God Is with Joseph - Teacher (Standard) (print)

Kids (ages 4-8) · Genesis 39:1-6; Genesis 45:1-15; Genesis 50:15-21 · Standard ·35 minutes

Teach now

Objective: Children explain that God was with Joseph in hardship and used Joseph to preserve his family.

Read: Genesis 39:1-6; 45:1-8

Opening: Ask: Can someone be with you and care for you even when the day is hard?

Say:

Ask:

Do: Use the Joseph Story Bridge to connect Hardship, God With Joseph, Preservation, and Reunion.

Close: Pray: God, stay close to people in hardship and help us seek truth, safety, and wise repair.

Materials: Bible; Joseph Story Bridge or four cards

4 minConnect. Use the opening prompt and invite two or three brief responses.
4 minContext. Introduce the passage setting, speaker or main characters, and genre in age-appropriate language.
8 minRead and observe. Read Genesis 39:1-6 and selected verses from Genesis 45:1-8, marking hardship, presence, emotion, and preservation. Ask: What phrase repeats in Genesis 39? What harmful action happened earlier in Joseph’s story?
7 minDiscuss. Build a bridge from Hardship to God With Joseph to Preservation to Family Reunion, while keeping harm and God’s purpose distinct. Ask: What purpose does Joseph identify in Genesis 45? What is a safe response when someone has harmed us?
8 minActivity. Complete the Joseph Story Bridge activity and review what it demonstrates. Activity: Joseph Story Bridge. Printable: K1-L08-P01-joseph-story-bridge.
4 minRespond. Review the objective, repeat the take-home line, and pray.

Materials: Four bridge cards; String or drawn line

Low-resource option: Draw four connected boxes on the board.

Memory verse: Genesis 39:2

Prayer: Pray for people in hardship, trustworthy adults, truth, forgiveness, and safe repair.

Take-home line: God was with Joseph, and God did not call the harm good.