Wonderfully Made

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Theme: Purity, Godıs Love, Pro Life, Teen Pregnancy

What you need to do this project:

Messiness Index:

This project was born out of a rash of teen pregnancies in my kid's school, week after week we hear the horror stories of 14 year old marriages, "forced" abortions and more. My kids were grieving over this and so we decided to take a stand. You see the church must minister to the people that have already made the mistake and give concrete images to those who havenıt yet in hopes that they wonıt make the same mistake. This project does just that.

To prepare for this project, you need to start off with the picture of a baby. I did mine on a scanner with a computer and scanned the Baby picture, reduced it to gray scale and cropped the photo into 9 pieces. I cropped it in such a way that only one of the pieces looked identifiable as a baby and kept that one out for myself. The rest looked like landscapes and strange patterns. You can do the same thing with a photo copier, enlarging and then cropping the enlarged copy.

As the students enter, give each one his piece of the picture and tell him/her you were going to make an abstract painting. Each student takes his/her piece and turns it over, and using a pencil covers the back of the piece in graphite. Then have the students turn the paper over onto the canvas boards and trace the contours and shaded areas of the board. If you used the photocopy method you may want to have the students sketch what they see on the picture being certain to fill in the details that they see. Then, using acrylic paints, have them paint their pictures. Remember, do not tell your students that this is a baby, that comes later. Since this is kind of a mystery piece, while you are working on the piece, do your announcements, fellowship, answer questions, etc. When the pieces are finished, allow them to dry and begin to do your study.

I recommend that you start by looking at Psalm 139:13-16. And discuss what it means to be fearfully and wonderfully made. Talk about Godıs plan for each of us. Ask about what they think God has planned for each of us. Turn the corner and go to Genesis 2:24. This lays out God's plan for human sexuality in three steps: "for this reason a man will leave his father and mother..." He will go out on his own and find a place to live and a way to earn a living; "and be united to his wife..." They will marry and become one in the eyes of God; "and they will become one flesh..." They will become one physically. Talk about what happens when people take these steps out of order. Then return to your paintings. Arrange them in order, hopefully the image of the baby will be revealed. Tell the students, "As you can see we made a baby, none of you set out to make a baby and yet here we are. Now while you didnıt plan to make a baby the one who set the plan in motion, knew we would make a baby. I even have a plan for the baby, we are going to mount the pieces together and display it as a reminder. Similarly, in life, God, who knows all, has a plan and purpose for everyone. When people make a baby, they have no idea how it will turn out, but God knows. If you had known that this piece was going to be a baby, wouldn't you have painted the picture in flesh tones. You never know how things will turn out, but God knows, that is why it is so important to follow his plan as it is laid out in the Bible." There are so many parallels in this project that it would be tough to cover all of them here. Pray and ask God to give you insights.

Lastly, turn the last corner. Some of your kid's friends and neighbors have already made mistakes and are dealing with some tough choices. Your students are on the front lines to help them. Discuss together how you all can minister to these people. Talk about Romans 8:28 and how it applies to unplanned pregnancy. Offer to help your students to minister to these people. Have information available for your local Christian pregnancy center that your students can give to their friends, etc. Close in prayer.
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