Remember
Breath Prayer
Breath in: Great is the Lord
Breath out: Most worthy of praise
Remember one another
Is anyone celebrating something that happened this week? Let’s share so we can all thank God together.
Is anyone struggling, feeling sad, lonely or scared? How can we pray for one another?
Remember what we learned last week: Gather, a picture of heaven
When we gather together with other Believers we are the Church. Where the Church is gathered, God is with us.
Practice the Following Jesus Liturgy (With our youngest kids only focus on the portion that we’re currently learning)
Reflect: Go and Make Disciples
Story-tell: Introduce the time by telling the kids that you are going to read a scripture and then we're going to try to repeat it back. The scripture that is going to be read comes from the Book of Matthew. At this part of the story Jesus has already been crucified on the cross, died, and rose again. Now this is what He said to his followers and friends after he had been raised from the dead.
Read and reread Matthew 28: 18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Have a volunteer share whatever portion of the scripture they can remember. With the help of multiple kids, see how much of the verse they can remember.
Ask questions:
Who has all authority?
Who is Jesus giving His authority to?
So that we can do what?
What are we to teach people?
This is a tough job. What encouragement does Jesus give us at the end?
Story-telling: Scripture Drama
After Jesus told His friends to go and make disciples, can you guess what they did? They WENT! That's what the Book of Acts is all about in the Bible. Jesus went up into heaven to sit on His throne and His friends went all over the Earth telling people about Him. They shared about His miracles, His power, His ability to forgive people and rescue them from sin. Many many people decided to follow Jesus.
The Bible tells a story about Peter making a disciple, teaching him and then baptizing him. Let's listen.
Have the kids tell the story back in their own words.
What was the sequence of events?
Now, have the kids take turns acting out the story. You can adapt the roles depending on how many children you have in your group (2-5 roles available).
Philip - One of Jesus' disciples, preaching, goes alongside the carriage, tells the Ethiopian about Jesus, Baptizes the Ethiopian
Angel - Says to Philip, "Go south down the desert road"
Ethiopian - Traveler who is in a carriage, asks Philip to sit in the carriage and explain the Bible, asks to be baptized, goes on his way rejoicing
Carriage Driver - Perfect for a younger child who wants to be involved. Sitting in front and pretending to use reins.
Holy Spirit voice - Whispers to Philip, "Go over and walk alongside the carriage"
Help the kids remember the story. You may act it out two or three times, helping the children to get progressively more independent.
Eventually, see if the kids can act out the whole story without the help of an adult.
Close and Pray
Talk about the story and how it pertains to today.
Do you think Philip was nervous to approach a stranger and tell him about Jesus? Why do you think he did that? How do you think the Ethiopian man felt?
The Bible says that people will not know Jesus unless someone tells them.
Who told you about Jesus?
Who can you tell about Jesus?
Let's pray for those people in our lives who don't know Jesus, and let's ask God to send someone to tell them the good news, even if that means giving us the courage to share with them.