Read how the story of Joseph can be implemented in your
Junior High Ministry

A junior high class has been exploring the story of Joseph for the entire school year. This has been a situation in which the class has not been involved in a rotational learning environment but they have still used Cornerstones curriculum as the foundation for their teaching. The teachers originally thought that the unit would take about two months. They soon discovered that the students were so engaged in the story and the direct connection to their lives that they lingered instead of pushing forward. Throughout the course of the year they did Bible study, artwork, made videos, discussed and responded to slavery issues, talked about culture shock, explored the issue of famine, did some dramatic interpretations of the story, and even played some games to review the story. Most of their activities came directly from the Cornerstones material, but they also added their own ideas to make a program that has been exciting, relevant and fun!

During the fall as they explored the story of Joseph and His Brothers. They talked about family relationships in their lives. They used the stories from both Bedouin Encampment and Mary & Martha's Bed & Breakfast to give a broad perspective to this story. As with so many of our church school classes, there were wide variations in family structure. These variations were discussed, and all the participants learned that there are many ways to describe family in both the ancient and contemporary world.

The next thing the class discussed was self-image. They used the Bible Improv and Faith Today lessons to explore Joseph's coat and its impact on Joseph and the world around him. The power of the media to influence our sense of fashion and body image was discussed by these Jr. High students. They followed this lesson with Created by the Spirit and decorated T-shirts as a reflection of their unique and wonderful gifts from God. This class also created a large banner that is hung each week in their room to divide their space from the nursery school space they share.

To allow the students to get into the story, they used the Video Live lesson to create a video of the brothers as they discussed what to tell Jacob upon their return from selling Joseph into slavery. This video experience allowed the students to restate the story in their own words and to probe their own emotions regarding sibling rivalry.

Using the Where in the World lesson from the Joseph and His Brothers Unit and the Created by the Spirit lesson from the Joseph in Egypt Unit, the class spent time talking about culture shock and the ways they might experience it in today's world. They discovered how remarkable it was that Joseph maintained his strong identity when faced with a new country and culture. One of the class teachers was able to conduct some of the lesson in a foreign language to help the students understand the difficulty of living in a new country. They made wall relief pictures in Egyptian style to convey this new land in which Joseph found himself.

As the story unfolded, the class was upset that Joseph was a slave. They discussed slavery issues in today's world and discovered that there were many different places were slavery or slavery-like conditions exist in our world. They did some research on this topic using the Internet and other resources. They decided that they wanted to raise the awareness of the congregation about slavery in our world. They learned that chocolate is a product that is often grown, harvested and produced with unfair advantages going to the producers as opposed to the farmers. They learned about Divine Chocolate, a cooperatively grown and produced chocolate product. They decided to sell the chocolate as a service project. This sale was to take place during the late fall. As the chocolate was purchased, the class was made aware of Advent calendars from the same company. They decided to take orders for these. The day they announced their sale, another group in the church was selling chocolate-filled Advent calendars for the local church cooperative. The difference was that the Divine Chocolate Advent calendars were $7.95 and the cooperative churches' calendar was $1.50. Immediately the students were asked why there was such a difference in price. "Do you know how the chocolate was harvested in order for it to be so inexpensive?" was their reply. They were then able to share the information they had learned with members of the congregation. The story of Joseph had another direct impact on their lives.

Famine struck the ancient world as Joseph rose to power. Through a study of the Nile River (Where in the World - Joseph in Egypt) and its seasonal flooding, the class learned about conditions that created famine in both the ancient and contemporary world. They learned about the migration of Joseph's family to Egypt in order to obtain food. The class then looked at the current world situation and realized that there were situations in our world that have resulted in famine. They decided to do something about it. They made layered bean soup kits to sell to the congregation to raise money for famine relief. This activity took several weeks as they planned and prepared more than two-dozen kits. As they worked they talked about the Joseph story as well as the other relief efforts that are in place today to help people in times of need. After their fund-raiser, they researched organizations that provide famine relief. They chose an organization they felt would be good stewards of their money and made their donation.

They continued their study of Joseph and used the Bible @ Your Fingertips lesson to consider how Joseph might have felt when his brothers came to him in Egypt. Because this congregation does not have a computer lab, the teachers improvised and used body sox as the interpretive tool for this lesson. (Box Sox are large envelopes of Lycra material; a participant steps inside and can act out emotions without the person being seen from the outside.) Joseph knew who his brothers were but he had to decide if he would reveal his identity to them. In the body sox, the students had the option to remain anonymous or reveal themselves by their actions. They talked about the different times in life when you might want to be in the spotlight or remain quietly on the side of the action. They continued to work through the issues of relationships by doing open-ended improv scenes from the Bible Improv - Joseph in Egypt lesson. Although some scenes became silly, solid discussion was had about the issue of repentance and forgiveness.

To review the story, the teachers used the Bedouin Encampment - Joseph in Egypt lesson and played a rousing game of "Jeopardy." The teachers were pleased that everyone really knew the answers. The class was also fortunate that a local theater troupe was doing a production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." An afternoon trip to the theater was enjoyed by all. The students were able to point out differences between the script of the musical and the text of the Bible! They concluded the year by making a four-part video of the "Joey Springer Show" using the popular talk show format. The students were now able to improvise the different roles of brothers, Jacob, Potiphar, Pharaoh and Joseph. The issues that were addressed in the story (self-image, repentance, forgiveness and most of all God's love for all of us) came out in all the comments made.

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