97 Peter Visits Corelius Acts 10:1-44 It s importat to help middle schoolers distiguish betwee takig the gospel to the world ad takig their ow culture to the world. It s temptig to thik that we simply eed to help the rest of the world see thigs our way i order to kow God. However, the work of missios has sometimes historically cofused Christ ad culture. I this study, remid your studets that just as we are to tell the world about Jesus, there are thigs we ll also lear about Jesus alog the way. STUDY WHAT STUDENTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Faith Coectio Uited Natios (about 15 mi.) Play a game about carig cultures. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Watch a movie clip i which there s a commuicatio barrier betwee two settigs. 5 kids of cady, each i a resealable bag (at least 5 pieces of each kid) video player, movie Kate & Leopold Cue Kate & Leopold to 00:30:51, whe Leopold opes the freezer. Bible Poit Tell everyoe about Jesus. Key Verse Therefore go ad make disciples of all atios, baptizig them i the ame of the Father ad of the So ad of the Holy Spirit, ad teachig them to obey everythig I have commaded you. Ad surely I am with you always, to the very ed of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Evisioig (about 25 mi.) Read ad re-create the visios of Peter ad Corelius. Bibles, Bible Trek, pes, paper, markers Remove the Study 11 pages from each Bible Trek studet book. Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will cosider differet cultures ad why everyoe eeds Jesus. Sprig Quarter
98 STUDY WHAT STUDENTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Choose Your Ow Adveture (about 20 mi.) 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Adveture 1: A Sig From God Create billboards from God for differet cultures. Adveture 2: To the Eds of the Earth Explore case studies of people from differet cultures. Bibles, Bible Trek, paper, markers Bibles, Bible Trek, pes Set out the supplies for each adveture at differet statios. 4 Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Bible Trek, pes Lastig Impressios Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Sprig Quarter
99 Peter Visits Corelius Acts 10:1-44 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Meet Corelius This passage begis at the home of Corelius, a Roma ceturio i Caesarea, the headquarters for the Roma occupatio of that area. As a ceturio, Corelius would have bee i charge of a uit of about 100 me, ad he was cosidered a ma of oble character. For a o-jew to have bee cosidered God-fearig meat that Corelius followed the Jewish religio to some degree, possibly to the greatest extet he could as a o-jew. His visio of the agel at about three i the afteroo likely meas that he was followig Jewish religious practices sice that was a regular time of prayer for the Jews. Ad it is to Corelius credit that whe a agel of God spoke to him, he did t hesitate to do what he was told. Peter kew that the visio cocered much more tha food. The Jesus Coectio Peter took a huge risk i followig God s leadig to reach out to Corelius ad his family. Peter followed God s leadig without hesitatio because Jesus was the corerstoe of his life. Peter set a example for us by takig advatage of a opportuity to tell someoe uexpected about his faith. We dare ot igore that example; rather, we must be willig to tell ayoe who is iterested about what God has doe for us through Jesus. Pray ad ask God to show you how you ca share your faith ad God s love. You ca write your prayer here. God Speaks: A Tale of Two Visios Peter was followig ormal Jewish religious practices, amog which was the strict adherece to the dietary restrictios spelled out i Leviticus 11. May of the forbidde aimals described there were icluded i the sheet suspeded before Peter i his visio. Beig told to kill ad eat uclea aimals shocked Peter. The challege to Peter s beliefs did t ed whe the sheet disappeared. It was obviously o coicidece that Corelius servats appeared just as Peter s visio eded. Peter was thikig through the meaig of his visio whe he was summoed to go to the house of a o-jew. The servats said that a agel had told Corelius to sed for Peter to hear what he had to say. Ad God made it clear to Peter that the servats arrival was coected to what God was tryig to teach him. God told him that the me were there, that he had set them, ad that Peter was to go with them. Sprig Quarter
100 FAITH CONNECTION Uited Natios Supplies 5 kids of cady, each i a resealable bag (at least 5 pieces of each kid)! ALLERGY ALERT Uited Natios What You ll Do This is a game to get studets thikig about how challegig it is to iteract with people of differet cultures. Have them form five somewhat eve groups (a group ca be oe perso). Give each group a bag of cadies (with a differet kid of cady i each bag), ad whisper a assiged (secret!) characteristic to each group. The five characteristics are as follows: Your group speaks with a accet Your group will ot look ayoe i the eye Your group whispers Your group yells Your group has a ervous twitch Say: Today we re goig to play a game called Uited Natios. Here s the deal: Your group is tryig to spread happiess throughout the etire world ad of course by happiess, we mea cady. Each oe of the groups represets a atio (that I made up). Each group commuicates i its ow special way. Ad each group has a differet cady to give. The goal is to give away as much cady as you ca before the game is over. Here are the rules: First, go aroud the room ad offer people cady, speakig oly with your atio s characteristic. You ca t tell people what your characteristic is, but you must use it. However, each of your atios is a little afraid of the others, so do t accept ay cady from aother atio uless they speak to you i the way you would speak to others. That meas that durig the game, you ll have to liste to others to figure out what is particular to their atio s way of speakig. Talk about the weather if you have to. Whe you figure it out, you ca speak to them i a way they ll uderstad ad offer them cady. Ad, of course, if someoe offers you cady i the right way, you have to take it you wat to be ice to the locals. But remember, the goal is to give away as much as you ca (ot to eat as much as you ca). Have studets play the game for about 10 miutes. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. Ask: What did you do to figure out how the other groups commuicated ad to accommodate them? Do you thik it s geerally easier to commuicate with people from your ow culture tha with others? Why or why ot? Sprig Quarter
101 Tell about a time you iteracted with someoe who did t speak Eglish very well or had very differet customs. What did you do to make your iteractio go more smoothly? Say: It took you oly a few miutes to figure out how to commuicate with others i this game. But God wats us to sped our lives learig how to commuicate with others from differet cultures, ecoomic backgrouds, coutries, ad social circles so we ca share his love with everyoe. Today we ll thik about how God wats us to TELL EVERYONE ABOUT JESUS. Media Coectio (Optio) Tip May movie clips are available at youtube.com. What You ll Do Istead of the Uited Natios activity, have studets watch a movie clip from the movie Kate & Leopold. First set up the clip. Say: Today we re goig to look at people from two differet settigs. Let s thik about this by watchig a movie clip. I this clip, both people are from New York...but oe is from the preset day ad oe is from 1876! Obviously, there are some cultural barriers ad we re about to see oe. Media Coectio Supplies video player movie Kate & Leopold Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue Kate & Leopold to 00:30:51, whe Leopold opes the freezer. Begi the clip at 00:30:51, whe Leopold opes the freezer. I this clip, Stuart tries to talk to Leopold o the phoe, but Leopold does t kow how to use a phoe. Ed the clip at 00:31:57, whe Leopold hags up the phoe. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. Ask: Whe you thik about the cultural differeces betwee 1876 ad ow, i what ways do you thik you might have a hard time commuicatig with someoe from back the? What are some cultural differeces that exist betwee people today? Do you thik it s geerally easier to commuicate with people from your ow culture tha with others? Why or why ot? Tell about a time you iteracted with someoe who did t speak Eglish very well or had very differet customs. What did you do to make your iteractio go more smoothly? Say: Whe Leopold came to the preset day with Stuart, he had to lear to adapt to a ew culture. It s ulikely you ll meet someoe from 1876. But we ll meet people from various settigs, ad we eed to lear how to commuicate with others from differet cultures, ecoomic backgrouds, coutries, ad social circles so we ca share his love with everyoe. Today we ll thik about how God wats us to TELL EVERYONE ABOUT JESUS. Sprig Quarter
102 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Evisioig Supplies Bibles Bible Trek pes paper markers Evisioig Easy Prep Remove the pages from each Bible Trek studet book. Evisioig What You ll Do Have studets form two groups, oe for Corelius ad oe for Peter. Make sure everyoe has a Bible, ad have the Corelius group read Acts 10:1-8 while the Peter group reads Acts 10:9-16 together. After groups have read their visios separately, say: With your group, talk about what you thik your perso s visio meas. What s the mai message? The come up with a way to act out a moder-day visio that seds the same message. If you eed pictures for your visio, use the paper ad markers to make them. Allow about 10 miutes for groups to discuss ad prepare their visios. The have each group preset its visio while the other group tries to determie what the meaig is. Say: Your visio may have bee a little hard to uderstad. Peter s was certaily a lot more cofusig our Bible passage eve says Peter was woderig about the meaig. But later o, the visios came together ad made a lot more sese. Corelius set me to Peter s house, ad Peter wet with them to visit Corelius. Ad as they talked about their visios, it all became clear. Let s read about it i Acts 10:27-35. Have a few willig studets each read aloud some of the verses i Acts 10:27-35. Talk With Studets Lead everyoe i this discussio. Ask: Whe you cosider the cotext of the other perso s visio, how does that chage your uderstadig of the visio you read? I what ways were our moder-day visios impacted by our ow culture? How ca you share Jesus with people who see thigs differetly tha you? Say: I Peter s Jewish culture, it was t okay to hag out with just ayoe. Ad it certaily was t okay to eat all the kids of aimals he saw i his visio. But God set him the visio to show him that he wats everyoe to kow about him. Imagie what heave must look like God s childre from every race, coutry, tribe, ad people gathered together i perfect peace. Ad i order for that to happe, God wats us to TELL EVERYONE ABOUT JESUS. Let s thik more about that. Allow time for studets to aswer the questios i the Thik It Over sectio of their Bible Trek pages. Sprig Quarter
103 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Choose Your Ow Adveture What You ll Do Say: As Peter leared, we TELL EVERYONE ABOUT JESUS. Our Key Verse is about just that. Let s read it i Matthew 28:19-20. Have studets tur to Matthew 28:19-20 ad liste while you read it aloud: Therefore go ad make disciples of all atios, baptizig them i the ame of the Father ad of the So ad of the Holy Spirit, ad teachig them to obey everythig I have commaded you. Ad surely I am with you always, to the very ed of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). Say: I our advetures today, we have two activities you ca choose from that will help you thik about how to live out our Key Verse. Adveture 1 uses creative advertisig, ad Adveture 2 uses uderstadig people. The directios are o your Bible Trek papers. Look them over ad decide which activity you wat to do. You ca work with the others who choose the same activity. Keep the Key Verse i mid as you work. Allow time for studets to decide which adveture they wat to do. Summaries of each adveture follow. ADVENTURE 1 CREATIVE ADVERTISING: A SIGN FROM GOD I this adveture, studets will create billboards to help people from other cultures kow God. Choose Your Ow Adveture Supplies Bibles Bible Trek Adveture 1 paper markers Adveture 2 pes Choose Your Ow Adveture Easy Prep Set out the supplies for each adveture at differet statios. ADVENTURE 2 UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE: TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH I this adveture, studets will study the stories of people i differet cultures ad discuss how best to brig the gospel to them. Say: After you fiish your adveture, you ll preset some of what you experieced, so keep that i mid. Whe everyoe has fiished, we ll talk about what we ve leared. You have 15 miutes to complete your advetures. While studets are workig, move betwee the statios, ad offer assistace as eeded. Let groups kow whe they have about five miutes left so they ca wrap up their work. After 15 miutes, have your groups take turs presetig what they experieced. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. Ask: What does it take for the Bible to be commuicated to differet cultures aroud the world? How does this fulfill Jesus commadmet i Matthew 28:19-20? What ca you do this week to help fulfill that commadmet? Sprig Quarter
104 Say: We do t have to travel to the other ed of the world to fid people of differet cultures. Peter foud Corelius ot too far away! People move aroud a lot today, ad there are people all aroud who have moved here from other parts of the coutry or world. You ca meet people of differet races, differet fiacial situatios, differet cultures, ad who are from differet types of families. God wats you to TELL EVERYONE ABOUT JESUS, regardless of whether or ot people look or act like you. Start with the people aroud you, ad you ll evetually ifluece the world! 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Bible Trek pes Daily Challeges What You ll Do Direct studets to the Daily Challeges i their Bible Trek pages, ad have them choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Email a missioary from our church, ad ask about the cultural differeces. Write ad mail a letter to a missioary, ecouragig that perso i his or her work. Get to kow someoe you do t ormally hag out with, ad tell that perso about Jesus. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Whe Peter obeyed God s callig, he discovered a importat message: God wats us to TELL EVERYONE ABOUT JESUS o matter what their race or culture. Let s share Jesus love with others this week by followig through with our Daily Challeges. Sprig Quarter
105 Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about tellig others about Jesus. Studets ca also do the activities o the Brigig It Home sectio of their Bible Trek pages with their families. Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. For a closig prayer, ask studets to each thik of oe perso who s very differet from them. The have studets fid a parter ad pray together for the people they thought of. Sprig Quarter