happened to them.

Option 3: Construction challenge To prepare, cut drinking straws into 2- or 3-inch lengths. Give a lump of play dough and a bundle of straws. Challenge the kids (& Life Group) to work together to construct a tower. Kids can form small balls of play dough and use them to connect the straws. After several minutes, compare towers to see which is the tallest or which can hold the most weight.

Say • The tallest buildings in the world today are more than 2,000 feet tall. Today’s Bible story is about people who wanted to build a tower with its top in the sky. We aren’t sure exactly how tall this tower was, but their construction project did not end how they imagined. Let’s find out what happened.

3rd-5th Graders: Discussion & Bible skills (10 minutes) Bring out your Bibles help kids find Genesis 11. Remind them that Genesis is the first book in the Bible, as well as the first book in the group of books known as the Law. Demonstrate how to use the table of contents to find books, then point out the large and small numbers that separate each book into chapters and verses. Read the passage or review the story using the bolded sections of the Bible story. Then ask the following questions, guiding discussion as suggested.

What had God asked Noah’s family to do after they got off the ark? (multiply in number and spread out on the earth, Gen. 9:7) What did people do instead? (settle in a valley to build a tall tower, Gen. 11:2-4) Why did they want to build a tower? (to make a name for themselves and bring themselves glory, Gen. 11:4) How did God stop them and force them to spread around the world? (God confused their language, Gen. 11:7) God always does what is good and right. Can you think of reasons it was good and right for God to confuse the people’s languages and stop their building project? Guide kids to see that our purpose as people who bear God’s image is to glorify Him and spread His glory through the earth. By scattering the people, God was helping them obey His perfect command.

Why is it bad to seek glory for yourself? Guide kids to see that seeking glory for ourselves is a result of pride and the belief that we are better than others, or even better than God. Remind kids that only God deserves glory because He is our Creator and King.

How can you give God glory instead of seeking glory for yourself? Guide kids to see that when we work hard and point others to God, it shows that we trust Him and know that He has given us life and the talents and skills we need. When we succeed, we praise God to show others that He is glorious and helps us succeed.

1-3yr olds: Easy & Quick Activities: Play with building tools Set out toys like blocks, boxes…things that you can build towers with.

Say • The people in today’s Bible story made God sad with how they used their tools. People wanted to build a tower to make themselves famous. Instead of saying, “Look how great God is,” they said, “Look how great we are!” One day, people from every group and every language will worship Jesus together.

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Sort nuts and bolts

Set out an assortment of nuts and bolts. Provide shallow baskets or bowls for preschoolers to sort the nuts and bolts into. Show a preschooler how to thread a nut onto a bolt as he or she shows interest.

Say • These nuts and bolts are used for building. The people in our Bible story probably did not have nuts and bolts like these when they were building their tower. God was not happy about what they were doing.

People wanted to build a tower to make themselves famous, but God created people to make Him famous. Only He deserves to be worshiped because God is our Creator and King.

Experiment with block shadows

Weather permitting, go outside with a large sheet of paper and blocks. Find a flat area where the sun casts a clear shadow. Lay the paper on the flat surface. Invite kids to build on the paper with blocks. Point out the shadow the blocks create. Allow preschooler to observe the different shadows created by stacking blocks in different heights and patterns.

Say • The shadow cast by the tower the people in today’s Bible story were building would have been enormous! People wanted to build a tower to make themselves famous. God mixed up their language and the people spread out over the earth. One day, Jesus will bring His people back together.

People from every group and every language will worship Him together.

Say “Jesus is Lord” in different languages

Lead kids in practicing saying “Jesus is Lord” in different languages. Use the provided translations below. Use an online translating tool to hear the proper pronunciations.

Spanish: Jesus es el Señor.

French: Jésus est Seigneur.

Portuguese: Jesus é senhor.

Swahili: Yesu ni Bwana German: Jesus ist der Herr.

Say • One day, people from every group and every language will worship Jesus together. Let’s pray that many people in London will believe the good news about Jesus.

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STORY POINT: PEOPLE WANTED TO BUILD A TOWER TO MAKE THEMSELVES FAMOUS.

The Tower of Babel Genesis 11

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Draw a line connecting each brick with where it belongs on the tower.

The Tower of Babel INSTRUCTIONS:

Preschool Activity Pages

Unit 1 • Session 5

The Tower of Babel

BIBLE STORY SUMMARY:

1:16b

• People wanted to build a tower to make themselves famous.

• God was not happy about what they were doing.

• God mixed up their language and the people spread out over the earth.

KEY PASSAGE: Colossians

BIG PICTURE QUESTION:

• Who is God? God is our Creator and King.

FAMILY DISCUSSION STARTERS:

• Why was God not happy that the people wanted to build a tower?

• Name a time you have tried to make yourself famous.

• What will happen when Jesus brings His people back together?

FAMILY ACTIVITY:

• Host a family competition to build the tallest block tower. Review the Bible story. Talk about doing all things for God’s glory.

• Attend a worship service as a family in a language different than your own. Talk about what it will be like to hear people in every language worship Jesus together.

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LIFEWAY KIDS APP

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Made Famous What do you want everyone to know about you? Write words or draw pictures in the space below.

Š 2020 LifeWay

True or False?

Circle whether each statement is true or false.

Read Genesis 11:1-9 to check your answers and correct the false statements.

FALSE

1. At one time, everyone on earth spoke the same language.

TRUE

FALSE

2. The people cut wooden planks to build with.

TRUE

FALSE

3. The people wanted to build an island for themselves.

TRUE

FALSE

4. The people did not want to be scattered throughout the earth.

TRUE

FALSE

5. God confused the people’s language and scattered them throughout the earth.

TRUE

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