Welly Church Kids Lessons

Kids · 4-8 · Lesson 8

God Is with Joseph

Genesis 39:1-6; Genesis 45:1-15; Genesis 50:15-21

God remained at work through Joseph's hardship and family reconciliation.

Teach the lesson

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

Pick how long you want to teach. The plan updates to fit.

Short · 25 minutes
  1. 3 min
    Connect

    Use the opening prompt from the Teach Now card.

  2. 8 min
    Read

    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?

  3. 5 min
    Understand

    Build a bridge from Hardship to God With Joseph to Preservation to Family Reunion, while keeping harm and God’s purpose distinct.

    Ask: What harmful action happened earlier in Joseph’s story? · What purpose does Joseph identify in Genesis 45?

  4. 6 min
    Do

    Complete the Joseph Story Bridge activity.

    Activity: Joseph Story Bridge

    Printable: K1-L08-P01-joseph-story-bridge

  5. 3 min
    Respond

    Repeat the take-home line and close in prayer.

    Ask: What is a safe response when someone has harmed us?

Standard · 35 minutes

  1. 4 min
    Connect

    Use the opening prompt and invite two or three brief responses.

  2. 4 min
    Context

    Introduce the passage setting, speaker or main characters, and genre in age-appropriate language.

  3. 8 min
    Read 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?

  4. 7 min
    Discuss

    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?

  5. 8 min
    Activity

    Complete the Joseph Story Bridge activity and review what it demonstrates.

    Activity: Joseph Story Bridge

    Printable: K1-L08-P01-joseph-story-bridge

  6. 4 min
    Respond

    Review the objective, repeat the take-home line, and pray.

Extended · 45 minutes
  1. 4 min
    Connect

    Use the opening prompt and identify the question the lesson will answer.

  2. 6 min
    Context

    Locate the passage in the whole-Bible story and explain its literary setting.

  3. 9 min
    Read closely

    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?

  4. 8 min
    Interpret

    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?

  5. 7 min
    Activity one

    Complete the Joseph Story Bridge activity.

    Activity: Joseph Story Bridge

    Printable: K1-L08-P01-joseph-story-bridge

  6. 7 min
    Activity two

    Complete the Safe Repair or Adult Help? activity and compare the results.

    Activity: Safe Repair or Adult Help?

  7. 4 min
    Respond and assess

    Use one quiz item orally, repeat the take-home line, and pray.

Close the class

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.

More help: full script, questions, and printables

A word-for-word way to run the lesson, plus every question, activity, and printable.

Teach now

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
  • Joseph was far from home because his brothers had harmed him.
  • Genesis says the Lord was with Joseph.
  • Later Joseph was able to provide food and preserve his family.
  • God’s good work did not make the brothers’ harmful choice good.
Ask
  • Where was Joseph?
  • What phrase repeats in Genesis 39?
  • How did Joseph help during the famine?
  • What should we do when a situation is unsafe or wrong?
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

Discussion questions

  • What phrase repeats in Genesis 39?
    Simple answer: The Lord was with Joseph.
    Going deeper: Explain why presence is not the same as ease.
  • What harmful action happened earlier in Joseph’s story?
    Simple answer: His brothers sold him.
    Going deeper: Explain why later good does not rename earlier evil.
  • What purpose does Joseph identify in Genesis 45?
    Simple answer: Preserving life during famine.
    Going deeper: Distinguish Joseph’s theological interpretation from approval of the brothers’ intent.
  • What is a safe response when someone has harmed us?
    Simple answer: Tell a safe adult and seek help.
    Going deeper: Distinguish forgiveness, boundaries, consequences, and reconciliation.

Activities

Joseph Story Bridge · 9 min

Materials: Four bridge cards; String or drawn line

  1. Place Hardship first.
  2. Add God Was With Joseph.
  3. Add Preservation in Egypt.
  4. Add Family Reunion and retell without calling the harm good.

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

Safe Repair or Adult Help? · 8 min

Materials: Fictional scenario cards

  1. Read a low-risk fictional conflict.
  2. Choose whether a simple apology and repair is enough.
  3. For an unsafe scenario, choose tell a safe adult rather than direct reunion.
  4. Explain that safety is not unforgiveness.

Low-resource option: Discuss two teacher-created scenarios verbally.

Printables

Prepare before class (optional, about 25 minutes)

Passage context

Joseph was sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt. Genesis 39 emphasises God’s presence before the narrative reaches Joseph’s later authority and family reunion. Genesis 45 interprets Joseph’s position as preserving life during famine, while Genesis 50 still names the brothers’ intended harm.

  • The phrase the Lord was with Joseph repeats in Genesis 39.
  • Joseph weeps and identifies himself before discussing preservation.
  • Joseph names both the brothers’ action and God’s preserving purpose in the wider story.
  • Do not collapse the whole Joseph narrative into a promise that every hardship will resolve visibly.
  • Providence is not permission to call abuse or betrayal good.
  • Reconciliation in this narrative includes changed circumstances; it is not a rule that children must return to unsafe contact.

Keep it faithful

  • Do not say God caused the brothers’ sin in order to teach Joseph a lesson.
  • Do not pressure a child to forgive publicly, stop feeling hurt, or reunite with an unsafe person.
  • Do not ask for disclosures about family conflict in the group.

Questions children may ask

Why did God let Joseph be hurt?
Do I have to be friends again with someone unsafe?

Every child can join in

  • Show the sequence visually.
  • Allow pointing, drawing, or one-word responses.
  • Give one direction at a time.
  • Participation must not require loud noise, touch, or public performance.
  • Read all Scripture aloud.
  • Use pictures, objects, or gesture-supported retelling.
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