• A copy of the story, "The Treehouse Rules"
• A copy of your congregation's covenant

• Read the story several times so you will be comfortable reading or telling it.
• Obtain a copy of your congregation's covenant and prepare to read it to the group.

Tell or read the story.

After the story, invite the group to be silent for a moment to think about the story.

Begin a discussion by asking participants to recap the story in their own words. What they recall indicates what they found most meaningful or memorable.

Lead a discussion using questions such as:

• How did the kids come to reach a compromise in this story?
• Why were the children able to do so, when the adults were not?
• How were the children active creators of their faith?
• How do people in our congregation (or religious education group) reach compromises?
• Does our congregation have a covenant? What does it say? Who created it? What might be missing from it-something that ought to be mentioned, yet isn't? (You may wish to read the congregational covenant to the group.)
• How do covenants help us live in right relationship with one another?
• When might covenants not be able to help us keep right relationship with one another?

Provide a hard copy of the story so hearing impaired participants can read along as you tell it.