JESUS ON. A four part programme for 3-11 year olds exploring an overview of mission in the Bible. faithful creative effective.

Transcription

1 JESUS ON A four part programme for 3-11 year olds exploring an overview of mission in the Bible Mustard Seeds faithful creative effective

2 TnT Ministries Mustards Seeds is a product of TnT Ministries. 236a Canbury Park Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, KT2 6LG, United Kingdom. Telephone +44 (0) sales@tntministries.org.uk Website Since 1993 TnT Ministries has been resourcing and equipping people to teach the Bible to children and teenagers more faithfully, more creatively and more effectively. Our comprehensive range of printed material covers the entire 18 month to 18 year age range. It is used right around the world in over 27 countries and has been translated in part or in whole into twelve different languages. We have conducted live children's ministry training in churches and theological colleges in South Africa, Singapore, Dubai, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Germany, Norway, Hong Kong, Australia and throughout the United Kingdom. Mustard Seeds is our new range of electronic material and will ultimately be a comprehensive four year syllabus for 3 to 11 year olds. License Agreement Free licence is granted to print, copy and use this material in a single local church. Each congregation is required to purchase and download their own copy. The material may then be freely used across multiple classes by as many teachers as necessary within that congregation. This license is not transferable. All illustrations may be freely re-sized, copied and used as required, but is restricted to use with this teaching resource. The material may also be transmitted electronically to members of the same ministry team for use in the same congregation, but it may not be hosted for download and must always be transmitted in its entirety. Any unauthorised copying and distribution other than stated above is prohibited. We firmly believe that the Bible is God s word to mankind and that it contains everything we need to know in order to be reconciled with God through faith in Jesus Christ and live in a way that is pleasing to him. Therefore, we believe it is vital to teach the Bible accurately to children, being careful to teach each passage s true meaning in an age-appropriate manner, rather than selecting a children s message from a Biblical passage. This series has been produced in partnership with Serving In Mission UK. Authors Laura Amatt (TnT Ministries) Kim Bell (TnT Ministries) Rory Bell (Director of Training, TnT Ministries) Illustrations Donovan Morling Contributors Tim Allan (Serving In Mission UK) Linda Hunt (Serving In Mission UK)

3 Jesus on Mission Series Aims To teach that both our words and our actions are needed to point people to Jesus. To teach that when we live for Jesus some people will come to love and follow Jesus as king, but many will try to harm those who follow him. To teach that God is in control of all things he will provide everything we need to tell others and will look after us. To teach that we must urgently tell all people the good news about Jesus so that they can worship and follow him as their God and king. Series Context This series is the second of four, seeking to expand children's understanding of who the gospel is for, what gospel work is and why it is so important. These series are, by nature, thematic and therefore draw on passages throughout the Bible to give a more comprehensive picture of mission. The first of these, God on Mission, provided an overview of mission in the Bible to show that it has always been God s plan to bless people from every nation through a saving faith in Jesus. This series focuses on Jesus mission on earth and how he prepared his disciples to continue his work after he had left them. Series Overview This series (Part 2) provides insight into how Jesus went about growing God s kingdom by proclaiming the truth about himself and how he prepared his followers to take this good news to people from all over the world. This series examines two aspects of Jesus mission: 1. Man s Work Jesus taught his disciples the necessity of sharing the good news with those who don t yet know and follow him. Through faithful prayer, action and words his disciples obediently followed his final command to make disciples throughout the world (weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4). 2. God s Work The harvest belongs to God, it is his kingdom and he is ultimately responsible for it. He therefore provides all the resources necessary to grow his kingdom and ensure that every nation on earth will be represented in heaven when the kingdom is finally seen in all its glory (weeks 2 and 3). This provision includes the people, power and protection necessary to ensure that the kingdom will grow despite opposition (weeks 2, 3 and 4). These four passages in Matthew s Gospel clearly show our responsibility to take the good news to all people and yet our complete dependence upon God to get the job done. Part 3 (The Apostles on Mission) will explore the 3

4 birth of the Church and the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem. Part 4 (The Church on Mission) will explore the continuing work of the Church in reaching every generation throughout the world with the good news about Jesus. Memory Verse [Jesus] said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' Matthew 9:37-38 [NIV] Using This Resource This programme is designed to be adaptable. It can be used for a mixed 3-11s group or more age-specific groups. Text in blue is generally applicable to younger children (3-7 years); green text is aimed at older children (7-11 years); and black text is applicable to all-age groups, at the leader's discretion. Leaders are encouraged to engage with the study material in a devotional manner, seeking to apply God's word to their own lives before attempting to teach others. We trust that you will be blessed as you do that. We also hope that once you have done that, your application of God's word to the children you teach will be more deliberate and relevant. Note: All page numbers in this document are hyperlinked simply click on the number to jump to that page. Craft Symbols We make use of the following symbols for the craft activities: Apply glue here Cut along this solid line Cut out this shaded area Fold outwards along this dashed line Fold inwards along this dashed line All Age Service One of the motivations behind this series is to stimulate the entire church family to think and pray for missions, both locally and internationally. By providing four lessons we envisage that a local church might use this resource as the basis for a 'Missions Month'. One of these sessions could be adapted for an all-age service. In this series we propose using the fourth session for this purpose and to conclude a month long 'missions focus'. An all age service seeks to engage the entire age range with the truth of God's word by taking into account the various stages of development of the children present. In our local church we aim for these sessions to provide adult teaching in 'bitesized chunks' and would normally divide a 50 minute session up in the following way: Welcome and song Introduction Song Teaching Activity Application Prayer Memory Verse Song 7 mins 5 mins 4 mins 10 mins 5 Mins 6 mins 5 mins 4 mins 4 mins As you can see from the above, the teaching content is divided into three sections and interspersed with an activity and songs. To adapt this material for a session like this: Choose one of the Intro Ideas we provide to be used as the Introduction. Teach the text of the lesson using some of the ideas provided in our Teaching Plan. Be sure to use visuals wherever possible to keep younger children engaged. Choose (or possibly adapt) one of the Game Ideas we provide for the activity. You could either involve the entire congregation or have a sampling of various age groups to engage in the activity for the rest to watch. Apply the passage that has been taught by using the ideas provided in the Discuss and Apply section. Refer back to the introduction and activity as they should illustrate the application or reinforce the teaching in some way. Use (or adapt) the Prayer Idea provided to get the people praying about what they've learned. This works well in family groups, but must not exclude those without family. Teach the Memory Verse using the idea provided. Add related songs at appropriate points in the service. 4

5 Help make the right connections A child with special educational needs (SEN) may provide some challenges to your group. It is therefore essential that you are well prepared for your lessons and that you have carefully thought about how to include all the children. You may need to make some changes to your existing programme to make it accessible for everyone. A key principle to consider is that, as with all children in your church, each child is an individual and will have different needs, strengths and weaknesses. It is important that you get to know the children you teach as well as possible and that you make an effort to build a relationship with them. In terms of the lesson itself, you may need to consider the following: A child with SEN may need to have an additional adult to support them. Consider the environment in which you teach and try to eliminate potential distractions. Where you are seated and where the children are seated, the temperature of the room and noise levels all affect the sense of calm and orderliness of the class. Think about the class size and ratio of adults to children. It may be appropriate, at times, for a troubled or disruptive child to be accompanied by an adult and to be moved away from the group to a quiet area. Here they can engage in something related to the lesson which is calming and quiet. Use clear and child appropriate language. When giving instructions; tell them to the whole group, demonstrate, then check that the child with SEN understands what needs to happen. Balance the amount of open ended and closed questions you ask. Be careful of rhetorical questions; the child with SEN will want to answer them. If a child wants to ask too many questions, which may distract from the lesson, tell them that for now we are going to listen and that later you will come back to their questions. Make sure that you do spend some individual time with the child going through their questions. You may find that by the time you go back to them, their questions have either been answered or forgotten or they are not that important anymore. Break up your lesson into different sections; short, sharp sections work best as this keeps children engaged and therefore able to manage their behaviour. Children with SEN like structure and routines; you may like to start the session with the same song or greeting time or keep the structure the same each week. For example; start with a song, a recap from last week, a short introduction to the new lesson, a song, the Bible story, a craft, the application and then a game for consolidation and further application. Use repetition (chants or songs with simple tunes to teach main Bible truths). Use lots of different kinds of aids to teach your lesson (movement, pictures, multimedia, props, music, textures, drama, etc.). Consider different learning styles. Use simple pictures (too much detail can be distracting). Think about how much reading and writing you are expecting the children to do; too much may cause the child with SEN to become anxious and distressed about failing. On worksheets, consider making them accessible by asking children to draw some of the answers, rather than write them. If there is a lot of writing or reading required, pair up the SEN child with an adult or with a more able peer. You can also write the answers on a board for them to copy down. Children with SEN may find it more difficult to think about application as this requires them to put themselves into a situation which is, at times, hard to do. For a child who is non-verbal, find out what their communication is from parents and try to use these as much as possible in your lessons and interaction (Makaton or BSL signing, eye gazes, communication switch boxes, symbols, photos, pictures, objects of reference, etc). Toni Edmonds-Smith Special Needs Teacher 5

6 Jesus on Mission Week 1 Living on Mission Matthew 5:10-16 Big Idea : Jesus taught that those who follow him must live according to his teaching so that others will notice and also come to love and honour God. Aim : To teach that those who love Jesus will live differently to the world; some will hate us because we follow Jesus and his teaching, but others will see and believe. disciples. Leader's Study Notes Read Matthew 5:10-16 noting the two different results of living as Jesus Use the following notes to help you think about the passage in more detail. This passage forms the opening section of Jesus Sermon on the Mount. The beatitudes (5:1-10) consist of a series of praises for those who follow Jesus and describe what the normal Christian life is like. The next section deals with both the result of and the reason for living like this persecution (5:11-12) and witness (5:13-16). 5:10-12 To be blessed means more than being happy it involves the idea of God s congratulation or approval. The last beatitude is different to the previous seven and is expanded upon in these verses. Jesus warned his disciples that they should expect this kind of suffering from those who oppose him, but reminded them that they would be richly rewarded in heaven. 5:13 Salt is both a preservative and a flavour enhancer. It can only be effective as a preservative when it is in direct contact with the food it is preserving. The Bible teaches that the world outside of God s kingdom is subject to decay and death. Jesus followers are called to have an opposite and life-giving effect on the world. They ultimately do this through sharing the good news about Jesus. 5:14-16 Light is taken for granted today. For this metaphor to have any impact, we need to understand what life would be like without any light at all it would be frightening. Light makes everyone s life better, it drives out the darkness. Christians improve life for those around them and challenge the 'darkness' that exists in the world. This is particularly obvious when Christians live distinctly as a community (an entire city) shining in a dark world. The pictures of salt and light helpfully describe the Christian life and witness. Both have the power to make a huge change even if added in small amounts, but they need to be both present and distinct from that which they are there to transform. Jesus promised that living a righteousness life (5:3-10) would attract attention and often opposition. 6

7 Series Intro Idea You could introduce the series by getting the children to think about the different ways in which people pass on a message. Gather some pictures that you can place on a board as the children mention them. These might include: telephone, letter, , semaphore, sign language, message in a bottle, smoke signals, etc. Talk about how all of these pictures have one thing in common they are what people use to send messages. In this series of lessons we are going to see what Jesus taught his disciples about how to take the message of the good news about Jesus to others. Life Story The true story on page 10 has been provided by Serving in Mission. Use it at any point in your lesson to illustrate an application of the lesson in real life. Introduce the series Session Outline You could use the Series Intro Idea on the left of this page. This will help to give the context for this lesson and the series as a whole. Introductory Idea Introduces this week's lesson. Pose the questions at the end of the Introductory Idea. This gives children something to look out for in the lesson and helps their concentration. These get answered later in the session. Teaching Plan The core of the session. The action of the Bible text is explained in an age appropriate and engaging way. Game Idea Not essential. Reinforces the lesson aim in a fun way and provides a way of displacing energy! Review the questions posed in the Introductory Idea. Discuss and Apply Not to be missed! This is where the children can be quizzed on the content and meaning of the Bible story. Questions and discussion are needed to apply this Bible story to the children's everyday lives. They should do most of the talking. Prayer Idea Use the prayer idea or just encourage each child to pray about an aspect of the lesson. Activity An opportunity to reinforce the lesson. For younger children, Activity A or B will be suitable. For older children, Activity C or D can be used to facilitate the Teaching or the Discuss and Apply section some children prefer a lively discussion to completing written answers. Memory Verse A fun way of remembering the key verse for the series. 7

8 Introductory Idea Option 1: Spot the Difference. Print the pictures on page 13 onto paper. Can the children spot the differences? [Answer: The boy on the right is different from the one on the left in five ways: he is sad; has no eyebrows; no left pocket on his jeans; no shoelaces on his right shoe, and the swirl on his shirt has been flipped.] Once the children have found all five differences talk about how the smaller differences were harder to spot than more obvious ones. In today's true story from the Bible Jesus taught his followers that they must live differently from those who do not follow him as king. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Option 2: Odd One Out. Gather a number of sets of three pictures of various items. In each set one picture must be the odd one out. Sets could include: a series of birds, one of which is a water bird, or a series of mammals, one of which lives in the sea. Make one set very obvious like two balls and a car! Hold each set up in turn and ask the children to decide which is the odd one out and why. Talk about which was the easiest to spot and what made it easy. In today's true story from the Bible Jesus taught his followers that they must live differently from those who do not follow him as king. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Option 3: Taste the Difference. Gather a range of sweet and salty foods and place these together on a tray. Ask the children to help you to separate the sweet and salty foods and place one group on either side of the tray. Can they tell you which goes where simply by looking at them? Have one child taste each to double check. How many did they get correct? It's usually very easy to tell the difference between sweet and salty because they are so different. In today's true story from the Bible Jesus taught his followers that they are to live differently from those who do not follow him as king. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Note: If you don t want to use food you could get the children to separate other items into two different categories e.g. dead (inanimate) or alive (animate). Bridge Questions The children must listen carefully to today's true story from the Bible to discover the answers to the following questions: How are Jesus followers to be different? [They are to live righteous lives for Jesus (5:10, 11)] Why are they told to be different? [So that others may see (5:16)] What will happen because they are different? [Some people will insult and persecute them; others will believe and praise God (5:11, 16)] Teaching Plan Teaching Bible passages that have little or no narrative can be challenging, especially with younger children. Throughout the lesson you will need to think of examples and illustrations with which the children you teach will be able to identify. Adult illustrations come naturally to us, but you will need to consider the age group you ll be teaching illustrations should come from their world and their everyday experiences. Jesus discussed the properties of salt and light to help people understand why and how his followers are to live differently from those who do not follow Jesus as king. For younger children restricting your teaching to just one of these will make it clearer and light is probably the best one to use. Older children can explore both of Jesus illustrations. Start by showing the children various items that can produce light (candle, torch, lighter, lamp, etc). If you are able you could dim the lights or draw a blind to make the effect more obvious. In what way are these items the same? [They give light.] When would they be useful? [When it s dark and you need to see.] When would they not be useful? [You could explore a number of possibilities if you were trying to hide then you wouldn t want a light (even a small one) anywhere near you; if it was day time then you wouldn t need another light; if they stopped shining light then they would make no difference in a dark room.] Explain to the children that the Bible describes the whole world as a dark place because people feel, think, say and do wrong things. This is an abstract concept so you might wish to illustrate it by asking when the children are most likely to do naughty things when it s dark and in secret or when it s bright and people can see what they re doing? Because the world is dark with people feeling, thinking, saying and doing many wrong things, Jesus told his disciples that they are like lights in the world. They need to help people see. If the children had a lamp, where would they put it? Would they cover it up or hide it away? You could turn a torch on and place it under an upturned bowl to help illustrate this. Talk about how silly it would be to cover up a lamp or hide it away. It would be much better to put it high up so that more people can see it. You could talk about what a city looks like at night time. Have the children ever been outside at night? Jesus said that his disciples are like a whole city on a hill you can see the light from the city far away! You could illustrate this by cutting out one of the cities from page 14. Cut away the windows with a craft 8

9 blade and glue as marked to make a freestanding circular city. (To make a larger city, cut out two strips and glue their ends together to form one circle.) Place this on an upturned bow and then place a torch or tea light inside so that the light shines out through the windows. Finish by explaining that Jesus wants us to live differently so that other people will notice. Some will see and want to follow Jesus as well, but others will see and be angry. Jesus warned his followers that living this way would not always be easy, but that God would reward them in heaven. (Specific application for how the children can live differently in the world and what the consequences of doing that might be is covered below in the Discuss and Apply section.) For older children explore the nature of light as above for younger children and then work through the salt illustration that Jesus used. Give the children some food items which usually require salt to be added to be enjoyable e.g. popcorn. Let them taste the food before and after adding the salt. Which tastes better? You could use the table below to help the children to think through the passage. Fill out the first two columns only the last two will come under the Discuss and Apply section! Salt Light Christians You When is it useless? If its stops tasting salty (v13) If it's under a bowl (v15a) If they re just the same as everyone else Make personal application here using practical examples and the names of people you know What makes it special? Tastes completely different Shines in darkness (v15b) Good things you do are different to everyone else (v16a) Make personal application here using practical examples and the names of people you know Why is it good that it is so different? So that food tastes better and doesn't rot So that you can see everything So that people would want to thank God (v 16b) Make personal application here using practical examples and the names of people you know Game Idea Option 1: For younger children. Before the lesson place a number of different items of varying sizes on a tray e.g. a shell, an orange, animal figure/lego man, pen, torch, elastic band, small coin. The more items you use the harder this will be! Cover the items and the tray completely with a tea towel or other cloth. Explain that the children have thirty seconds to look at the items and try to remember what is under the cloth. You will then remove one of the items without them seeing and they will have to try to work out what is missing. Start with one of the smaller and less obvious items. Replace that object and then play a few more rounds of the game, gradually removing larger items each time so that the difference is easier to spot. Talk about which items were hardest to notice. Which were easiest? Did it get easier over time? Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus taught his disciples that they would need to live differently to those who don t follow him as king so that others would notice and follow Jesus too. Option 2: Play a version of the game Fruit Salad with a penalty for the child left standing. Make a circle of chairs totalling one fewer than the number of children in your group. The children all sit on the chairs except for one child who stands in the middle. The leader calls out a distinguishing factor e.g. anyone with trainers; anyone wearing yellow; anyone with brown hair. Everyone who fits that description must then stand up and swap chairs with someone else who is standing. The child in the middle must also race to sit on a chair so that a new child will be left without a chair. The leader can then give them a suitable penalty such as five star jumps before making the next statement. Make sure the children see this as a negative thing! Keep track of how many times a child has been the odd one out by writing up the scores on a board or piece of paper. After several rounds count up the scores, again making the points sound like a problem for those children with many. Ask the children who they think did the best in that game. Who had the fewest penalties? Who had the most? Give a small prize to the child who had to complete the most penalty 9

10 exercises. Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that they needed to live differently to those who didn t love Jesus so that people would notice. Sometimes this would be hard because people might try to hurt them for being different, but Jesus promised that his followers would be rewarded in heaven. Option 3: For older children. Stand at the front of the group with the children facing you. Show them three different positions that they can strike during the game e.g. three animal poses (gorilla, chicken, rabbit) or three ninja poses. The game is played like Rock, Paper, Scissors ; count down from three and then everyone must strike a pose. Any child who is in a different position to you is still in; any child who has taken the same pose is out. Continue in this way until only one child is left. You could repeat this game a few times and let one of the children stand at the front instead of the leader. Talk about how difficult it is sometimes to be different to other people it s very easy just to copy what they do without thinking! Remind them that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that they must live differently to those who don t follow him. When we are different some people will notice and want to follow Jesus, but others will see and try to make it very hard for us to live this way. Discuss and Apply Jesus is calling his followers to live differently to those who do not follow him so that others will notice and come to know and trust in him. But it s not always easy to live differently! It makes people stand out and attracts attention which can sometimes lead to being teased or made to feel peculiar. This can be especially hard for older children who are often self-conscious and view themselves in terms of how others respond to them. For younger children begin by referring to the Intro Idea or Game Option you used. In each case, what was different? When was the difference easy to spot? When was it hard to spot? Bigger differences are easier to notice. When people live differently from others they also get noticed. Give the children some practical suggestions of what these differences might be, for example: Most children would want the biggest slice of cake. Which slice would a follow of Jesus choose if they were to be different? Some people cheat to win a game. How would a follower of Jesus play in a game they were losing? Many people respond by hurting people who hurt them. What would a follower of Jesus do when someone hurts them? Many people play sports or go to birthday parties on a Sunday. What do followers of Jesus do on a Sunday (or Saturday in some countries)? [This is not to teach that sport or parties on a Sunday are wrong, but they can be if they take priority over being with God's people.] You could use a simple picture to represent each of your examples to help the children think about what this means for them. Help the children to understand that those who follow Jesus as king live this way so that others will notice. Sometimes this will mean that we don t do or say things that others do. We live this way because Jesus is our king and we want to follow him. He knows which is the best way for us to live so we need to trust him and obey. We need to obey him even if others tease us or try to hurt us because we are different. For older children discuss along similar lines as for younger children. Help them to understand that we live differently to bring glory to God (5:16). Have they ever been treated badly because they don t do things that others do? What are we tempted to do when we get treated in this way? Who will be pleased when we re no different from those who don t follow Jesus? Who will be pleased when we are? In what ways does Jesus want us to be different? [Try to show that our distinctiveness must be shaped by the gospel and not by being obnoxious, boastful or weird.] Could they explain something that they do differently in their lives that shows others that they love Jesus? Do they think this is only a problem that young people face? How might it also be a problem for adults? Give some practical examples from your own experience so that the children understand that this is a lifelong struggle. Talk about why Jesus wants us to live differently. We don't just enjoy being good. You could discuss with your group how your good deeds (and words) might lead to God being praised. Life Story [Picture provided on page 12.] There are parts of the world where it is very difficult to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. In some countries in North Africa, for example, it is against the law to try to help people put their trust in Jesus and give their lives to him. But even in these places there are Christians working to show people just how much Jesus loves them and how much he wants them to be part of his kingdom. One family mum, Anna; dad, John; and their two young children, Miriam and Joshua live in a city where the authorities do not want people to become Christians. 10

11 They are gospel workers, sent by Serving In Mission. We have changed their names for this story because it would be too dangerous to use their real names. John and Anna run a business, helping local people to learn English and foreigners to learn Arabic. The business is doing well and there are plans to open another office in a different part of the country. Some of the local people who work in this business are already Christians and some are not. John and Anna long for all of them to become Christians and for all their pupils to become Christians too. But the only way they can show what it means to be a Christian is in the way they lead their lives every day. They do not have a church to go to; they have hardly any Christian friends; and there is no church family for them to be part of. So they show what it means to be a Christian by the way they treat their pupils, the way they treat their staff and the way they interact with everyone they come into contact with. They try to treat everyone equally and fairly; they follow the laws of the country they are in; and they do not get involved in any corrupt business practices. They try to be lights for Jesus Christ in a community where no one knows him. They can talk about Jesus in private conversations and always take the opportunity to do so. Their hope is that people will see how they live, ask them questions about why they live as they do and eventually come to understand that following Jesus is the right way to live. Serving In Mission sends more than 140 mission workers from the United Kingdom (UK) to take the gospel of Jesus to people who do not know it. For more information about their work go to Activity For 3-7s choose either Activity A (page 15) or Activity B (page 16). Activity A Make a city on hill. Print page 15 onto card, one copy for each child. Before the lesson cut out the circle and the town from each page. You could cut the windows out using a craft blade or simply encourage the children to colour them yellow. The children colour in the town walls and the circle which will become the hill. Cut along the bold line of the circle then help the children to glue it into a cone shape by aligning the one radius of the circle with the dotted line. Glue the city as marked to produce a freestanding town which can be placed on top of the hill. You could secure it with sticky tape from inside the town wall. Remind the children that you can see a town on a hill from a long distance at night because of the lights. Jesus said that if we obey him others will notice and come to know him too. Activity B Make a lantern. Print page 16 onto paper (one copy for every two children). You could print these onto different coloured paper. It will be easier to decorate the lanterns if you don't precut them; simply cut the page in half to provide a lantern for each child. The children decorate their lantern then fold the page in half as shown. Help them to cut along all the bold lines then unfold the page and glue it into a cylinder. Glue another strip of paper into a loop over the top and a flat strip across the bottom. You can place a large scrunched up ball of yellow, red and orange tissue paper inside the lantern the strip at the bottom will prevent it from falling out. Remind the children that Jesus said we are to shine like a lamp by obeying Jesus. Others will notice that we live differently and also come to trust in him. For 7-11s print either Activity Sheet C (page 17) or Activity Sheet D (page 18) onto paper for each child. Choose whichever is appropriate for your children and use it to reinforce the lesson or as a discussion starter. Prayer Idea If you used pictures during the Discuss and Apply section to help the children think about and remember practical ways they can be different, lay these out on the floor or on a table. Ask the children to tell you what each one was about. Remind them that Jesus calls us to be salt and light in the world to stand out and be different. The children can then choose one of the pictures and pray that God would help them to live differently in that area of their lives so that others will see and come to know and love Jesus. Memory Verse [Jesus] said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' Matthew 9:37-38 [NIV] 11

12 Jesus on Mission Week 1 Visual Aid Life Story Picture courtesy of Serving in Mission. 12

13 Jesus on Mission Week 1 Intro Idea: Option 1 13

14 Jesus on Mission Week 1 Visual Aid 14

15 Jesus on Mission Week 1 Activity A Those who obey Jesus are like a town on a hill shining its light for others to see. Matthew 5:

16 Matthew 5:16 Jesus on Mission Week 1 Activity B Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 16

17 Living on Mission Jesus on Mission Week 1 Activity C The true story can be found in Matthew 5:10-16 What did Jesus say his followers are like? (5:14) Draw a picture in the space below. What do people NOT do with light? (5:15) Tick the best answer. Turn it off Hide it Make it brighter What DO people do instead? (5:15-16) Tick the best answer. Show it off Hide it Make it brighter What does it mean to let your light shine before others? Who should be able to see? What will happen when people see this? (5:16) They will God as king. In what ways do you live differently to people you know who are not Christians? How does this show at school/home/with friends? When are you tempted to hide those differences? Why? How does this passage encourage you not to hide? 17

18 Living on Mission Jesus on Mission Week 1 Activity D The true story can be found in Matthew 5:10-16 What two things did Jesus say his followers are like? 1. (5:13) 2. (5:14) What do people usually do with these things? Write some uses in the boxes below. Salt Light When do these things become useless? 1. When s loses its s (5:13) 2. When a l is h (5:14-15) What does it mean to let your light shine before others? Who should be able to see? What two things will happen when people see this? Some will i and p Jesus' followers. (5:10-11) Others will see and God as king. (5:16) In what ways do you live differently to people you know who are not Christians? How else can you live as salt and light at school/home/with friends? When are you tempted to hide those differences? Why? Why do you think some people don't like it when you live differently? Does living differently mean we don't need to talk about Jesus? 18

19 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Praying on Mission Matthew 9:35-38 Big Idea : Jesus taught his disciples to ask God to provide more people to tell others the good news. Aim : To teach that everyone needs to hear the good news about Jesus so we must ask God to send out more workers. The Story So Far Week 1: Jesus told his disciples that they must live differently to those who do not follow him so that others would notice. Sometimes people would see and come to love and follow Jesus too, but others would try to make it difficult for Jesus disciples to be different. Clearly great numbers of people need to hear the good news, but Jesus reminded the disciples that the harvest field and the work itself belongs to God. He is in charge of the harvest and because of this they could be absolutely certain that God would supply everything that was needed to fulfil the task. Leader's Study Notes Read Matthew 9:35-38 noting the relationship between the Lord of the harvest and the workers. Use the following notes to help you think about the passage in more detail. 9:35 Jesus ministry had begun with his baptism and temptation (3:13-4:11). From this point on, he had spent his time travelling from town to town teaching, preaching and healing people. The disciples had gone with him, but so far only Jesus had called people to follow him by proclaiming that God s kingdom had come. 9:36 Jesus ministry was built on his compassion. He felt pity for the crowds and was moved to help them because they had no one to lead them to God. 9:37-38 The needs of the people were so great that Jesus could not carry out the task alone. His solution was to extend his ministry to the disciples. He instructed them first to pray, asking God to provide workers to tell others the good news. 19

20 Session Outline Review Review the previous lesson using the questions provided as well as any of the visual aids that were used for the previous lesson. This is helpful for children who may have missed that session. Introductory Idea Introduces this week's lesson. Pose the questions at the end of the Introductory Idea. This gives children something to look out for in the lesson and helps their concentration. These get answered later in the session. Teaching Plan The core of the session. The action of the Bible text is told as a story for younger children and explained. Or the Bible text is taught as a simple Bible study for older children. Game Idea Not essential. Reinforces the lesson aim in a fun way and provides a way of displacing energy! Review the questions posed in the Introductory Idea. Discuss and Apply Not to be missed! This is where the children can be quizzed on the content and meaning of the Bible story. Questions and discussion are needed to apply this Bible story to the children's everyday lives. They should do most of the talking. Prayer Idea Use the prayer idea or just encourage each child to pray about an aspect of the lesson. Activity An opportunity to reinforce the lesson. For younger children, Activity A or B will be suitable. For older children, Activity C or D can be used to facilitate the Teaching or the Discuss and Apply section some children prefer a lively discussion to completing written answers. Memory Verse A fun way of remembering the key verse for the series. Review Review the previous lesson using the following questions: How are Jesus followers to be different? [They are to live righteous lives for Jesus (5:10,11)] Why are they told to be different? [So that others may see (5:16)] What will happen because they are different? [Some people will insult and persecute them; others will believe and praise God (5:11, 16)] Introductory Idea Option 1: Tell the children that you have a biscuit/sweet/sticker for each of them, but show them a plate with only one or two left. Talk about how there aren t enough for the whole group. How can they make sure that everyone gets one each? You could suggest breaking/cutting them into pieces and see what the children think. Point out that that would still not be a whole biscuit for each person. Ask another leader to fetch a second plate with enough for everyone. Today s true story from the Bible is about not having enough of something and what Jesus told his disciples to do to fix this. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Option 2: Before the lesson print out two copies of the jigsaw puzzle from page 25 and cut out the pieces. Place a complete jigsaw into one envelope and only half of the other jigsaw into another envelope. Choose two volunteers to race to complete their separate puzzles at the front of the class. Give one envelope to each child, but do not let them open it until you say go. It shouldn t take long for the child with only part of a jigsaw to point out that you have set them an impossible task. Talk about what the problem is. What do they need more of? Today s true story from the Bible is about not having enough of something and what Jesus told his disciples to do to fix this. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Bridge Questions Life Story The true story on page 23 has been provided by Serving in Mission. Use it at any point in your lesson to illustrate an application of the lesson in real life. The children must listen carefully to today's true story from the Bible to discover the answers to the following questions: What was needed? [More workers to tell people the good news (9:35, 37)] 20

21 What did Jesus tell the disciples to do? [Pray for more workers (9:38)] Who would provide for this need? [God (9:38)] Teaching Plan Matthew provides a summary of Jesus ministry in verse 35 and then goes on to show the problem and Jesus solution. For younger children you could use pictures to represent Jesus and the towns. Print one copy of page 26 and two or three copies of page 27. Cut the town strips from page 27 and glue the ends together to form several free-standing, circular towns. Place the towns around the room or spread them across a table. If you have the space, move with the children around the room, stopping at each town to describe what Jesus did there as you place the three pictures in each he taught in the synagogues, he told them the good news about God's kingdom and healed the sick. Place a large tick on that town with a felt tip marker to show that Jesus had been there and then move to the next town with the three pictures and repeat the description of what Jesus did. Can the children remember the three things Jesus did? Hold up the pictures to prompt them and get them to say them out loud. Keep moving around the room with the children and repeat the process until they begin to show signs of frustration or boredom. Stop using the pictures and see if the children can still remember the three things that Jesus kept doing. Explain that there were so many towns and so many people that Jesus couldn t do it all. Jesus knew that all the people needed to hear the good news, but there were so many of them. He felt sorry for them and wanted to help. Take suggestions from the children as to what Jesus needed to do to make sure that the people in every town heard the good news. Provide the children with some alternative options. These might include: Jesus should work harder, speak faster, get a horse to travel quicker between the towns, ask God for more energy, etc. Explain what Jesus told his disciples to do to solve the problem they were to pray that God would provide more workers to tell people the good news. For older children tell the story using a similar method to that described above for younger children, but provide them with some of the following passages to look up. For each one the children should note the name of the town and what Jesus did there, who he spoke to and who was healed (not all of these questions will be applicable for every reference). Use the map on page 28 and help the children identify the towns and write the answers next to each town. 4:12-17 Galilee and Capernaum, preaching 4:18-20 Sea of Galilee, calling disciples 4:23-25 Galilee, teaching in synagogues and preaching the good news and healing 5:1-2 Mountainside in Galilee, teaching disciples 8:5-7, 13 Capernaum, healing 9:1-8 Galilee, healing Explore the passage further using some of the following questions: Why did Jesus feel sorry for the crowds of people? (9:36) What does it mean to be without a shepherd? (9:36) What does this tell you about the people's greatest need? (cf. Mark 6:34) Why does Jesus say that the harvest is plentiful? (9:37) Who was the only worker at this stage? (9:35) What needed to happen for this situation to change? What did the disciples need to do? (9:38) Who does the harvest belong to? (9:38) Game Idea Option 1: For younger children. Before the lesson print page 29 onto paper or card (you will need one copy for every three children in your group). You will also need one copy of page 27 printed onto card or thick paper for every three children. Cut out the cards and the outline of the towns then glue the ends together to form several free-standing, circular towns. Place the towns around the room then get the children to sit in a circle on the floor in the middle of the room. Show the children the cards and talk about what each of them means can they remember what Jesus did in each town he visited? Shuffle the cards then deal out one card to each child. On the count of three, the children turn over their card and then run to one of the towns. They can place their card in the middle of the town circle only if there is no matching card already there e.g. if one child places a synagogue card inside one of the towns and a second child has a synagogue card they must go and find another town that does not already have that card. The children return to the circle when they have placed their card inside a town. Deal out the cards and repeat twice more until every town has one of each picture inside. Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus went from town to town preaching, healing and teaching, but there were too many people for Jesus to visit on his own. He told his disciples to pray and ask God for more workers who could help them to tell everyone the good news about God s kingdom. Option 2: Divide the group into two or three teams and have them line up at one side of the room. Place a rope or piece of masking tape across the floor in 21

22 front of the teams to mark the start line and one at the other end of the room for the finish line. The teams will race to construct a tower/pole/stick from behind the start line out of straws/spaghetti and sellotape/ chopsticks and sellotape/building blocks that is long enough to cross the finish line. Give each team a bundle of straws, but make sure they only have enough to get half way towards the finish line. The children insert one end of a straw into the top of another one to build up the stick, but it should take them a while to realise that it won t be able to reach. Wait until they start complaining that there are not enough straws and see if any children ask for more. You may need to prompt some of them to ask! Give a second bundle of straws to any team who asks you for more. The first team to cross the finish line wins. Talk about the problem that all the teams had the straw sticks weren t long enough because they didn t have enough straws. How did they solve that problem? Who did they have to ask? Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible there weren t enough workers to tell everyone the good news about the kingdom of God. Jesus told the disciples that they needed to ask God for more and that he would certainly answer their prayer. Option 3: Divide the group into two teams and have them stand at one end of the room. Place an empty bucket opposite each team and a second bucket filled with ball-pond balls/scrunched up balls of paper next to each team. For the first round, the teams must nominate one child each to be their thrower only these two children are allowed to pick up a ball and throw them one at a time into the bucket opposite them. The team with the most balls in their bucket after a set time wins. Start the timer so that the two throwers can begin. The rest of their teams will not be involved in any part of the game for this round they will just have to wait and watch. After a while these other team members may begin to ask why they can t help throw as well. When they start to look frustrated stop the game early! For the second round, replace the balls that were thrown in the buckets by each team then start the timer. The throwers can begin again, but this time they may ask you for More workers! You can then name two or three members in each team who can join the first two children throwing balls into the bucket and retrieving balls that have missed the bucket. When one of these new children asks for more workers call two or three more and so continue until the time is up. Count all the balls in each bucket; the team with the most wins. Talk about the frustration the children felt the first time they played the game. How did the thrower find it when they had to work on their own? What did they need to help them? Why was it easier the second time? Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible there weren t enough workers to tell everyone the good news about the kingdom of God. Jesus told his disciples that they needed to ask God for more workers and that he would certainly answer their prayer. Discuss and Apply Children will not naturally think of themselves as being actively involved in ministry. Start by discussing the broader issue that everyone in the world needs to know who Jesus is. No-one should ever live and die without knowing about Jesus. Ask the children who it is that tells people about Jesus. Answers might include parents, Sunday school teachers, pastors, missionaries, etc. Get the children to come up with these answers by helping them to think of people in various situations they are aware of. Help the children to understand that there are more people who need to hear about Jesus than there are people to tell them about Jesus. If it s only the job of pastors, Sunday school teachers and parents, then who will tell the child who doesn t go to church and whose parents do not know Jesus themselves? Encourage the children to think about how these people will learn about Jesus and their own role in that. For younger children it will be enough for them to understand that we need to pray that God would help more people to want to tell others about Jesus so that everyone can hear the good news. For older children remind them of the game they played (Option 2 or 3) and how much easier it was to get the task done when more people were involved. How many of the children in their class know Jesus and are telling others about Jesus? They might be the only one and the task seems too hard and too big. How could the task be made more achievable? Who should they be asking for help? Why should they be asking for help? How does Jesus promise that God will help? Do the children understand that even the best evangelists in the world, like Jesus, are limited by the number of people that it is physically possible to speak to? This is why more workers are needed. Help the children to see that the workers Jesus is looking for are not necessarily pastors, parents or Sunday school teachers, but anyone who will tell someone else the good news. That includes them! Perhaps children in your class have a Christian Union at their school. How could they support that or work together with other children to make Jesus known? How could they do that even if there is no Christian Union? 22

23 Life Story [Picture provided on page 24.] There are still more than three billion people in the world who do not know Jesus and they all need to hear about him. That is why Christians pray that more people who can spread the good news will come forward to help. In China, where Serving In Mission and other UK mission agencies send many gospel workers, there are now around 100 million Christians that s more people than live in the whole of Great Britain! But there are still at least 1.5 billion people in China who do not know Jesus and whole cities where there are no churches and hardly any Christians. The only way that people living in those cities will hear about Jesus is if someone goes there and tells them about him. That s exactly what is happening right now after the prayers of many, many people over many, many years. Those 100 million Christians in China only got to hear about Jesus because someone went and told them and because people prayed! The same is true of the Muslim world, where more and more people are turning to Christianity. The start of that process can be traced back to something which began more than 20 years ago: the dedicated praying of Christians during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan every year. Since then, many Muslim people have wanted to know more about Jesus and many have come to put their faith in him. They have only found out about Jesus by mission workers going and telling them. These movements are happening across the Muslim world and they can be directly linked to the prayers of Christians. Jesus told his disciples to pray for more workers for the harvest field and we must keep on praying the same thing. The motto of Serving In Mission is By Prayer only through prayer does anyone come to know Jesus. Serving In Mission sends more than 140 mission workers from the UK to take the gospel of Jesus to people who do not know it. For more information about their work go to Prayer Idea Pray local: Ask the children to think about their friends and family members who do not know Jesus. Encourage them to pray regularly for one or two of their friends who don t know Jesus and ask God for courage in speaking to friends about Jesus. Pray global: Ask the children to think about other people who do not know Jesus people in their school, people in their street, people in their town, etc. Help the children to see that there are lots of people who don t love Jesus and that on their own it would be impossible to tell all of them the good news. Explain that in some countries there are far more Christians than in other countries. Encourage them to pray for more workers to tell those who don t know Jesus the good news, both in their own country and overseas. Activity For 3-7s choose either Activity A (pages 30 and 31) or Activity B (page 32). Activity A Print page 30 (one copy for each child) and page 31 (one copy for every three children) onto paper. Before the lesson fold page 30 in half and glue it back to back before cutting out the praying hands. Concertina fold page 31 as marked and cut to produce three sets of people. The children colour in the hands and the people. Help them to glue the concertina people to the card as shown. When the hands are opened up the people will appear. Remind the children that Jesus told his disciples to pray that God would provide the people needed to tell everyone that Jesus is king. Activity B Print page 32 onto paper (one copy for every child). The children colour in the page. Ask them to draw a crowd of people below the thought bubble. Remind them that many people needed to hear about Jesus so the disciples needed to pray that God would provide more people to tell others that Jesus is king. We must do the same wherever we are. For 7-11s print either Activity Sheet C (page 33) or Activity Sheet D (page 34) onto paper for each child. Choose whichever is appropriate for your children and use it to reinforce the lesson or as a discussion starter. Memory Verse [Jesus] said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' Matthew 9:37-38 [NIV] 23

24 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Visual Aid Life Story Picture courtesy of Serving in Mission. 24

25 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Intro Idea: Option 2 25

26 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Visual Aids (1 of 2) 26

27 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Game Option 1/Visual Aids (2 of 2) 27

28 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Visual Aid Map River Jordan Mount of Beatitudes Capernaum Bethsaida Cana Magdala Tiberias Sea of Galilee Nazareth GALILEE Gadara Nain River Jordan DECAPOLIS 28

29 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Game Idea: Option 1 29

30 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Activity A (1 of 2) Matthew 9:38 Matthew 9:38 Jesus told his disciples to pray... Jesus told his disciples to pray......for more people to tell others that Jesus is the king. 30

31 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Activity A (2 of 2) 31

32 Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus on Mission Week 2 Activity B Jesus told his disciples that God's harvest was ready and they needed to pray that many people would tell others that he is the king. 32

33 Praying on Mission Jesus on Mission Week 2 Activity C The true story can be found in Matthew 9:35-38 What three things did Jesus do as he went from town to town? (9:35) Circle the correct answers. Teaching Herding sheep Farming Telling the good news Healing Eating What problem did Jesus have? (9:37) Cross out the wrong words. "The harvest / sheep is small / plentiful, but the workers are many / few." What harvest is Jesus talking about? Who are the workers? What did Jesus tell his disciples to do? (9:38) Tick the correct answer. Ask God for a bigger harvest field. Work harder for God. Ask God for more workers. Who does this 'harvest field' belong to? (9:38) Do you find Jesus' solution surprising? Why? What does this show about who is in control of the harvest? What should we do when we struggle to tell people the good news? How does this passage encourage you to keep going? 33

34 Praying on Mission Jesus on Mission Week 2 Activity D The true story can be found in Matthew 9:35-38 What three things did Jesus do as he went from town to town? (9:35) Why did Jesus have compassion on the crowds? (9:36) What problem did Jesus have? (9:37) "The is, but the workers are." What was the crowd's biggest need? What harvest is Jesus talking about? Who are the workers? What did Jesus tell his disciples to do? (9:38) Tick the correct answer. Ask God for a bigger harvest field. Work harder for God. Ask God for more workers. Who does this 'harvest field' belong to? (9:38) Do you find Jesus' solution surprising? Why? What should we do when we struggle to tell people the good news? Is prayer your first response or do you try to work harder instead? Why can we be confident that God will answer our prayers? Who is in control of the harvest? Are we still responsible for telling others the good news? Why? 34

35 Jesus on Mission Week 3 Big Idea : Jesus sent his disciples out to urgently tell the good news to as many people as possible and told them not to be afraid. Aim Speaking on Mission Matthew 10:1-31 : To teach that we must boldly tell others the good news about Jesus even when we are opposed and that God will provide all we need. The Story So Far Week 1: Jesus told his disciples that they must live differently to those who do not follow him so that others would notice. Sometimes people would see and come to love and follow Jesus too, but others would try to make it difficult for Jesus disciples to be different. Week 2: Jesus taught his disciples to ask God for more workers to help them tell others the good news. They could be certain that God would provide more people because he is in control. Leader's Study Notes Read Matthew 10:1-31 noting the main task Jesus gave his disciples. Use the following notes to help you think about the passage in more detail. So far in Matthew s Gospel the focus has been on Jesus ministry only. In the previous passage, Jesus told his disciples to pray for more workers to help him preach the good news of the kingdom of God. The disciples themselves are the answer to that prayer now as Jesus calls them and commissions them for the same task (10:1-4). 10:5-8 These verses provide a summary of the task Jesus gave his disciples. It s important to remember that these events took place before Jesus death and resurrection while his ministry was still largely restricted to the people of Israel. The apostles mission was to reflect Jesus own ministry in this sense and was similarly authenticated by miracles. Once raised to life, however, Jesus commanded the disciples to preach the gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8), both Jews and Gentiles. We should be careful therefore in applying this situation directly to our own today. It is helpful to note that the disciples primary responsibility was to urgently tell others the good news. 10:9-16 Jesus then gave his disciples a list of detailed instructions for their mission. They didn t need to take anything with them God would provide through the generosity of others supporting gospel work (cf. 1 Cor. 9:10-14). Worthy hosts would support the mission by providing hospitality. They were not to stay where they (and the message) were not welcomed, but instead move on to preach elsewhere. Opposition was to be expected, but was not to be a cause for concern. 10:17-25 Jesus reminded the disciples that telling others the good news would have serious consequences. Even the closest family relationships would be affected. Jesus assured them, however, that the Holy Spirit would help them to witness even while they were on trial. It is clear in this passage that Jesus is the one whom people would reject rather than the disciples themselves as his messengers. This is yet another way in which the disciples ministry would be like Jesus own. 10:26-31 Again Jesus warned his disciples not to be afraid of the persecution they would face and so to shrink from their task. The good news would inevitably go out to all people; to fear man would be to forget that God is in control. He cares for them and would ensure that this message is proclaimed. Although certain aspects of this mission cannot be applied directly to us today there are a number of principles which are worth noting. These are repeated throughout the New Testament, beyond 35

36 Jesus resurrection: Preaching the gospel message is an urgent matter. A mixed response and opposition is to be expected. We do not need to be afraid because God will provide and enable. Session Outline Review Review the previous lesson using the questions provided as well as any of the visual aids that were used for the previous lesson. This is helpful for children who may have missed that session. Introductory Idea Introduces this week's lesson. Pose the questions at the end of the Introductory Idea. This gives children something to look out for in the lesson and helps their concentration. These get answered later in the session. Teaching Plan The core of the session. The action of the Bible text is told as a story for younger children and explained. Or the Bible text is taught as a simple Bible study for older children. Game Idea Not essential. Reinforces the lesson aim in a fun way and provides a way of displacing energy! Life Story The true story on page 39 has been provided by Serving in Mission. Use it at any point in your lesson to illustrate an application of the lesson in real life. Review the questions posed in the Introductory Idea. Discuss and Apply Not to be missed! This is where the children can be quizzed on the content and meaning of the Bible story. Questions and discussion are needed to apply this Bible story to the children's everyday lives. They should do most of the talking. Prayer Idea Use the prayer idea or just encourage each child to pray about an aspect of the lesson. Activity An opportunity to reinforce the lesson. For younger children, Activity A or B will be suitable. For older children, Activity C or D can be used to facilitate the Teaching or the Discuss and Apply section some children prefer a lively discussion to completing written answers. Memory Verse A fun way of remembering the key verse for the series. 36

37 Review Review the previous lesson using the following questions: What was needed? [More workers to tell people the good news (9:35, 37)] What did Jesus tell the disciples to do? [Pray for more workers (9:38)] Who would provide for this need? [God (9:38)] Introductory Idea Option 1: Before the lesson pack a small suitcase with various holiday items e.g. sun cream, sun glasses, a book, a game, suitable clothing. Tell the children that you are going on holiday soon and show them the suitcase that you ve packed. Can they guess some of the things that you ll be taking with you? Show them the items as they name them. Talk about the sort of things we do on holiday, why we go and how we get there. Often it s a long journey, but we don t do very much! Today s true story from the Bible is about a journey that Jesus disciples went on, but it wasn t a holiday. He gave them a special task to carry out and special instructions for what they should take with them. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Option 2: Choose one child to stand at the front of the group and tell them that you are sending them on an expedition to the North Pole. What sort of things would they need to wear or take with them? Take some suggestions from the other children and dress the child at the front in those items (you will need to have prepared a bag with some suitable things inside before the lesson). These could include a hat, scarf, gloves, jumper, coat, belt, money, supplies, etc. Talk about how well prepared they would be if they had all these things and what problems they might face if they didn t. Today s true story from the Bible is about a journey that Jesus sent his disciples on. He gave them a special task to carry out and special instructions for what they should take with them when they went. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Option 3: Choose one volunteer to try to make the tallest tower they can out of building blocks. Get them to stand at the front of the class, but before they can start tell them that they need to get ready for their task. Give them a heavy coat, a pair of oven gloves and a scarf to wear (or some other item of clothing that will hinder their movements). The child should struggle to build the tower very high, if at all, or it may take far longer than the time you allow them. You could let them try again without the extra items of clothing on to compare how difficult it was each time. Talk about why they struggled the first time to build the tower. Today s true story from the Bible is about a journey that Jesus disciples went on. He gave them a special task to carry out and special instructions for what they should take with them to prepare for their journey. [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Bridge Questions The children must listen carefully to today's true story from the Bible to discover the answers to the following questions: What task did the disciples have to do on their journey? [Tell others the good news about God s kingdom (10:7)] What did they need to take with them? [Nothing! (10:9-10)] Who would look after them? [God, the Father (10:29-31)] Teaching Plan This passage follows on directly after Jesus instruction that the disciples should pray for more workers. Surprisingly they are the answer to this prayer! Remind the children of what Jesus had asked his disciples to do in the previous lesson. Now Jesus prepares to send out the twelve disciples to do exactly what he had been doing going from town to town telling people the good news. Ask the children to suggest what they might need for this trip. Suggestions might include good walking shoes, a walking stick, a few changes of clothing, enough money and food, a Bible (or Old Testament scroll). Tell the story explaining that surprisingly they were to take none of these items. Explain the instructions Jesus gave his disciples and use pictures to illustrate the various steps. These can be simple hand-drawn pictures which might look something like this: Enter a town (arrow pointing into a town) If they welcome you (smiley face), stay (house with tick) If they do not welcome or listen (angry face), leave (house with cross) If no-one listens (ear crossed out) leave the town (town with arrow pointing away) Help the children to understand that the disciples had to trust God to give them everything that they needed for their journey, that s why they didn t take money or food with them. They also needed to be as quick as they could to tell as many people as possible. If they took extra clothing and supplies then it would slow them down. One of the ways God gave them what they needed on the way was by getting people who loved Jesus to let them stay in their homes and look after them. This way more people heard the good news about Jesus very quickly! Remove the pictures from the board and see if the children can tell you which pictures go 37

38 where as you repeat Jesus instructions. Tell the children that Jesus also warned his disciples that those who didn t want to listen to the good news about Jesus might try to hurt them, but that the Holy Spirit would help them to know what to say and what to do. For older children Ask them to work in pairs and to read Matthew 10:9-16 before producing a series of pictures to describe what Jesus was telling his disciples to do in those verses (simple stick figures are all that is required). They may need some direction to come up with pictures similar to the ones described for younger children. Get them to explain their pictures to the rest of the class then ask some of the following questions: Can the children remember from the previous lesson why this was such an urgent task? Why were the disciples to not waste time with people who did not want to listen? Why did they not take much luggage with them? How did this help them get the job done quicker? Where did they get food and all they needed to live? Who were they to trust to provide these things as they went on their way? Read Matthew 10:16-20: What will those who do not want to listen to the good news do to Jesus followers? How will Jesus help them when this happens? Read Matthew 10:28-31: How are the disciples to think about those who do these terrible things to them? What reasons does Jesus give his disciples for them to keep telling people the good news despite opposition? (There are at least two in these verses!) Game Idea Option 1: For younger children Pass It On. Play a version of Pass the Parcel. Before the lesson write Good News! on the outside of a large envelope, fill it with sweets/stickers (enough for each child in your group to have at least one each) and seal it. The children sit in a circle on the floor or on chairs. Hold up the envelope and ask the children what they would expect to find inside a letter or card with some news. Give the envelope to one child to pass around the circle while music is playing. When the music stops everyone in the circle says, Hear the good news! and the child holding the envelope may then open it and take out one sweet/sticker. Start the music again and continue passing the good news around the circle so that each child receives at least one treat. Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that they must pass on the good news about his kingdom by telling others about him. Option 2: I Won t Take... Play a version of the Shopping List memory game. The children sit in a circle on chairs or on the floor. Start by saying the phrase I m going on a journey and I won t be taking then name an item e.g. a bag, shoes, coat, hat. The next child in the circle then repeats the phrase, names the item you chose and adds an item of their own to the list. Continue around the circle in this way; the list should get longer and more difficult for the children to remember. With younger children you could see how many items you can remember together as a group and start again when someone makes a mistake/ forgets the list. With older children you might want to play this as more of a competition to see who has the best memory! Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that they didn t need any of these things went they took the good news to people. All they needed was to speak about Jesus and trust that God would look after them. Option 3: Dress-Up Relay. Divide the group into two teams and have them line up at one end of the room. Place a bucket opposite each team at the other end of the room. You will also need to place three items of clothing spaced out at regular intervals between each team and the bucket. These could include a coat, large wellington boots, a hat, a bag, a scarf, some gloves, etc. It may be helpful to put each of these items inside a hula-hoop to mark on the floor where they should be placed. The first child in each group runs to the other end of the room, putting on each of the items of clothing as they go. When they reach the bucket they must take off the clothes and put them inside then run back to their team. The next child in the line then runs straight to the bucket, picks up the clothes and places one set in each of the hoops/on each of the markers ready for the third child. The game continues until each child has had a turn to run; the first team to finish wins. Talk about how hard it was to run in some of these items of clothing. Did the children feel like they were slowing them down? Remind them that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that they didn t need any of these things went they took the good news to people. All they needed was to speak about Jesus and trust that God would look after them. Option 4: Before the lesson write Good News! on the outside of two envelopes and then fill each of them with some small sweets (enough for each child in your group to have one), then seal the envelope. Divide the group into two teams and have them stand at one end of the room. Divide each of these teams again into two and get half of each team to stand opposite their own team members at the other end of the room. Give the envelopes to the first child in 38

39 each line at one end of the room. The children with the envelopes race to the other side of the room, pass the envelope to the first child in their team opposite and then run to the back of that same line. The children with the envelopes now run back across the room and deliver the good news to the second child in their team opposite them and run to the back of that line. The game continues in this way until every child has had a turn to run with the envelope and pass it on; the first team to do so wins. Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that they must urgently take the good news about the kingdom of God to others. They didn t need to take anything with them, they just had to tell people about Jesus. Remind them that the news they were bringing was good news and then let each team open their envelopes and share out the sweets inside. Life Story Picture provided on page 41. Graham and Emily are a newly-married couple who long to tell others the good news about Jesus. Graham is a doctor and Emily is a teacher. They have been working in Niger, a large, mainly Muslim country in west Africa. Graham is helping at a large hospital in Galmi, which was set up many years ago by gospel workers from Serving In Mission, and Emily is teaching young people about Jesus. One day a little girl, about six years old, was brought to Graham s hospital by her parents. They were worried that she wasn t growing properly and that her legs and arms weren t working as they should. She was struggling to pick things up or to walk. Graham carried out as many tests as he could but couldn t work out what the problem was. He thought it might be a very rare condition and ed some friends back in the UK to see if they could help. They thought it might be the problem Graham suspected, but Graham quickly realised that, even if it was that disease, he would find it very difficult to get the right drugs to treat her. And, even if the right drugs could be found, they would be very expensive, far beyond the means of the little girl s family to pay. In the end, he realised that all he could do was offer to pray with the family and bring in one of his colleagues as a counsellor. Then, something remarkable happened. The counsellor began talking to the family, who were Muslims. As he explained the medical situation, he also started to explain the gospel and how everyone in the world can trust in Jesus. He could not explain why the little girl was ill, but he knew Jesus had a purpose for her and for her family. He showed the family that, even though the little girl would not get better quickly, she still had hope through what Jesus had done on the cross. As the counsellor explained more and more, the girl s parents became more and more interested. At the end of the meeting they asked the counsellor if they could pray to God. Together, they knelt on the ground and offered their lives to Jesus. Today, they are continuing to learn more about Jesus and are studying the Bible. Other Christians are walking alongside them, helping them grow in their new faith and explain it to others. Even when things seem really bad, it is important to speak about Jesus and the hope he alone can offer. As Christians, we must speak about Jesus to people who do not know him. Some of those people will be hostile to us; others will be unmoved; others will want to know more. Our responsibility, as Graham and the counsellor knew, is to tell people about Jesus. Whether they accept him or not has nothing to do with us that is up to God. Serving In Mission sends more than 140 mission workers from the UK to take the gospel of Jesus to people who do not know it. For more information about their work go to Discuss and Apply This passage reminds us that telling other people the gospel is an urgent matter. Sometimes we avoid speaking the truth about Jesus because we feel that the time isn t right or because we re not sure how the person might respond. But we can never know how someone will respond until we actually say something! Jesus tells us here that we are to expect a mixed response. Negative reactions do not mean that we were wrong to speak the truth, but rather that the person hearing the news has rejected, or is not ready to receive, it. They may respond differently on another occasion, but we cannot possibly know that. Our task is to faithfully and urgently tell as many people as possible the good news about Jesus. For younger children it will be enough for them to understand that not everyone wants Jesus as their king. This will come as a surprise to young children because they will assume that everyone is happy to follow Jesus. Helping them to understand that this is not the case provides an important foundation in their thinking about the necessity and importance of mission. Talk about how Jesus wants everyone who knows and loves him to tell as many people as they can about Jesus even if the people we speak to get angry. It is more important to obey Jesus than to worry about what other people think of us. Jesus promised that if we do what he has asked us to then he will help us to be brave if other people get angry with us. Ask the children to think about who they could tell about the good news of Jesus. 39

40 For older children begin by discussing why everyone needs to hear the good news about Jesus. Do the children understand the urgency of the task? What are some of the reasons they might have for not telling others the truth about Jesus? Children over seven who confess faith in Jesus have usually experienced some form of opposition because of what they believe encourage them to share some of these experiences. They may already fear the response of others when they speak plainly about Jesus. Help them to understand that opposition does not mean that they are wrong Jesus said that opposition was to be expected, even violent opposition and possibly death. Failure to obey Jesus command for fear of persecution means that we fear people more than Jesus. Jesus uses very strong language in 10:28. Why should the fear of Jesus be greater than the fear of man? What does it mean to fear Jesus? Help the children to understand that to fear Jesus is to revere him as the highest authority in our lives. In what way does Jesus promise to help those who obediently tell others about him? How might being obedient to Jesus affect relationships within families? [We should never undermine a parent s authority, but instead help the children to understand that following Jesus may result in difficult relationships even at home. They should always honour their parents and lovingly pray for and share the gospel with them if their parents are not believers.] Ensure that the discussion ends positively with confidence in Jesus ability to supply all we need to live in obedience to him as we boldly and urgently tell others about him. Prayer Idea Pray local: Ask the children whether they have ever tried to tell someone about Jesus who has reacted negatively. How did that make them feel? Explain that Jesus tells us to love everyone, even those who make things difficult for us. Encourage the children to pray for the people who have responded negatively to them or to their faith. They can ask God for further opportunities to talk with these people and for help not to be afraid. Pray global: In some countries people who are Christians are treated very badly, imprisoned, beaten and even killed. Can the children can think of anyone this happened to in the Bible? Help them to understand that in facing hardship we ourselves are becoming more like Jesus. Encourage the children to pray for persecuted Christians for strength and courage. and 44). Activity For 3-7s choose either Activity A (page 42) or Activity B (pages 43 Activity A Make a paper cup telephone. Print page 42 onto paper for each child. Each child will also require two paper cups and a length of string about 1 metre long. Before the lesson cut the cup sleeves out and pierce the bottom of every cup in the middle with a sharp object. The children decorate the cup sleeves. Help them to glue the sleeves around the cups and thread the string through the holes one cup from either end so that the bottoms of the cups face each other. Make good double knots on the ends of the string inside the cups so that the string cannot pull all the way through to bottom of the cups. Show the children how the telephones work in pairs, with one child holding the cup to their ear while the other child speaks into the cup. The string need to be taught for the sound to travel between the cups. Whisper a simple message in one child's ear and see if they can transmit it correctly using the cups and string. Messages like "Jesus died for you" or "Jesus is king" will help to reinforce the lesson. You could make one set with a very long piece of string to see how far the message can travel across the room! Remind them that God has given us a message to take to people all over the world the good news about Jesus and his kingdom. Activity B Print page 43 onto brightly coloured paper (one copy for every five children) and page 44 onto card (one copy for every two children). You could also provide each child with an envelope for their card. Before the lesson cut out the starbursts on page 43 and the cards on page 44. Fold the cards so that the heart is on the inside. The children decorate their cards and glue the starburst onto the front. Help them to think of someone they could give this to and to write that person's name in the card with a short message. Remind the children that Jesus wants everyone to know that he is the king who died for them and that we can help by telling others this good news. For 7-11s print either Activity Sheet C (page 45) or Activity Sheet D (page 46) onto paper for each child. Choose whichever is appropriate for your children and use it to reinforce the lesson or as a discussion starter. Memory Verse [Jesus] said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' Matthew 9:37-38 [NIV] 40

41 Picture courtesy of Serving in Mission. Jesus on Mission Week 3 Visual Aid Life Story 41

42 Jesus on Mission Week 3 Activity A Jesus told his disciples to urgently tell the good news about Jesus to as many people as possible. Matthew 10 Jesus told his disciples to urgently tell the good news about Jesus to as many people as possible. Matthew 10 42

43 Jesus on Mission Week 3 Activity B (1 of 2) 43

44 Jesus on Mission Week 3 Activity B (2 of 2) Jesus loves you SO much that he died for you! Jesus loves you SO much that he died for you! 44

45 Speaking on Mission Jesus on Mission Week 3 Activity C The true story can be found in Matthew 10:1-31 What task did Jesus give his disciples? (10:7) Tick the correct answer. Go and give gold and silver to the poor. Go and make more disciples. Go and tell others about God's kingdom. What did they NOT need to take with them? (10:9-10) Draw some pictures in the space below. Why do you think they didn't need these things? What message were they telling people? How did Jesus say that people would respond? Cross out the wrong words. 1. Some would listen and welcome / warn the disciples. (10:11, 13-14) 2. Others would refuse to leave / listen and try to help / harm them. (10:14, 22-23) Why did the disciples not need to worry? God would help them to s. (10:19-20) God would take c of them. (10:29-31) Why is taking the good news to others so urgent? Why do some people welcome the good news while others reject it and those who bring it? What reason do we have to be confident even when some people respond badly? 45

46 Speaking on Mission Jesus on Mission Week 3 Activity D The true story can be found in Matthew 10:1-31 What task did Jesus give his disciples? (10:7) What did they NOT need to take with them? (10:9-10) Write down some of these things in the space below. Why do you think they didn't need these things? What message were they telling people? How did Jesus say that people would respond? 1. Some would listen and w the disciples. (10:11, 13-14) 2. Others would refuse to l and try to h them. (10:14, 22-23) Why did the disciples not need to worry? God would. (10:19-20) God would. (10:29-31) Why is taking the good news to others so urgent? Why do some people welcome the good news while others reject it and those who bring it? Whose opinion should we care about most of all? When do you find this hardest? What reason do we have to be confident even when some people respond badly? 46

47 Jesus on Mission Week 4 Going on Mission Matthew 28:16-20 Big Idea : After Jesus had been raised to life he met his disciples and commanded them to go to people of all nations, telling them the good news and training them to follow him. Aim : To teach that being a follower of Jesus means bringing other people from all nations to know and follow him. The Story So Far Week 1: Jesus told his disciples that they must live differently to those who do not follow him so that others would notice. Sometimes people would see and come to love and follow Jesus too, but others would try to make it difficult for Jesus disciples to be different. Week 2: Jesus taught his disciples to ask God for more workers to help them tell others the good news. They could be certain that God would provide more people because he is in control. Week 3: Jesus sent his disciples out to urgently tell the good news to as many people as possible. Jesus promised that God would look after them even when this was very hard. involve. Leader's Study Notes Read Matthew 28:16-20 noting what Jesus says making disciples will Use the following notes to help you think about the passage in more detail. Unlike the previous passages in this series, this event occurred after Jesus death and resurrection. Earlier that morning a group of women had gone to anoint Jesus body and found the tomb empty. There they met first an angel and then Jesus himself who commanded them to tell the disciples that he was alive and that they should go to Galilee to meet him. The disciples obeyed and returned home from Jerusalem to wait for Jesus. 28:16-17 Eleven excludes Judas from Jesus disciples, but deliberately includes Peter even after his denial in Matthew 26. Although they had previously followed Jesus, the disciples had never worshiped him before his resurrection now they recognised him as their saviour, lord and God. That some of them doubted does not mean that they failed to come to the same conclusion, it was simply a natural response to the naturally impossible. 28:18 This is the fulfilment of Daniel s vision where he saw the Son of Man being given authority, glory and sovereign power and people from all nations worshipping him. Jesus authority is equalled only by God s nothing is outside of his rule whether on earth or in heaven. 28:19-20 It is because of his supreme authority that Jesus sent them out to engage in ongoing ministry (until the end of the age). Making disciples of all nations would involve both baptising in the name of the triune God (a public declaration of repentance and faith) and teaching obedience to Jesus as king (training in righteousness). Jesus had already promised his disciples that when he left them God would send the Holy Spirit to help them (John 14:15-17). Jesus would no longer be with them physically, but he would be with them through the Holy Spirit as they carried out this task. In order to reach all nations the disciples would need to go they couldn t stay in Jerusalem. Jesus had come to die for the sin of the world, not only those in Jerusalem. This wonderful news needed to go to people in the remotest parts of the world. The Church often sees its goal as simply getting people to trust in Jesus, but here it s clear that Jesus has more in mind people need to be brought to maturity in Christ through teaching. Jesus' central command is to 'make disciples'. There are three aspects to this Great Commission: Going with the express purpose of engaging people who do not know about Jesus with the good news about him. This might not always require going to another country, however, especially in 47

48 certain cities and countries which are increasingly multicultural. Making bringing people to a knowledge of the truth about Jesus that leads to repentance (symbolised by water baptism). This is how they are born into the kingdom of God. Teaching the means by which people grow to maturity in Christ is to learn to obey him in all of life. It is clear that making disciples is more than evangelism. It may sometimes require going to another city or country, but will always require going to people who have not heard about Jesus and not only telling them the good news, but teaching them to be obedient to Jesus. The goal is that people from all nations know Jesus and live in obedience to him. Life Story The true story on page 51 has been provided by Serving in Mission. Use it at any point in your lesson to illustrate an application of the lesson in real life. Session Outline Review Review the previous lesson using the questions provided as well as any of the visual aids that were used for the previous lesson. This is helpful for children who may have missed that session. Introductory Idea Introduces this week's lesson. Pose the questions at the end of the Introductory Idea. This gives children something to look out for in the lesson and helps their concentration. These get answered later in the session. Teaching Plan The core of the session. The action of the Bible text is told as a story for younger children and explained. Or the Bible text is taught as a simple Bible study for older children. Game Idea Not essential. Reinforces the lesson aim in a fun way and provides a way of displacing energy! Review the questions posed in the Introductory Idea. Discuss and Apply Not to be missed! This is where the children can be quizzed on the content and meaning of the Bible story. Questions and discussion are needed to apply this Bible story to the children's everyday lives. They should do most of the talking. Prayer Idea Use the prayer idea or just encourage each child to pray about an aspect of the lesson. Activity An opportunity to reinforce the lesson. For younger children, Activity A or B will be suitable. For older children, Activity C or D can be used to facilitate the Teaching or the Discuss and Apply section some children prefer a lively discussion to completing written answers. Memory Verse A fun way of remembering the key verse for the series. 48

49 Review Review the previous lesson using the following questions: What task did the disciples have to do on their journey? [Tell others the good news about God s kingdom (10:7)] What did they need to take with them? [Nothing! (10:9-10)] Who would look after them? [God, the Father (10:29-31)] Introductory Idea Option 1: Divide the group between two sides of the room and have each half nominate one child who is good at making things to represent them. Give each volunteer a large lump of playdough and explain that they have one minute to make as many model fish as they can. The fish don t have to look the same, but they must still look like fish! The side with the most fish at the end wins. In today s true story from the Bible Jesus gave his disciples a special task they had to make lots more of something, but it wasn t fish! [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Option 2: Before the lesson write the numbers 1, 1, 2, 3 and 5 on the bottom of five paper cups or on five small pieces of paper which you can place under five cups/mugs/bowls. You will also need a bag of small sweets such as Smarties or some seeds/pebbles/ peas. Place the cups in a row on a table in front of the children and ask for one volunteer. Give this child one of the sweets and tell them that they have three moves to see how many more they can make by placing the sweet in one of the cups. Reveal the number underneath the cup and then give them that number of sweets back, along with their original sweet e.g. if they place the sweet in a cup with the number 1 they would then have two sweets; if the number is 3 they would then have a total of four sweets. That child then has two more moves. Swap some of the cups around before allowing them to place all of their sweets in whichever cup/cups they choose and repeat once more. Count the total number of sweets they have and point out that this all came from having just one sweet! You could allow them to keep the sweets as a prize for taking part. Play this game twice more and see if anyone else can beat their score. In today s true story from the Bible Jesus gave his disciples a special task they had to make lots more of something, but it wasn t sweets! [Use the Bridge Questions below to create a link with the lesson.] Bridge Questions The children must listen carefully to today's true story from the Bible to discover the answers to the following questions: What did Jesus tell his disciples to make more of? [Disciples (28:19)] How did Jesus say they should do this? [By going to people from all nations (28:19)] What else would they need to do? [Baptise and teach obedience to everything Jesus taught (28:19-20)] Teaching Plan This lesson revolves around the command of Jesus to go, make and teach. It will be helpful to use pictures and symbols to get the children to understand what Jesus is commanding the disciples to do. Pictures are provided on page 54. The children represent different nationalities; Peter represents the disciples; the crown with the J represents conversion (as people first make Jesus their king); and the Bible represents the teachings of Jesus. Begin by placing the picture of the children of different nationalities on a board or wall. Briefly tell the story of Jesus on the mountain with the disciples and how they worshipped him because they knew that he really is God s promised king. As you describe what Jesus commanded his disciples to do show the children the symbols of the crown and the Bible. Explain how the disciples would need to go from Jerusalem (or the middle of the board) in order to reach different nations. In each case place a crown and then a Bible next to each picture of a child. Explain that to reach other people someone needs to go to them to tell them about Jesus and to teach them to obey all that Jesus taught. Explain that today missionaries often need to go to countries far away to do this. Give examples of missionaries you may know or whom your church supports. Gather the pictures of the children together and explain that often people from many different countries all live in the same city. You could draw a circle around the whole group of pictures to show one city. Do the children know other children who come from different countries and now live in their city? They might look different or dress differently. Place a crown and a Bible next to each of the children again as you explain that we can tell people from other countries about Jesus without even going to another country sometimes they will be in our own city! Remind the children that Jesus told his disciples that they must go to people from every different country to tell them about him and to teach them to obey what he taught. For older children the passage is short enough to 49

50 read in the class. You could then explain the passage using the pictures as for younger children above. Help them to think further about the meaning of the passage using some of the following questions: Why were there only eleven disciples? (28:16) Why did they worship Jesus? (28:17) What three things does Jesus command his disciples to do? (28:19-20) What is baptism? Why does Jesus talk about it here? Into whose name are new disciples to be baptised? (28:19) What does it mean to teach new disciples all of Jesus commands? (28:20) Why is Jesus able to give this command? (28:18) What had happened recently to change this? Read Daniel 7: How is this Old Testament passage connected to the passage in Matthew s Gospel? What does this tell you about who Jesus is? What does Jesus promise his disciples? For how long will this be true? (28:20) What does this tell you about how long Jesus expects his disciples to continue carrying out his commands? (28:20) Game Idea Option 1: For younger children Chain Reaction. Divide the group into two teams and have them line up at one end of the room. With very young children you could simply run through the game as one big group rather than playing in teams. Take the first child in each team and get them to stand opposite their own team at the other end of the room. This child must run to their team, take hold of the first child s hand and run back to where they began without letting go. They both then run back to their team, still holding hands, and take hold of the second child s hand to form a chain. The game continues in this way until all the children in one of the teams are linked together; the first team to do so wins. Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that they must go to people from all nations and make more disciples. Option 2: Double It! Divide the group into two teams and have them stand at one end of the room. Give each team one bucket with one ball-pond ball/ scrunched up piece of paper and then place an empty bucket opposite each team at the other end of the room. The teams try to throw the ball into their bucket if they miss, only the thrower may retrieve the ball and start again; if they get the ball in, leave the ball there and give them two more to throw. For every ball that is thrown into the bucket they get double back e.g. if there is one ball in the bucket and a second is thrown in, they get four balls back; if there are two balls in the bucket and a third is thrown in, they get six balls. Eventually the teams should have enough balls that all of their team are able to throw at the same time. The team with the most balls in their bucket after a set time wins. Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his followers to go and make more disciples from people of all nations. When we obey his command more and more people will be able to hear the good news about Jesus and then they can tell others too! Option 3: For older children. Divide the group into at least three teams. Allocate a base to each team in a different corner/section of the room, marked off by a rope/masking tape. Place one bucket filled with a different colour of ball-pond balls in each team s base and one empty bucket just outside each of them. The bases represent different countries/continents so you could help the children choose a team name; the balls represent the gospel message that we need to take to all people. The teams must send the gospel message to each of the other countries by throwing the balls of their colour into the other teams empty buckets. If the teams are quite small they could race to get one ball into each country s bucket. If you have a larger group you could have the teams try to throw as many balls as they can into each country s bucket in a set amount of time they must have at least one ball in each to win. Remind the children that in today s true story from the Bible Jesus told his followers to go and make more disciples from people of all nations by telling them the good news of the gospel. Discuss and Apply In this passage it is clear that the role of the Church is not simply to get people to know Jesus, but to grow to maturity in Christ to obey everything that Jesus commanded. This is a long process and will take a lifetime. For younger children help them to understand that true followers of Jesus not only know him, but also obey all that he taught because they love him. It takes a long time to learn and do everything that Jesus wants us to do. Can the children think of some of the things that Jesus commands us to do? You might use Matthew 5:44 as an example - Love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you. Is that an easy command to keep? Do we always get it right? We might learn after a while to get it right some of the time, but probably not all the time. That means that we do not fully obey and so there is still more learning and trusting to be 50

51 done! That s why we need to be taught every day about Jesus. That s why we keep coming to church and reading our Bibles at home. True followers of Jesus will also want others to know and love him just as Jesus himself does. Remind them that Jesus told his disciples to go to people of all nations; he wants everyone to follow him. Who do the children usually talk to about Jesus? Is it just the people who are like them or just their friends? Are there other people we can go to and tell the good news? Explain that when people first come to know and love Jesus there is a lot that they need to learn about Jesus. Many missionaries go to tell people about Jesus and stay with them for a long time helping them to learn all about Jesus and how he wants them to live. If any of the children have a friend who comes to know and love Jesus then they will also need to teach and model all the wonderful things about Jesus so that their friend can know how Jesus wants them to live. For older children discuss in a similar way as for younger children above. You might use the parallel example of natural birth and maturity to illustrate the difference between evangelism (which has conversion as its goal) and discipleship (which has spiritual maturity as its goal). The goal in parenting is never to simply get a child born, but to nurture and look after them until they are mature enough to start a family of their own! It s the same spiritually. The goal of the Church is to make strong, mature Christians. Use some of the following questions to help them think through the implications in more detail: Why do people need to go? Why do people need to hear about Jesus? Why do these people need to be taught? Are only old people spiritually mature or is it possible for younger people to be more spiritually mature too? What would some of the signs of spiritual maturity be? Why do people need to grow spiritually and be mature? How can we make sure that we are growing spiritually? How can we help others to grow spiritually? Life Story [Picture provided on page 53.] Teachers Tom and Jemma always thought mission work was someone else s job. We never thought it would be us, said Jemma. That sort of thing is done by proper spiritual, holy people. Tom and Jemma have two daughters, six-year-old Ellie and two-year-old Miriam, and together they will soon be going out to live and work in Ethiopia. Tom and Jemma have been teachers in England for fifteen years but have become very frustrated because they cannot talk about their love for Jesus in their work. That frustration has got worse and worse so when someone in their church spoke of the crying need for teachers at the Serving In Mission school, Bingham Academy, in Addis Ababa they were very interested. The school teaches children from all sorts of backgrounds; some of them are the sons and daughters of mission workers and some are from Ethiopian families. But what sets the school apart is that it teaches all the children about Jesus, about how he died on the cross to save them and about how they can put their trust in him. Jemma said, We talked with people at Bingham and it made me realise this was something I really wanted to do. They were so positive, not just for how you can invest in children there, but for how it has affected their own children and strengthened their faith. I d love my girls to be brought up in an environment like that. Tom and Jemma are due to start at Bingham in September 2016 and are now actively encouraging other families to think about going into mission. Tom said, I would advise people to go for it. Explore it and let God make that decision. It will become obvious whether you should go. Tom and Jemma freely admit they are an ordinary family nothing sets them apart from other committed Christians. But once they started looking at the possibility of going on mission, they came to realise they could do it; they could be used by God to make disciples in places where people do not know him. Jemma said, It seemed impossible when we first thought about the opportunity. That was in January, but we are leaving in August. If the Lord is in it, he will make it possible, whatever your situation is. Going away on mission can seem like a very daunting step, but lots of people have done it before and there are organisations like Serving In Mission which offer loads of help. Serving In Mission sends more than 140 mission workers from the UK to take the gospel of Jesus to people who do not know it. For more information about their work go to Prayer Idea Which mission workers do your church support? Consider contacting them in advance to get up to date prayer points. Ask them to feedback answers to prayer. It will encourage them 51

52 to know you are praying and will show the children first hand that God answers their prayers. Pray for the mission workers as they take the good news to people who have not yet heard and teach them to know, love and follow Jesus as disciples. Encourage the children to pray for people that they know who have come from different countries/ cultures. If there are children in your congregation from different cultural backgrounds consider gathering prayer points relevant to their country of origin. Encourage the children to tell their parents about what they have learnt today and to think about who else they could tell about the good news of Jesus. Activity For 3-7s choose either Activity A (page 55) or Activity B (pages 56 and 57) Activity A Make a mobile. Print page 55 onto card for each child. Each child will also require a 30cm length of wool or string. Before the lesson cut out the two strips and circle for each child. The children colour the pictures and complete the face in the circle to represent themselves. Help the children to place the components face down on a flat surface with the circle at the top, the short strip second and the long strip at the bottom. Cut the length of wool in half and then cut one piece in half again. Place the short lengths at either side of the second piece and secure it with sellotape then attach the bottom of each piece of wool to the third in the same way. Place the longer length of wool down the middle of the first and second pieces, securing them again with sellotape, and leaving enough spare wool at the top to make a loop from which the mobile can hang. Remind the children that Jesus told his followers to tell people from all countries about him and to make them into his disciples so that they can tell even more people! Activity B Make a missions bingo map. Print page 56 onto paper (one copy for every two children) and page 57 onto paper or card (one copy for every two children). Each child will also require six 20cm lengths of wool. Before the lesson cut the crown and Bible markers out and place them in groups of six for each children using a paper clip. The children colour in the map, crowns and Bibles. Help them to fold and glue the crowns and Bibles back to back with the end of a length of wool glued into the fold. Attach the six loose ends of wool to the corner of the map by the disciple. The wool will prevent the markers from getting lost. Use the activity to play a game. The children sit in a circles and take turns to roll a die. They place a crown and Bible marker on the continent that corresponds with the number rolled. If they already have a marker on that number simply pass the die on to the next child. The first child to cover all six continents wins. The game will go quicker and be more exciting in smaller groups or even pairs. Remind the children that Jesus told his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. The crown represents people coming to know Jesus as king and the Bible represents the teachings of Jesus which they need to be taught to obey. For 7-11s print either Activity Sheet C (page 58) or Activity Sheet D (page 59) onto paper for each child. Choose whichever is appropriate for your children and use it to reinforce the lesson or as a discussion starter. Memory Verse [Jesus] said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' Matthew 9:37-38 [NIV] 52

53 Picture courtesy of Serving in Mission. Jesus on Mission Week 4 Visual Aid Life Story 53