Abundance and Fear

Overview

Today’s lesson explores a central religious idea: that God’s generosity means we need not live in fear or scarcity, and that hoarding what we have harms others. Students connect faith claims to real-life choices about sharing, fairness, and compassion, using evidence from texts and class discussion.

Learning intentions

• WALT understand the religious message of God’s overwhelming abundance and generosity.
• WALT examine how fear of “not enough” can lead to hoarding or harm.
• WALT explain, using religious language, how faith shapes ethical choices about sharing and service.
• WALT reflect on one personal or community situation where generosity could replace fear.

Success criteria

Students can:

• explain what “scarcity thinking” looks like in everyday life and why it can lead to hoarding
• describe how a belief in God’s abundance encourages sharing and service
• identify an ethical choice that protects others rather than stepping on them
• use at least one religious idea (e.g., generosity, freedom, abundance, service) to justify a response

Curriculum links

• Religious education: using beliefs and teachings to consider ethical actions and relationships (values, compassion, justice)
• Developing critical thinking through comparing claims, reasons, and evidence in discussion
• Using language to reason and communicate ideas clearly in collaboration and reflection

Lesson structure (45 minutes total)

1. 0–5 min · Do-now (thinking). Teacher displays a short prompt: “When you feel there isn’t enough, what do you tend to do?” Students write a quick answer (one or two sentences) and underline the emotion they associate with it (e.g., fear, anxiety, envy). Reflective questions to consider:

• What does this emotion tell us about our needs or fears?
• How might these feelings influence our actions towards others?
• Can you think of a time when feeling scarcity changed your behaviour?

2. 5–12 min · Share and anchor (discussion). Teacher collects 3–4 responses and writes keywords on the board (fear, hoard, fairness, share). Teacher introduces today’s teaching focus: “We serve a God of overwhelming abundance… He is generous and free… what do we have to be afraid of?” Students turn and talk: “What might fear look like in our school or online spaces?”
3. 12–22 min · Teacher input (faith-to-ethics). Teacher provides a detailed explanation to help students understand the concepts of abundance and fear:

• Definitions:

  • Abundance means having more than enough, a sense of plenty and generosity.
  • Fear in this context refers to feelings of scarcity, anxiety, or worry that there isn’t enough to go around.

• Examples:

  • Abundance: Sharing food with friends, trusting that needs will be met.
  • Fear: Hoarding resources, feeling anxious about losing out.

• Key discussion points:

  • How does believing in abundance encourage generosity and trust?
  • How can fear of scarcity lead to selfishness or harm?
  • What are some ways fear shows up in our daily lives (school, online, family)?

• Connection to students’ lives and lesson themes:

  • Encourage students to reflect on moments when they felt scarcity or fear and how it affected their actions.
  • Discuss how faith in God’s generosity can inspire us to act with kindness and share.

Students add one example to their jotter: “A moment when scarcity thinking showed up (me/others).” 4. 22–34 min · Text + reasoning task (evidence-based). Teacher provides a short, age-appropriate reading (printed or on slides) containing a message about God’s generosity/abundance and a call to trust and share. Students complete a guided reasoning sheet in pairs:

• What is the central message about God?
• What fear or problem is addressed?
• What action/ethical outcome is encouraged?
• Which sentence supports each answer?

5. 34–40 min · Choose Your Own Activity: Exploring Abundance and Fear (interactive). Students engage in a decision-path activity in small groups or pairs, choosing different scenarios to explore themes of abundance and fear. At each decision point, they reflect on questions such as:

• "If you choose to share resources despite fear, what might happen?"
• "If you hold back out of fear, how does that affect others?"
• "How does your chosen action reflect beliefs about God’s generosity?" This activity encourages critical thinking and personal reflection, allowing students to navigate ethical choices and their consequences.

6. 40–45 min · Exit ticket (assessment for learning). Students write: “One change I can make this week to replace scarcity fear with generosity is…” plus one sentence explaining it using religious language (e.g., abundance, trust, service).

Resources

• Prompt slip for the do-now (printed or on board)
• Guided reasoning sheet (4 short questions)
• Short reading with a generosity/abundance message (printed)
• Jotters/pens
• Board/markers or slides
• Scenario cards (optional): hoarding snacks/resources, unequal sharing in games, excluding others, online attention/likes

Assessment

• Teacher checks do-now underlined emotion and listens for misconceptions during brief sharing
• Guided reasoning sheet: assess students’ ability to identify message, fear/problem, and ethical action with evidence from the text
• Exit ticket: assess use of religious idea(s) to justify an ethical choice

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters for the reasoning sheet and exit ticket (e.g., “The message says…”, “This fear looks like…”, “Because God is… I will…”).
• Support: offer scenario cards with clear examples so students can select a situation they understand.
• EAL/SEN: allow oral rehearsal before writing; provide key vocabulary lists (abundance, generosity, scarcity, trust, service, hoard).
• Extension (advanced learners): ask students to evaluate a counter-claim: “Sometimes we need to save because the future is uncertain.” Students respond by explaining how abundance and trust can still include wisdom and responsibility, not only giving.

Extension (optional)

• Students write a 150–200 word “ethics paragraph” answering: “How does believing in God’s abundance change what justice and compassion look like in daily choices?”