Session 12 Barnabas Encourages Christians in Antioch Acts 11:19-26 Worship Theme: Christians worship God together. Weaving Faith Into Life: Kids will worship God together with joy. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (about 25 minutes) Sing Worship Christ (1 Peter 3:15) A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) Doin It for the Lord (Colossians 3:23) I Have Decided to Follow Jesus Because of His Mercy (Titus 3:5a) KidsOwn Worship Kit: KidsOwn Worship DVD Chalkboard (or whiteboard), chalk (or marker), Bible, video equipment, thin thread, scissors, clear tape Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Clap, Clap, Pat, Pat Work together in a rhythmic chant. Let s Learn the Point! (about 25 minutes) *Building Blocks Build things alone and with others to discover that it is more fun to do things together. Drawing Close Interact with the story, and play a game of getting close to Jesus. Large building blocks Bible, picture of Jesus 150 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter
Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (about 25 minutes) Deserted Pretend they re on a deserted island, and think about what they need. *Magnetic Worship Attract paper clips with a magnet to discover what happens when we worship together. *E-Mail Create encouraging mail for each other. Masking tape, pens, construction paper KidsOwn Worship Kit: Magnets Bibles, paper clips, card stock Construction paper, markers Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (about 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Prayer Share Pray for each other in pairs. Yea, God! Celebrate God with a cheer. KidsOwn Worship Kit: KidsOwn Worship DVD Offering bowls, video equipment KidsOwn Worship Kit: songs downloaded from the Digital Download Center music player * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 151
Bible Background for Leaders Barnabas Encourages Christians in Antioch Acts 11:19-26 In the chapters leading up to today s passage, God revealed to Peter that the message of Christ is not only for Jews but for non-jews as well. Peter then took that message to the household of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and God poured out the Holy Spirit on these non-jews who came to faith in Christ. The Jerusalem church had a hard time accepting that non-jews could become believers in Christ, but after Peter explained everything that had happened, they praised God that he had granted even the Gentiles eternal life through Jesus (Acts 10:1 11:18). In today s passage, we see that the early followers of Christ had been scattered from Jerusalem because of the persecution that began after Stephen was killed by stoning. The Jews had stoned him after he accused them of killing the Messiah, Jesus. Everywhere the scattered followers went, they told people about Jesus (Acts 7:1 8:4). It s no surprise, then, that the believers who were scattered to Antioch, the world s third largest city at the time, began sharing the message of Christ not only with the many Jews who lived there but also with the non-jews. When the Jerusalem church heard that a great number of people had turned to the Lord, they were ready to accept these non-jewish believers, and they sent Barnabas (whose name means son of encouragement ) to see what was happening and to contribute to the spreading of the gospel message. So many people were placing their faith in Christ that Barnabas needed help, and the person he thought of was the Apostle Paul, whom he had befriended and defended before the apostles in Jerusalem after Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-30). What happened in Antioch was significant in that it apparently was the first time Jewish and non-jewish Christians joined together in fellowship. People there were accustomed to rubbing shoulders with people of different backgrounds and of different ethnic groups. The church in Antioch set a wonderful example for churches to follow in centuries to come. As the text tells us, Jesus followers were first called Christians in Antioch. Prior to that they had been referred to as believers, brethren, saints, and, of course, disciples. It s significant that in Antioch this diverse group of followers took on a name that means like Christ. As they lived out Jesus example and encouraged others in the faith, people noticed. What a compliment it would be for others to consider us to be like Jesus! Devotion for Leaders Barnabas knew that faith doesn t grow in isolation. We all need encouragement from other Christians. Strong Christian friendships will help your relationship with Jesus flourish! Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Encouragement is essential to spiritual growth. Who is like Barnabas in your life? Someone you turn to for encouragement and spiritual accountability? Write the person s name here:.to whom are you a Barnabas? Someone you re regularly cheering on and challenging? Write the person s name here:. If you ve left either of the lines blank, commit to fill them in this week. 152 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter
Why We Worship for Leaders The experience of worshipping together can be compared to playing in a magnificent symphony orchestra. Each instrument contributes a unique timbre, each musician a special talent, and each movement a wonderful sound that is fulfilling to those involved in the symphony. And just as the musical experience is fulfilling for the musicians, it is pleasing to the audience. Worshipping together fulfills our deepest longing for a relationship with God. At the same time, it is exactly what God longs to hear. Help children know that God is our audience as we worship together. Help them see that their worship contributes to a beautiful symphony that is music to God s ears. Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Make sure your video equipment is ready. Cut two 1-foot pieces of thin thread for each child. Tape two pieces of thread under each chair. If you don t use chairs, tape the thread along a wall or under a table. Deserted Use masking tape to outline a circle on the floor. Make the circle large enough for everyone to comfortably sit in. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. Let s Praise God! Play the music videos on the KidsOwn Worship DVD as the children arrive. Greet everyone, and say, Let s worship God together today. Ask kids to find two friends to sit with during worship. If someone is new, introduce him or her to a pair of friendly partners, and seat the new child with the pair. When you re ready to begin the session, Hello, everyone! Today we re seated with two friends because we re going to learn about worshipping God together, not just by ourselves. Not only can we worship God with a friend, we can worship God together as a whole group just as the Christians in the Bible did. When we worship together, we experience God s love together, and we encourage each other to lift God up in praise. The Bible tells us that others will know we are Christians by our love. As we love God together and love one another, people will be drawn to us and to Jesus. They will want to have a relationship with Jesus, too. Let s try something to demonstrate what it means to worship together. As we sing Worship Christ, we ll see how singing together can help us worship God. Divide the kids into two groups: Group A and Group B. Explain that when the song begins, Group A will sing the first line of the song and Group B will sing the second line. Encourage groups to continue alternating lines this way Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 153
throughout the song. Both Group A and Group B will sing the last line of the song together. Sing Worship Christ (1 Peter 3:15). How did each group add to our worship? (By adding their part; each group made the song more exciting.) We each add something special and unique when we worship together. That s why it s so important to worship God with others. God made each of us unique. We are his masterpiece. What is a masterpiece? (A fabulous painting; an artist s best work.) A masterpiece is a wonderful painting painted by a master artist, a wonderful artist. God is our master artist. He created us all wonderfully. We are his workmanship, created to love him. We are all God s children, and when we worship God together, we grow closer to God and to each other. We become more like the masterpiece he created us to be. Let s sing A New Creation. Sing A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are God s artwork, created to love and serve God. And we can love and serve God together when we worship together. Why is it important to worship together? (We encourage each other as we worship together; we have more fun when we worship together; we add different things to our worship when we do it together.) What are some ways we can worship together? (We can sing together; we can pray together; we can tell each other the great things God has done.) Those are all great ways we can worship God together! When we worship God together, we re giving God glory in all our unique ways. Let s give God glory as we sing Doin It for the Lord. Sing Doin It for the Lord (Colossians 3:23). Worshipping together brings glory to God. But it does something else, too. When we worship together, we encourage each other and grow stronger in our faith. Let s do an experiment to see how we do that. Lead kids to find the thread taped somewhere in the room. Hold up a piece of thread. 154 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter
Would it be easy or hard to break this piece of thread? Why? (Easy, because it s thin; hard, because it would take a lot of effort.) Let kids try to break their threads. OK, that one broke pretty easily. Let s try this again a different way. Find two or three friends near you, and tightly twist your second piece of thread with your friends pieces of thread. When kids have twisted their threads together, have them take turns trying to break the three- or four-cord strand. Why did the one piece of thread break easily? (Because it was alone; it was weak by itself.) What makes the thread stronger when it s with other pieces? (It has more pieces; the pieces work together to make it stronger; the pieces make a cord that s thicker than one piece.) How are we like or not like the thread? (We can t do everything by ourselves; we need others to help us; we re stronger when there are others doing things with us.) Why is our faith stronger when we worship with other believers? (We encourage each other and help each other become strong in faith; we help each other worship.) Our faith is stronger when we worship together. We are God s children who come together to worship God and help each other grow in faith. Our next song says, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. Let s change the word I to the word we. Let s remember how strong we can be when we decide to follow Jesus and become God s children. Sing I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. We worship God together because he saved us by his mercy and love. We rejoice because God saves everyone who calls on his name. Everyone who asks can have a relationship with Jesus. It is exciting to know that God loves all of us. We all have a special place in his heart. Let s thank him by singing Because of His Mercy. Sing Because of His Mercy (Titus 3:5a). God, we worship you together today because it brings you glory, it makes us stronger, it encourages us in our faith, and it draws others to you. Thank you for sending Jesus for all of us. Thank you that we can worship you together. In Jesus name, amen. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 155
Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages 157-158 At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They will work well with both elementary and preschool children. 156 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter Elementary Activities Deserted Give everyone a piece of construction paper and a pen. Have kids spread out around the room, staying away from the circle you outlined before the session, and ask them to stand on their construction paper. You were all traveling across the ocean on the same airplane when it had to land in the ocean. Now you ve each washed ashore on a different deserted island. Your construction paper is your island, so go ahead and stand on it now. In the midst of this sad situation, there is some good news. Something from the plane has washed ashore with you to help you survive for a few days. I want you to think for a minute about what one item you d like to have to help you survive. You can choose one thing. When you decide, write it on your construction-paper island. One more thing: Since you re on a deserted island by yourself, you re not allowed to talk to anyone else. Give kids time to choose one thing they ll need. Then ask the following questions. Instead of having kids answer you, tell them to write their answers on their islands. Remind them that they can t talk. How long do you think you can stay alive on your deserted island with the item you chose? (Two days; a week; maybe 10 days.) How would you feel if you knew you d be stuck on this island for the rest of your life by yourself with no one to talk to and no one to help you? (I d be scared; I d feel lonely; I d really miss my dog and my family.) Well, the good news is that you don t have to be on your island by yourself. You noticed another bigger island within swimming distance of your island. So you decide to take the item that s going to keep you alive and swim to the new island, which happens to be this taped-off section. (continued on page 159)
Preschool Activities Barnabas Encourages Christians in Antioch Worship Theme: Christians worship God together. Easy Prep for Leaders Acts 11:19-26 Drawing Close Display a picture of Jesus on a wall at one end of the room. Using Theo Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo lead the chant in the Clap, Clap, Pat, Pat activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Session 12 Clap, Clap, Pat, Pat We re going to have some fun worshipping God together with our hands, our feet, and our smiles. Ask the children to form a circle. Stand in the middle of the circle, and lead children in a rhythmic chant. Have them do the motions as they chant: We worship God with our hands. Clap, clap, clap. (Clap your hands three times.) Pat, pat, pat. (Pat your hands on your legs three times.) Shake, shake, shake. (Shake hands with children on your left and right.) We worship God with our feet. Stomp, stomp, stomp. (Stomp your feet three times.) Run, run, run. (Run in place.) Click, click, click. (Click your shoes together.) We worship God with our mouths. Sing, sing, sing. (Sing these words.) Pray, pray, pray. (Bow your head and fold your hands.) Smile, smile, smile. (Smile big.) Have the children sit on the floor. What s more fun clapping by yourself (demonstrate) or clapping with all your friends? Is it more fun to sing by yourself or with other people? It s more fun when we do things with other people, isn t it? It s the same for worship. We should worship God with our friends, too. Let s find out more about doing things with friends. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 157
Preschool Activities * Building Blocks Give each child a large building block. I gave you a block. I want you to build something with your block now. The children may automatically begin adding their blocks to other children s blocks, or they may tell you that they can t build anything with one block. If they seem stuck or start asking how they can do that with just one block, What could you add to your block to make it more like a castle? Allow children to build together for a few minutes. Why is it better to build things with your friends? What are some other things we need our friends for? You needed each other to build with your blocks. We need each other for lots of things. God also wants us to worship him together. Why is it good to worship together with our friends? How can we worship together with our friends? When we come to worship we have fun praising God in different ways. And we do all of that together with our friends. Let s see what happened in the Bible when people worshipped together. Drawing Close Open your Bible to Acts, and show it to the kids. Our Bible story comes from the book of Acts today. In our story, many people who believed in Jesus were separated from each other. That means they didn t live close to each other. Ask children to run out of the circle and sit down quickly somewhere in the room so they re away from their friends. How do you feel being away from your friends? Do you remember what it was like to try to build something by yourself? It s hard to do things with our friends if we re scattered all over the place, isn t it? It was also hard for the people in our story to worship together. But there were some people who actually did worship together. Have children join you again in the center of the room. And when those people worshipped together, other people saw that they were having fun together and wanted to worship with them! Have you ever seen other children having fun and wanted to play with them? Tell us about it. Barnabas saw that they were worshipping together and was so happy about that. He told them to keep it up. He said Christians should worship together a lot so they can be closer to Jesus. Ask the children to form a line so that the Jesus picture is at the head of the line. Let s play a game to see how worshipping together can help us grow closer to Jesus. When I say, Worship together, you re going to take turns getting closer to Jesus. We ll start with the last person in line. Start the game with the last person in line, and explain that the only way they can get close to Jesus is by moving forward in the line, giving each person a hug. When the last person gets to the front, let the next person at the end of the line go. Continue until everyone reaches the Jesus picture. How did we get close to Jesus? Why do you think we worked together to get closer to Jesus? Why is it important to worship Jesus with others? Your friends made it easier for you to come close to the picture of Jesus. It s easier to stay close to Jesus when other people help you do it. When we worship Jesus together, we help each other stay close to God. 158 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter
(continued from page 156) Have kids pick up their construction paper and pretend to swim to the circle you taped before the session. When kids arrive at the island, have them sit and reveal what they wrote as their survival item and as answers to the questions. Now that you re all together on one island, how can you work together? (We can share our food; we can help each other build huts; we can make something to use to get off the island.) How did you feel when you learned you could be together with others on the island? (I was relieved; I was glad to be able to talk to others.) Why is it important for us to be together with others? (We can talk to them; we won t be lonely; we can help each other; we can encourage each other.) When we re together, we can learn from each other, encourage each other, and build friendships. As Christians, we can also worship together. Let s try something to see why it s important for us to worship God together. Have kids set their construction-paper islands aside so they aren t a distraction. * Magnetic Worship Help kids form groups of five. Give each group a Bible, a piece of card stock, and a magnet. Give each child a paper clip. Ask a volunteer in each group to read Acts 11:19 aloud to the group. This passage tells us that many people who believed in Jesus were scattered to different areas because of persecution. What does it mean to be persecuted? (To be tormented because of what they believe; they were picked on; they were hurt and killed because they believed in Jesus.) Why do you think they scattered? (They didn t want to be persecuted; they were trying to get away from the people who were hurting them.) Warning Monitor your children carefully when working with magnets. Swallowed magnets can attract each other through opposing intestine walls, causing serious infection or even death. Seek immediate medical attention if magnets are swallowed or inhaled. Why would they only tell Jews, people who were just like them, about Jesus? (They were afraid to be persecuted some more; they didn t think they should tell others; they thought Jesus came only for the Jews; they didn t want anyone to hurt them.) Since the believers had been scattered, I d like you to scatter your paper clips on your group s piece of paper. These paper clips represent the people who were scattered and told only Jews about Jesus. Ask a volunteer in each group to read Acts 11:20-21. But some believers were telling people who were not Jewish about Jesus, too! They worshipped together in Antioch, a city near Jerusalem. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 159
Have two children in each group carefully hold the group s card stock by the corners while a third child holds a magnet underneath the card stock. Have that child slowly move the magnet around on the underside of the paper so that the paper clips on the other side follow the path of the magnet. Have kids take turns holding the card stock and moving the magnet. Then ask them to set the items down. What happened to the scattered paper clips when you moved the magnet under them? (They were drawn to the magnet; they came together.) Why does God want to draw us together like the magnets brought the paper clips together? (God wants us to worship him together; God wants us to encourage each other; God wants us to gain strength from each other.) How is worshipping together like the paper clips coming together? (We re drawn together by God; God s power brings us together, like the power of the magnet brought the paper clips together.) The believers were scattered all over the place just like our paper clips were. But the people in Antioch chose not to scatter. Instead they came together and worshipped together. They even told others about Jesus. Let s find out what happened next. Ask a volunteer in each group to read verses 22-26. Give each group 5 to 10 more paper clips. Have kids lift up the card stock again and move the magnet under it. Ask them to keep adding clips to the paper as the magnet is moved along. What s happening to the extra paper clips on your paper? (They re following the others; they re coming together, too.) How is that like what happens when Christians worship together? (We draw others to God; other people see what we re doing and want to come, too.) When the believers worshipped God at Antioch, many others were drawn to them and became believers, too. When Barnabas saw what was happening at Antioch, he was excited and encouraged the Christians there to keep worshipping together. Let s find out more about how important it is to encourage each other in our worship. * E-Mail Have kids stay in their groups for this activity. In our Bible passage, we read that Barnabas was filled with joy and encouraged the Christians at Antioch. He encouraged them to remain true to God in their hearts. He was a great encourager for the believers there. In fact, the name Barnabas actually means encourager. 160 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter
When we worship together, we have a great opportunity to be encouragers like Barnabas. Let s practice encouraging each other now. To encourage each other today, we re going to set up an e-mail. Except the word e-mail will stand for Encouraging Mail instead of electronic mail. Many times we think of worship as the time when we are singing songs to God, but worship means so much more than that. Worship is any time we talk to God, listen to God, or live the way God wants us to live. Why do you think God wants us to be encouragers like Barnabas was? (To help others grow in their faith; it makes us stronger Christians.) Distribute construction paper and markers. Ask everyone to create an e-mail (encouraging mail) for the person on his or her right. If a child doesn t know the person on his or her right, this is a great time to help kids to get to know others. E-mail may include a written note, drawings, or both. Allow a few minutes for kids to complete their messages and deliver them. How do you feel when someone encourages you? (I always feel better when I m encouraged; I feel stronger.) How can we encourage each other when we worship together? (Pray for each other; help new people feel welcome to worship with us; have fun while we worship together.) Worshipping together is a great way to encourage each other. God wants us to worship together so we can grow together and be stronger Christians. As we move into our offering and prayer time, let s prepare our hearts to thank God for giving us friends to worship with. Let s Pray! The Offering We are God s children, and God wants us to worship together. To show that we re committed to worshipping God together, we re going to give our offering in a different way. Set the offering plate in the center of the room. We re going to link arms and walk around the room together as we sing I Believe. As you walk and sing, you can t let go of the people you re linked to or you ll end up worshipping alone and not together with everyone. As we walk linked together, we ll pass by the offering plate a couple times. When we pass by the offering plate, drop your offering in it. When the music stops, we ll form pairs to pray. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 161
Play I Believe (John 1:12), and lead kids around the room, passing by the offering bowls several times to give kids a chance to give. When the song ends, help kids form pairs. Prayer Share Ask the children to sit on the floor in their pairs. Dim the lights if possible, and play songs from the Digital Download Center softly. In a quiet voice, We re going to take some quiet time now to worship God together with our friends. In the next few minutes, I d like you to share a prayer request with your partner. You will pray for your partner, and your partner will pray for you. If you are comfortable praying out loud, you may do that. If you would rather pray silently, you may do that. Allow a few minutes for children to pray. Continue to maintain a worshipful atmosphere until everyone has finished praying. When we pray together, we are worshipping God together. It helps us to get closer to God and to each other. Quiet prayer is one way to worship God. The Bible says there are lots of ways to worship God. Sometimes we can even shout to God, laugh, and have fun when we worship. Yea, God! Worship is like a celebration. We re celebrating God s goodness. We re celebrating that we can have a relationship with Jesus. Let s celebrate together now as we shout to God. Ask the children to join hands and make a large circle. Explain that everyone will take three steps toward the center of the circle while they count to three. Then everyone will lift his or her hands together and shout, Yea, God! Repeat the activity several times, getting faster each time. Then close in prayer. Thank you, God, that we can have fun worshipping you together. Thank you for placing people in our lives to encourage us in worship. Help us to be an encouragement to others as we worship you together. In Jesus name, amen. 162 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter
Encouragement for Leaders God cares about each child in your ministry. Thank you for noticing each child and giving children that personal attention that shows them how much you value them. You are showing children the love of God.