Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 Contents Martin Luther 2 11 William Tyndale 12 18 Thomas Cranmer 19 24 1 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 Martin Luther Theme: It is by faith that Jesus makes us right with God. Aim: That they see how much more wonderful righteousness by faith is than any other possibility. Introductions Indulgences set off an area of the room to be heaven and another as purgatory and give each child some toy money of varying amounts. Then play a game of tag. When a child is caught they go to purgatory. After a couple of minutes stop the game and see if any child has enough money to buy their way out of purgatory. Then ask how they felt if that was the way to be God s friends. Play a simple obedience game (e.g. Simon Says or Captain s Coming). If a child is out they have to go to purgatory and only the children who are left at the end get to go to heaven. How did they feel? If only really good boys and girls were able to be friends with God how would they feel? Teaching You will need: Old coat or a cloak Picture of Martin Luther page 5 Monks Rule sheet, 95 Theses sheet & Papal Bull sheet, all 'aged' with tea or coffee pages 6 8 Matches and a metal container I want to introduce you to a man who lived 500 years ago; this was when King Henry VIII was on the throne. Far away in Germany was a man whose name was Martin Luther. [use the picture from the materials or dress up a child as Martin Luther using an old coat / cloak] Martin Luther was out for a walk one day when suddenly there was a thunderstorm [get the children to make thunder noises or play the sound effects of a thunderstorm]. Martin was very frightened and, as fast as lightning, cried out to St Anne, I ll be a monk! This was him giving his life to God, a life of prayer and rules. Not a monkey, they have no rules. A monk is like the opposite of a monkey in that regard! There were lots of rules. Don t do this, don t do that; and things to do. [Stick up the rule sheet] And Martin never felt he was good enough for God. Had he kept enough of the rules? Had he prayed enough? Had he said sorry for everything? Had he done enough? Was he good enough? 2 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 Martin Luther continued He was terrified, more terrified than in the storm, and would never talk to God directly but only through Mary, Jesus' mother. For Martin, to be friends with God, you had to keep all the rules and be very good. At the same time, the church was also saying that if you had enough money you could pay for some of your loved ones who had died to get to heaven. You were buying other people s good deeds. People believed that when you died, if you weren t quite good enough, you went somewhere called purgatory. Purgatory was not very nice and once you had been there long enough you could go to heaven. But if someone paid money then someone else s good deed could be given to you and you could get out. They were called indulgences. Martin Luther was horrified by this; you can t buy God s friendship! And 500 years ago, on 31st October, he nailed a piece of paper to the door of the local church complaining about indulgences. [if possible stick up the aged piece of paper to your door] But Martin was still not sure how you could be God s friend. Then, one day, two years later he read Romans 1:17: the righteous shall live by faith. At this point he realised that if he wanted to be friends with God he could, simply by trusting God. Being a good monk would never make him good enough, but Jesus goodness could be his, just by trusting God. This made all the difference! The church was not so pleased with Martin s discovery, as it suddenly meant no-one would be giving them money. So they sent a Papal Bull, which sounds like a cow dressed up as the Pope, but it s not. It s a piece of paper! [In comes a child or leader and reads the Papal Bull] Say you are wrong or you will have to leave the church! Martin Luther burnt it. [if possible, burn the notice] Then he was called to a city called Worms in Germany where he was put on trial, or a Diet [pronounced Dee-eht]. It makes him sound like he had to eat slimy worms for his tea, but actually it was much worse than that! He came before the judge who asked him if he had changed his mind about any of his beliefs. He asked for a day to think about it, then said, Here I stand; I can do no other! So, he was thrown out of the church and as he was leaving the trial he was kidnapped. [have some leaders kidnap Luther and take him to the other end of the room] But actually they were keeping him safe so that he could carry on writing and preaching. 3 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 Martin Luther continued So Luther realised that he could not be friends with God by having lots of money. Do you know that? You probably do, that seems really obvious to us. But Luther also realised that being a good boy was never going to be enough. He could pray lots, do lots of good things and give away all his things to charity, but if that is the way to be God s friend, how do we know whether we have ever done enough? Have you realised that the only way to be God s friend is by trusting what Jesus has done for you? All the good things that Jesus has done have been given to you. So when God sees me, He does not see the time I was grumpy this morning, He sees Jesus and all the wonderful things He did for me. [Add to the application as is appropriate for your group] Questions to talk about Knowledge: What did Martin Luther do? How did people think you could be God s friend? Understanding: Why was Martin Luther so cross with the church? Why was the church so cross with Martin Luther? Application: How do you feel about Martin Luther and what he discovered? What difference does it make that we can only be friends with God by trusting Him? When do you feel like you are good enough for God? Activities Learn Romans 1:17 as a memory verse Colin Buchanan does a very good version on Boom Chicka Boom Colour Martin Luther picture page 9 Funsheet pages 10 & 11 for younger & older children Blindfold trust games blindfold a child and a friend has to lead her through a series of obstacles. Did they trust their friend? Why? What does trust mean? 4 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Martin Luther
Monk's Rule Sheet Pray every day Say sorry for everything Give all your money
The 95 Theses Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and ordinary lecturer therein at Wittenberg, intends to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in that place. Therefore he asks that those who cannot be present and dispute with him orally shall do so in their absence by letter. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
Papal Bull Say you are wrong or you will have to leave the Church!
Martin Luther 1483 1546
Martin Luther Name: Martin Luther translated the Bible into German and made key discoveries on what it looks like to follow Jesus. How would you have got on with Martin Luther s obedience list? Pray for an hour every morning. When do you feel like you re not good enough for God? Give all your pocket money away. Say sorry lots and lots. The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself - that it begins and ends with faith. As the Scripture says, But those who are right with God will live by faith. Romans 1:17 What did Martin Luther discover in Romans 1:17? The only way to be God s friend is... This is how I feel about Martin Luther and what he discovered:
Martin Luther Name: Martin Luther translated the Bible into German and made key discoveries on what it looks like to follow Jesus. How would you have got on with Martin Luther s obedience list? Pray for an hour every morning. When do you feel like you re not good enough for God? Give all your pocket money away. Say sorry lots and lots. Fill in the blanks from Romans 1:17: The Good News shows how God makes people with himself - that it begins and ends with. As the Scripture says, But those who are with God will live by. Romans 1:17 What did Martin Luther discover in Romans 1:17? This is how I feel about Martin Luther and what he discovered:
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 William Tyndale Theme: We can read God s Word and understand it. Aim: That they are thankful and would long to do this. Introductions Smuggling split the group in half. The first half have to write a message on a piece of paper then hide it somewhere about their person. They then need to cross the room individually. The second team have one guess where the message is hidden on their person. If they guess incorrectly the smuggler can cross, if they guess correctly they are eliminated. Languages print out some national flags of Belgium, Germany, and the UK, and spread around as if the area of the room was a map of Europe. Read out the words listed on the left below. The children need to guess what language is being spoken. If suitable for your group, then eliminate from the game those who get it wrong. [keep flags in place for the teaching] Effable [English: able to be described in words] Bijbel [Dutch (Belgium): Bible] Sprache [German: language] Bibliopole [English: someone who sells rare books] Gemeenschaap [Dutch (Belgium) : communion] Übersetzen [German: translate] Logomachy [English: to argue about words] Geboden [Dutch (Belgium): commandments] Sünde Rubricate [German: sin] [English: to add capital letters or embellishments to writings] Codes write out the theme sentence in code. For example, replace each letter with the next letter of the alphabet. The children then need to work out the original message. Teaching You will need: Belgian, German and UK flags in position on the floor of your area as if they were a map A quill or large feather A pile of papers Pieces of fabric or teatowels German-to-English word list page 15 A large fruit box or other boat Sticks/firewood/large Jenga blocks etc Some rope 12 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 William Tyndale continued [As you tell the story, move the action to each area of the room that you have marked out with the flags to indicate the countries in which the story takes place] I want to introduce you to another man who lived 500 years ago, but even though he lived such a long time ago he is still really important for us, and we ll see why. His name is William Tyndale [select one child to be William Tyndale; sit them at a table, if possible, by the UK flag with a large feather as a quill and a fistful of papers] and he lived in a place called Little Sodbury, Gloucestershire in England. It was nicer than it sounded! William Tyndale was brilliant at understanding other languages. If you said to him, papier he would say paper [get Tyndale to translate your words using p.15]. If I said the word boden, he would say [and so on down the list for as much as you need to make the point!] But Tyndale was very angry because the Bible was written in another language that people in Britain could not understand [Tyndale looks angry]. It wasn t even written in a language that people spoke any more. It was written in Latin and unless you could speak Latin it was like double Dutch! And unless you had lots of money to learn Latin, you couldn t read the Bible. You couldn t hear about what Jesus had done for you, you just had to trust what the church was teaching. And (as we heard last week) the church was getting it wrong! The Bishop wouldn t let Tyndale translate the Bible into English, into a language that everyone could understand and read, so he had to sail to Germany [Put Tyndale in the fruit box or boat and move to the German flag] to continue his work there. In two years he had managed to put the whole of the New Testament into English and publish it. But there was a problem: he couldn t get it back into Britain. He had to smuggle the Bibles in by wrapping them in pieces of cloth [wrap up a piece of cloth and get another child to try to smuggle it back to the British flag]. When the authorities found one of Tyndale s New Testaments they would burn it, along with the person holding it! That would have kept your toes warm! A man called Cardinal Wolsey tried to have Tyndale burnt and so had to move again and again to stay safe; on one occasion he lost all his translations of the Old Testament in a shipwreck and had to start all over again [put Tyndale in the boat and rock him a little so he loses his papers]. 13 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 William Tyndale continued Tyndale then fled to Belgium to the house of a friendly man called Thomas Pointz, he looked after Tyndale well, so you could say he had a lot of good Pointz! [move Tyndale to Belgium] While there he was betrayed for money. A man called Henry Phillips owed a lot of money and when King Henry called for Tyndale to be arrested he saw his chance to get out of debt. He pretended to agree with Tyndale but tricked him and had him arrested [tie ropes loosely around Tyndale]. William Tyndale was strangled and then burnt because of what he had done [put Tyndale on the pile of wood]. As he stood on the fire he cried out with his final breath: Lord, open the King of England s eyes! [get Tyndale to cry out]. Sure enough, two years later God answered William s prayer: King Henry ordered an English Bible to be put in every English church. William was right, it is wonderful to have a Bible we can read. Have you realized how wonderful that is? Do you love to read it? Do you love it as much as Tyndale did? Would you be prepared to do what Tyndale did, just so other people might read the Bible for themselves too? Let s say thank you to God, now, that we can hear about Him in our language. [Expand this area of application as is appropriate to your group]. Pray Questions to talk about Knowledge: What did William Tyndale do? What did people do to William Tyndale? Understanding: Why do you think people didn t want William Tyndale to translate the Bible? Why was William Tyndale so keen to do it? Application: How do you feel about William Tyndale? What difference does it make that we can read the Bible for ourselves? When do you read the Bible? Activities Secret messages there are various techniques to write invisible messages to each other: white crayon and paint over with watercolours; write in lemon juice or milk and then heat with a hairdryer; baking soda then use grape juice to reveal. Colour William Tyndale picture page 16 Funsheets pages 17 & 18 for younger & older children 14 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Papier = paper Boden = bottom Hund = dog Pferd = horse Buch = book Feder = quill
William Tyndale 1494 1536
Name: William Tyndale William Tyndale was the first person to translate the Bible into English. Who did William Tyndale really want to see read the Bible: Draw the people you think are correct below: Farmers P r i n ce s s e s Mums Children What is your favorite part of the Bible? Write about it or draw it below: I bet you have lots of favourites because the Bible is so brilliant! We have Tyndale to thank for being able to read it ourselves! What do you find hardest about reading the Bible?
Name: William Tyndale William Tyndale was the first person to translate the Bible into English. Write the next letter of the alphabet underneath to discover what William Tyndale really wanted to see: DUDQXNMD SN QDZC SN SGD AD ZAKD AHAKD What is your favorite part of the Bible? Write about it or draw it below: I bet you have lots of favourites because the Bible is so brilliant! We have Tyndale to thank for being able to read it ourselves! What do you find hardest about reading the Bible?
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 Thomas Cranmer Theme: Thomas Cranmer wanted every church to teach the good news and he died for his beliefs. Aim: That they would have a desire for all to hear the good news. Introductions Box churches find some large boxes and give them two minutes to decorate them as church buildings using felt-tip pens and coloured paper. Then keep them for the talk. Teaching You will need: Box churches from introductions or something similar for each child or group of children A copy of the Book of Common Prayer A pile of firewood [Recap the previous two weeks if you have taught Martin Luther and William Tyndale] Do you remember that Martin Luther had discovered that the Bible taught that we can be friends with God only by trusting Jesus, and because of William Tyndale we can now all hear about it in words we can understand? The problem in England was that there were a lot of churches. How was the whole of England going to hear this good news about Jesus? If you went to one church [take the children to one of the box churches], you might hear that you had to do lots of good things to be God s friend. If you went to another church, you might hear that you had to pay money to be God s friend. If you went to a third church, you might hear the good news about being God s friend through Jesus. King Henry VIII put Thomas Cranmer in charge of all these churches in England; Cranmer became Archbishop of Canterbury. If you ever forget his name just think, he s older than my Grandma, his name s Thomas Cranmer! If you were Thomas Cranmer, what would you do to make sure people in all these churches heard about Jesus rightly? [Take suggestions] 19 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 Thomas Cranmer continued Here is what Thomas Cranmer did: he wrote a book! That s not very startling, is it? It was very simple; it was a book which was to be read out when you went to church and had to be used in every church in England. So you would go to church and the minister would read a prayer out of this book that would clearly explain the good news about Jesus, and you might read a prayer out loud together which also clearly explained the good news about Jesus. In this way, there was not a chance that you could miss the good news of Jesus when you went to church on a Sunday, or any other day of the week. Unless you were a complete plonker! The language is quite old and hard to understand now, but it is wonderful and many churches still love using it. [At this point read an excerpt to the children] Other churches use the book that Cranmer wrote, just with newer language that people can understand. So many churches are continuing Cranmer s great work. He also made a book of good sermons, so if you had a hopeless minister preaching in your church then he could just read out one of these sermons and the church would clearly hear about Jesus. This worked really well, until King Henry died. Mary became Queen and she didn t like Cranmer s little book and all that it taught. Thomas Cranmer was 70 by this stage, so he was quite old, and he was under a lot of pressure to say that what he had said and taught was not true. This is called recanting ; don t mix it up with decanting, that s when you put wine from one bottle into another! In fact, he signed a piece of paper saying he no longer believed what he had written in the Book of Common Prayer, but it didn t matter because in 1556 they burnt him anyway [take children over to pile of firewood]. He was meant to read out the piece of paper he had signed, but he refused and instead stuck his right hand in the fire first, the hand he had used to sign it. Thomas Cranmer was prepared to die because he loved Jesus and because he wanted everyone to hear about Him. Do you long for everyone to hear about how wonderful Jesus is too? We should give thanks that God sent Thomas Cranmer so that our church, too, could hear wonderfully about Jesus and all that He has done for us [At this point expand the application as is suitable to your group]. Pray 20 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Sunday School: 5 11s Reformation 500 Thomas Cranmer continued Questions to talk about Knowledge: What did Thomas Cranmer do? What did people do to Thomas Cranmer? Understanding: Do you think Thomas Cranmer s plan was a good one? Why/Why not? Why was Thomas Cranmer so keen to do it? Application: How do you feel about Thomas Cranmer? How much do you want everyone to hear about Jesus? What stops you talking to people about Jesus? Activities Escape from Queen Mary essentially tag. If children are tagged by Queen Mary they have to go to a prison area in the room. Colour Thomas Cranmer picture page 22 Funsheet pages 23 & 24 for younger & older children Write a Service in groups get them to imagine that they are Thomas Cranmer. What would they put in this little book; what would they put in a church service? Get them to write a sorry prayer for the church, etc. Book of Common Prayer make a book by folding oblong pieces of paper and sticking or stapling. The children then draw what they want other people to know about Jesus or stick in pictures. 21 Church Society BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATIONS
Thomas Cranmer 1489 1556
Name: Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer helped the good news of Jesus Christ was spoken about in every church. Draw all the different types of church building you have ever seen below: Now write Jesus over every building. This is what Thomas Cranmer wanted to happen in every church building. Who do you know who doesn t know Jesus? Did you know? Write their name below and pray for them. Thomas Cranmer was killed because he loved Jesus! Following Jesus can be really hard and scary sometimes!
Name: Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer helped the good news of Jesus Christ was spoken about in every church. Draw all the different types of church building you have ever seen below: Now write Jesus over every building. What did Thomas Cranmer want to happen in every church building? Does this happen in your church building? How do you know? Who do you know who doesn t know Jesus? Did you know? Write their name below and pray for them. Thomas Cranmer was killed because he loved Jesus! Following Jesus can be really hard and scary sometimes!