LDS Primary Sharing Time July 2014 Week 1: The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored.

July 2014 Sharing Time Topic: We Become Members of the Church through Baptism and Confirmation

July 2014 Scripture: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). 

July 2014  Week 1 Topic:  The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. 

Preparation:
Prayerfully study and think about what the specific needs of your primary are and how you can teach them this doctrine.  

Identify the doctrine:  Prepare poster to repeat the 6th Article of Faith together. Gather picture of the Prophet Joseph Smith and a picture of Jesus teaching the people.

Help the Children Understand the doctrine: Prepare the building blocks. (As I prepared the building blocks, I read through the lesson from the Gospel Principles book: Chapter 16: The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times, I would recommend reading through it before preparing this week's sharing time) Gather pictures of the Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection. 

Help them apply the doctrine in their lives: Gather picture of the First Vision and prepare to rebuild with the same blocks previously used in the beginning of the lesson. 

Free Printables: (Printing Tip: Click on image to open and then save image to your computer.  You can then print the image from your computer.

 6th Article of Faith Poster

Labels to put on Blocks & This Week's Theme Poster

Sharing Time Instruction:

Begin sharing time by inviting the children to repeat or sing the sixth Article of Faith together. (See printable above)  Explain that the sixth Article of Faith explains that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is organized the same way as when Christ was on the earth.

Show the children a picture of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Ask the children who the picture is of and what they know about the person in the picture?  Emphasize that the Church of Jesus Christ was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

Show the children a picture of Jesus teaching the people. Explain that when Jesus was on the Earth "He organized His Church with priesthood leadership and true doctrines." (2014 Outline for Sharing Time).  

Show a child a block explain that on the block is either a priesthood leadership position or a true doctrine.  Have one of the children read it and place it on the table.  Pull out another block and do the same. Building upon the blocks until a little pyramid like structure is built.  Explain that the structure represents the Church of Jesus Christ.  

Show the children a picture of Jesus Christ's Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Then knock down the blocks.  Ask the children if they know what happened after Jesus was crucified?  Explain that after Jesus was crucified and resurrected and his apostles died, men began to corrupt and make unauthorized changes to the gospel. The Lord took the authority of the priesthood from the earth, this is known as the apostasy.  

Show a picture of Joseph Smith and the First Vision.  Ask the children what happened in this picture. Start to build the structure back up, using all of the same blocks as before. Show the children then poster of this weeks theme (see printable above), invite the children to repeat, "The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored." Explain that Heavenly Father restored the true church, the same organization that existed when Christ was on the earth, through the Prophet Joseph Smith. When we are Baptized we take the Savior's name upon us and become member's of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, His Church.

Close by sharing your testimony on the weeks topic.

Click this link for past Sharing Time post: LDS Primary Sharing Time Ideas 

***Basic ideas for this sharing time came from the 2014 Sharing Time Outline, you can find a link here: 2014 Sharing Time Outline.