Welcome to The Parable of the Loving Father, the story Jesus tells in Luke 15: 11-32.
What an important lesson to teach our children, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:38-39!) The world is full of hurting people who need to hear this, don’t you think? Who hasn’t made mistakes and felt out of the circle– and who hasn’t also felt a tinge of resentment when someone not playing by the rules gets a free ride? (Or maybe that’s just me!) Awareness of God’s grace is so important to our kids. It’s a perfect discussion topic for this week.
If you’re one of our Sunday school teachers at FBC Greenville, you will receive an email with the script included. Let me know if you didn’t get it or have trouble opening it and I’ll see if I can fix the problem. (If you’re at another church and would like to use the script, send me an email and I’m happy to send it to you. Or join this site and get this script and 9 others.)
The parable is in a gold box (after all, it’s a parable!) in your Sunday school rooms, ready for you.
Now, how can we help the children deepen their exploration and understanding of the story through their art response time? What ideas can serve as springboards for their own creativity in making a gift for God?
Starter Ideas for Art Response

1. Have a celebration feast, just like the father threw for the son, celebrating God’s special kind of love. The kids could decorate cookies–or here’s something corny… eat pigs in blankets–reminding them of the pigs the son took care of. You could eat at the end and spend the first few minutes making it really special, letting the children make have decorations for the table-like a tablecloth full of love messages to God. Candles on the table would be nice. And as you prepare, you could help the children remember what the feast is all about: honoring God, who loves us and welcomes us back to him, no matter what we do, no matter if we misbehave or if we stick so closely to the rules that we miss the whole point of love all together.

We have a few of these frames in the resource room. If you give me a call before noon on Thursday, I can let you know how many we have and put them in your room for you.
4. Why not make a door out of popsicle sticks, with the sign on it that says, “Welcome Home!” That’s a great reminder of the father who waits, ready to welcome home his son no matter what he’s done.
For more art response ideas, see my Pinterest board on the parable, here.
Love, Becky