WE CAN TELL THE STORY

Transcription

1 BOOK 3, PART 2, LESSON 5 WE CAN TELL THE STORY THE BIBLE: Acts 68: , Acts 8:35 NRSV THEME: God gave Jesus followers the power to carry on the work Jesus had begun. They gathered together to hear the good news of the story of Jesus. They established churches wherever they went. Those people were called Christians and still today there are Christians who have fellowship, worship God and witness to the Good News. PREPARING FOR THE LESSON MAIN IDEA: The story about Jesus is for all people everywhere. We can all help tell other people that story. MEMORY VERSE: "Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. Acts 8:35 NRSV KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS TO BE LEARNED: a. Ethiopia a country in East Africa at that time, a long distance away from Jerusalem. b. Jerusalem the city where Jesus came to worship at the Temple. c. Chariot a light, two wheel vehicle drawn by horses. BIBLE BACKGROUND: The story of Philip is a good example of how the early Christians influenced others. Philip hears the guidance of God who tells him to go and help this person driving in the chariot to interpret the scriptures that he is reading. Philip responds and joins the man. He is reading from Isaiah scriptures that were prophecy about Jesus. Philip can help the Ethiopian understand what the scriptures meant because of the knowledge he has about Jesus life and death. In our lesson this week, we will be helping the children understand that, even thought we are small and have very little experience in sharing our faith, we can help others understand the story of the Bible. UNDERSTANDING YOUR STUDENTS: The boys and girls will not have had any experience telling others about Jesus, most likely. They may have told their family something about what they have learned in coming to your class, but they will not really understand about witnessing to their faith. When we witness, we are telling others about Jesus and the Christian faith. We want to help the children understand that they do have something they can say, and at the same time we do not want to make them feel that talking to others about Jesus is

2 something they have to do. We want to help them feel comfortable in talking about Jesus with each other and their families. That will be enough for now. As they become older and more capable of understanding what the story of Jesus is and what the Bible says they will begin to share their faith. DEVELOPING YOUR FAITH: This week it will be important for you to read and understand the scriptures for this lesson in order that you can interpret for the children. Here are some suggested things to do for this week as you prepare for the lesson. Read through the whole selection. If you have your own Bible, include the reading of verse 26 through verse 40. The additional verses include verses from Isaiah that the Ethiopian was reading. Now read through the selected verses again. As you begin to read, see if you can create a picture in your mind, an image, of what the scene would have looked like. Perhaps it was a hot day. Perhaps the chariot was moving slowly along a very dusty road. Imagine what that encounter might have looked like. Can you place yourself in the picture as either the Ethiopian or Philip? What might you have said? Think about any time that you have been given the opportunity to witness to your faith, or to tell someone else about Jesus. Recall that place and time. What image do you carry with you of that encounter? How has that helped you to grow in your faith? If you have not yet had that experience, perhaps you can find a friend who is also a believer in Jesus and a Christian to spend some time talking about what you know about the stories of the faith. This will help you as you prepare to lead the children in talking about their beliefs. Before you finish your presentation for teaching, reread the selected passages. Then pray to ask God s guidance as you teach the children. 1. INTRODUCTION TEACHING THE LESSON As the children arrive this day, instruct them to come on into the room or teaching space and have a seat at the table or on the floor. As they are gathered, move to the group and repeat the phrase, Good morning, followers of Jesus. Ask the children to raise their hand if they have heard stories about Jesus. Then ask them to raise their hand if they have heard words from the Bible before. (Most of the children will of course, raise their hands since they have been in class before.) Ask them if they always understand everything they have heard when the Bible is read to them. (They should say no. If they do not, try to get them to remember that each time they are hearing the Bible read, someone is helping them to understand, teacher or parent perhaps.) Tell them that the Bible is sometimes a very hard book to understand if you just pick it up and read it by yourself. And that is alright. It is much better to have someone understand what the Bible was saying. In today's lesson, that person s name is 'Philip'.

3 2. EXPLORE THE BIBLE MESSAGE Holding the Bible in your hands, read Acts 8:20-31 and verse 35. Explain any words that you think the children will not understand. This will help them see how Philip explained the scriptures that the Ethiopian was reading. Tell the children that you are doing for them exactly what Philip did. You are helping them to understand the words that you are reading to them from the Bible. RETELL the story in the following paraphrase: Philip, a follower of Jesus, had been speaking and he understood that God wanted him to go down another road and be aware of a person coming that way. So, being the obedient follower that he was, left the city he was in and headed toward another city. As he was moving along, he saw a chariot approaching. Somehow he knew that God wanted him to approach the man in that chariot. As he drew closer, he saw the man reading. He was reading from the Bible, the book of Isaiah. When the chariot stopped and the man inside saw Philip, he wondered what Philip wanted. Philip saw that the man, a person from the court of a queen in another country far away, was reading from the Bible, and he asked him if he understood what he was reading. The man told Philip that he did not understand and asked Philip if he could help him interpret what the scripture was saying. Philip did help the man understand that what he was reading was about Jesus. This gave Philip an opportunity to tell him more about Jesus and the man made a commitment to follow Jesus. ASK: Did my retelling the story in different words help you understand it more? 2. RESPOND TO THE BIBLE MESSAGE ACTIVITY 1: Imagining SAY: Close your eyes and to listen quietly. SAY: Let s imagine something. Can you picture in your mind a man walking down a dusty road? How does it feel to walk when the dirt is dry and there has been no rain? (Let them answer.) Can you see the dust in your mind? And then a small bus comes along. Can you see the dust that it makes as it drives by? Can you imagine how you would feel if something came by you quickly and the dust blew all over you? How would you feel? (Let them answer.) But wait! The person driving that small bus is someone you need to talk with. Can you imagine stopping the bus? Asking the person if you could tell them something important? Would it be hard to stop the bus? Imagine yourself talking to this person, someone you do not know. Maybe it is even someone who is visiting in your country. Imagine that they want to know something about you and

4 what you believe. They see that you are holding a Bible and want you tell them about it. What you would tell them? SAY: Open your eyes. Let s think about "What if?" What if that happened to you? What if someone wanted to know about Jesus? Could you tell them anything? (Give the children the opportunity to tell you something about Jesus, for as long as they want to add things they know.) In our Bible story for today, Philip had much to tell the Ethiopian who was traveling through the countryside on his way back home. He was telling him the Good News about Jesus. When he had finished, the man decided to be a follower of Jesus. ACTIVITY 2: Acting Out the Story SAY: Now we are going to act out this story. We are going to do it a little differently because we are going to have two people who are traveling and three people who stop them to talk about Jesus. Select two children to be the travelers, two who can be the horses pulling his chariot, three to be the people who stop him. Select someone to help tell the story. Help them tell the story, this time using the words "travelers" instead of "Ethiopian" and "followers" instead of "Philip". Encourage the children to use their own words and to act out stopping the horses, talking with the travelers, and talking about Jesus. When they are finished retelling the story in this new way, have everyone be seated. Ask the children if they remember that Philip was talking to a stranger, someone that he did not know before he stopped to talk with him. Tell them that this man, being from another country, was not like Philip, he did not look like Philip and he did not believe as Philip did. He was different. And yet Philip thought that God wanted him to tell the man about Jesus. Help them understand that this let us know that God wants the story of Jesus to be shared with everyone. It is not just for certain people it is for all people. God loves all people, no matter how different they are. That is one thing this Bible story helps us learn. SAY: Another thing the story helps us learn is that Philip was a teacher for this man. Teachers today tell us about Jesus and help us understand the Bible also. I have been doing that for you as we gather in the class to learn. Who else, besides teachers, help us to know about Jesus? Let the children answer some may say my mother, grandmother, sister, friend, missionaries let them answer in whatever way they like. SAY: God wants all of us to be teachers, to tell people we know about Jesus. ACTIVITY 3: Who s the teacher? Do this activity with the children. First, divide the class into smaller groups. This will depend on the number of persons you have in your class. If it is a group of 10 or less, do this as one group. If it is 20 or less, divide into

5 two groups, and so on. Have the small group sit together, as closely as possible so that they can hear one another. Ask the small groups to choose someone to be the teacher out of their group. When they have chosen the teacher, have that person stand. Say, "Now we are going to pretend that you are the teachers of your class and you are going to teach the lesson for today to your group." You can tell them the story about Philip, or the version of the story that we acted out whichever you choose, but you are to teach them something about the story and answer their questions about Jesus. When all the groups are ready, repeat any instructions, and tell them to start teaching their class. All the children will be doing this at the same time, so it may be a bit noisy in the room and you may have to ask the teachers to talk more softly. If time permits, you may want to let the groups select a second teacher. This activity reinforces what they have learned and also helps the children begin to feel comfortable with talking about Jesus. After you have completed this activity, invite the children to come back together as a group. Ask the teachers how it felt to be the teacher, to tell someone about Jesus. Ask the class if they could talk to someone else about Jesus without being afraid? Tell the children that you hope they will talk with one other person this next week to tell them about Jesus and see what their reaction is to the story. 4. CLOSE IN PRAYER SAY: Today we have seen how one person can tell the story of Jesus to another. And we will remember that the story of Philip helps us to know that everyone should hear the story, not just people who live where we live or look like what you look like. It is important for us to remember that if we are to be followers of Jesus everyone should really hear the story. Are we followers of Jesus? Ask the children to stand up and hold hands for a time of prayer. Tell them that we will again offer prayers to God, each as they want to pray. Help them to know that they do not have to pray out loud if they do not want to, but anyone who wishes to say what they are thankful for can do so. PRAY: Dear God, we are thankful for many things. We are thankful for stories that the Bible tells us about people who loved Jesus and wanted others to know about him. We are thankful for teachers and others who help us to know about Jesus and God. Right now the children have some words of prayer that they want to say to you, prayers for things that they are grateful to have in their lives. Hear their prayers right now (Pause here for any prayers of the children. If no one prays after a few minutes of silence, then you continue.)

6 We thank you that we can pray and that you will hear our prayers. Help us this week to be boys and girls who know about your love and to share with others. Continue to be with us as we leave this place and go back to our homes. AMEN.