1 and 2 Thessalonians

Invite a mother to talk about what it was like to wait for her baby to be born without knowing exactly when the birth would happen. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3, and tell the children that Jesus Christ will come to earth again, but no one knows exactly when—just as a mother doesn’t know exactly when her baby will be born.

Ask the children to talk about a time when they prepared for a trip or event. What did they do to prepare? Bring a suitcase or bag and let the children pretend to pack it in preparation for a trip or event. Explain that we prepare for Jesus Christ to come again by praying, reading the scriptures, following the prophet, and living righteously each day. Ask the children to draw pictures of how they can do this and put them in the suitcase.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:6 to the children and explain that if we are not preparing for Jesus to come again, it’s like we have fallen asleep and we won’t be ready for Him. Invite the children to pretend they are asleep. Explain that if we do prepare, it’s like we are awake and waiting for Him. Invite them to wake up. Sing together “When He Comes Again” (Children’s Songbook, 82–83).

After reading 2 Thessalonians 2:3 with the children, build a tower out of plastic cups or blocks. Tell the children that the cups or blocks represent important parts of the true Church, such as gospel truths, the priesthood, temple sealings, and prophets. After Paul and the other Apostles died, these things were lost, and the true Church was not on the earth for many years. Invite a child to knock the tower over, and explain that this was called the Apostasy or “falling away.” When Jesus Christ brought His Church back, it was called the Restoration. (See “Apostasy,” True to the Faith, 13–14.)

Display a Book of Mormon and pictures of the prophet and a temple. Invite the children to say “Apostasy” when you hide the items in a bag and “Restoration” when you bring the items back out.

Sing songs that teach truths that were taken away during the Apostasy and restored in our day, such as “I Am a Child of God,” “The Church of Jesus Christ,” and “I Love to See the Temple” and (Children’s Songbook, 2–3, 77, 95).

Invite a child to read 1 Thessalonians 5:1–6 while the other children follow along. After each verse, ask a child to summarize what he or she thinks the verse is saying. You may want to explain that “the day of the Lord” means the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Why do the children think the Second Coming is compared to a thief in the night or a woman about to have a baby?

Tell the children to imagine that the Savior will be visiting your class sometime today. How can we prepare our classroom for His visit? Help the children think of things we can do to prepare ourselves for the day Jesus Christ returns. For example, we can repent, forgive, improve our relationships with our family, follow the prophet, and keep our covenants. Encourage the children to choose one thing they will do to prepare themselves to receive the Savior at His Coming.

Invite one of the children to read 2 Thessalonians 2:1–3. According to these verses, what had to happen before “the day of Christ,” which means the Second Coming? Do any of the children know what “a falling away” means? Make sure that the children understand that it means the Great Apostasy, which occurred after the deaths of the Savior’s Apostles. You might want to share information from “Apostasy,” True to the Faith, 13–14.

Help the children list on the board some of the truths and blessings we enjoy because of the gospel. (Some examples might include temples, prophets, the priesthood, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.) Erase these things one by one, and ask the children how their lives would be different without these things. Explain that these truths were lost during the Great Apostasy. Why was it important that the Church of Jesus Christ be restored to the earth in the latter days? Invite the children to “restore” or rewrite the truths and blessings on the board.

Invite the children to take turns reading verses from 2 Thessalonians 3:7–13 and look for the problem the Saints were facing. Why does Heavenly Father want us to work? What would happen if we never learned to work hard? Let the children take turns acting out simple chores while the other children guess what they are doing.

Invite the children to talk about a time when they worked hard on a task, a project, or a goal. How did they feel about themselves when they finished? What does it mean to “be not weary in well doing”? (2 Thessalonians 3:13).