Lesso 12 139 Stephe Forgives His Accusers as They Stoe Him Acts 6:8 7:60 Your preschoolers wo t uderstad the fiality of Stephe s death or the idea of martyrdom. However, they ll uderstad that Stephe acted bravely ad cotiued to tell others about Jesus eve whe they threateed to hurt him. As you help preschoolers lear about Stephe, emphasize how importat it is to be brave for Jesus. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started about 5 mi. 2 Key Verse Activity about 10 mi. 3 Bible Exploratio about 15 mi. Welcome ad Celebrate Welcome each other, ad praise God through music. Teachig Bravely Tell about thigs they re scared of. Puppy Poiters Hear why Theo has a megaphoe. Bible Time: Truth That Hurts Fid ad color parts of the My Bible Hugs page as they hear about Stephe. CD player Teacher Pack: CD Bible CD player, Theo puppet, scissors, tape Teacher Pack: CD, megaphoe Bible, My Bible Hugs, crayos, CD player Teacher Pack: CD Assemble the megaphoe, ad tape it to Theo s paw (also see Ceter 3). Remove the Lesso 12 pages from each My Bible Hugs studet book, ad write childre s ames o them. Bible Poit We re brave for 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). Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will be brave. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 12
140 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Ceter 1: Ivitatio Celebratio Draw pictures of themselves, ad decorate ivitatios. 1 evelope per child, pe, crayos, craft supplies Teacher Pack: ivitatio Complete the geeral iformatio o the ivitatio, but do t fill i the childre s ames. Make eough copies for each child to have oe. 4 Weavig Faith Ito Life about 20 mi. (Choose 2 ceters.) Ceter 2: Bravery Sacks Create megaphoes from tortillas. Ceter 3: Jesus Parade Participate i a Jesus parade. 1 flour tortilla ad 1 small cup per child, apple butter, atibacterial gel (optioal) CD player Teacher Pack: CD, megaphoe Before assemblig the megaphoe for the Puppy Poiters activity, copy the page. The make 1 megaphoe per child. Ceter 4: Bravery Challege Show they re brave by tryig a few challeges. Daily Challeges Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. My Bible Hugs 5 Lastig Impressios about 10 mi. Actio Prayer Pray about beig brave for Jesus. Weavig Faith at Home Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Lesso 12 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
141 Stephe Forgives His Accusers as They Stoe Him Acts 6:8 7:60 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS The Church Grows With the growth i the church came problems, ad Stephe was oe of the people who stepped i to help. Stephe was chose as oe of seve who would help admiister the distributio of food so that o oe would be left out. They were t chose because of their admiistrative skills, but because of their wisdom. Stephe specifically was said to be full of faith ad of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5). Stephe Acts Boldly Stephe did far more tha admiister food distributio. He s the first perso who was t a apostle to be metioed i Acts as performig a miracle. Ad he boldly spoke about Jesus. I Acts 6:9-14, his oppoets were so frustrated by the power ad wisdom of his speakig that they decided to drum up false accusatios agaist him. Stephe s eloquet speech before the Sahedri i Acts 7 was o doubt iteded to brig repetace o the part of the Jewish leaders. But the Jewish leaders respoded with resetmet ad ager rather tha repetace. the cross. First, Stephe offered his spirit to Jesus, as Jesus had offered his spirit to the Father (Acts 7:59; Luke 23:46). The he sought forgiveess for his accusers ad killers, agai followig Jesus example (Acts 7:60; Luke 23:34). The Jesus Coectio A growig relatioship with Jesus produces faith ad courage i the heart ad life of a Christia. This courage allows us to speak the truth i the face of dager. You may ever be called upo to die for tellig the truth about Jesus, but Christias have died ad cotiue to suffer ad die because of their faith ad commitmet to truth. What have you already edured because of your faith? What thigs seem scary to edure? What fears are holdig you back from fully stadig up for Jesus? Ask God to take away your fears ad help you stad up as boldly as Stephe. You ca write your prayer here. Saul Hears the Truth As people picked up stoes to execute Stephe, they placed their clothig at the feet of Saul later kow as the Apostle Paul. We do t kow exactly what role Saul played, but some feel he was the authority presidig over Stephe s death. Whatever his role, he must have heard Stephe s speech. Stephe Eds Well As Stephe was beig slowly ad paifully executed, he twice spoke words similar to what Jesus said o Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 12
142 GETTING STARTED Welcome ad Celebrate CD player Teacher Pack CD: The Happy Sog (track 10), We re at Church (track 17) Welcome ad Celebrate Tip Cosistetly use the same sigal to aouce a trasitio to the ext activity. You could flip the lights off ad o, use a trai whistle, have a puppet rustlig iside a bag, or sig cleaup sogs. Keep it simple, cosistet, ad fu. As the childre arrive, greet each oe with a smile. Whe it s time to begi, use your sigal to gather the childre together i a circle o the floor. Lead childre i sigig The Happy Sog (track 10 o the CD) to the tue of Boom, Boom, Ai t It Great to Be Crazy? Ecourage childre to follow the motios i paretheses. Hello, my frieds are you happy? (put idex figers to cheeks ad smile) Hello, my frieds let s have some fu! (clap hads) We ll sig ad play games ad praise our God! (hold hads out ad wiggle your figers) Hello, my frieds are you happy? (put idex figers to cheeks ad smile) (Repeat 2x.) Say: Thaks for joiig us today! Let s sig about why we re at church. Sig We re at Church (track 17 o the CD) to the tue of This Old Ma. Ecourage childre to follow the motios i paretheses. We re at church. (make a steeple with hads) We re at church. (make a steeple with hads) To worship God ad lear his Word. (make a book with hads) With a prayer ad a sog ad a Bible story, too. (make prayer hads) God loves me ad God loves you. (hug self; the poit to others) (Repeat 3x.) Say: I m glad you re all here today. Beig at church helps me remember that Jesus is with us. Ad that s why WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS. Lesso 12 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
143 2 KEY VERSE ACTIVITY Teachig Bravely Have the childre sit i a circle. Ope your Bible to Matthew 28:19-20, ad show childre the words. Teachig Bravely Bible Say: Our Key Verse from the Bible says, 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. That meas we ca teach the world about Jesus. Let s say that together. Lead the childre i sayig the simplified Key Verse with you: We ca teach the world about Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). Say: Today we ll hear about a ma who wated to teach others about Jesus. Ad he was very brave whe he taught about Jesus because some people did t like it. But he kept teachig eve whe people were mea ad did bad thigs to him. That must ve bee scary. What are some thigs you re scared of? Allow several kids to aswer. The say: Those are all scary thigs! But I bet you ca be brave if you face ay of them because Jesus is always with you! Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Tell about a time you were brave. What ca you do to be brave for Jesus? Say: Everyoe is scared of somethig. But we do t have to be scared because we kow Jesus is always with us. Today we ll hear about a ma who was brave to tell about Jesus, eve whe people were mea to him. WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS, too. 3 BIBLE EXPLORATION Puppy Poiters Say: Liste everyoe, Theo s comig! He has somethig to show us. Let s fid Puppy Poiters CD player Theo puppet tape Teacher Pack CD: Here, Theo (track 4) megaphoe Puppy Poiters Easy Prep Assemble the megaphoe, ad tape it to Theo s paw (also see Ceter 3). Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 12
144 out what it is. Play Here, Theo (track 4 o the CD), ad brig out Theophilus the FaithRetriever. Theo: Hi, everybody! Teacher: Hello, Theo! It s so good to see you at church with us today. What do you have there? Theo: It s a megaphoe. Teacher: Why did you brig your megaphoe with you today? Theo: It helps me speak louder. Teacher: Why do you eed to speak louder, Theo? Theo: Sometimes I have importat thigs to say ad I wat to make sure people hear me. Teacher: That s very brave of you to say somethig loudly for a whole group of people to hear. Theo: Thaks! I heard somethig o my way here today that souded pretty importat. Wat to hear it? Teacher: I do. Frieds, do you? (Allow time for kids to aswer.) Theo: Okay. Here goes (Shoutig through the megaphoe) Jesus loves you! Teacher: Thaks, Theo. You were brave to share such a importat thig through the megaphoe! Ad we re learig about that, too. Kids, ca you tell Theo our Bible Poit for today? (Lead childre i sayig the Bible Poit for Theo: WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS.) Theo: Wow! Maybe I should let you all borrow my megaphoe so you all ca tell others about Jesus. Teacher: That souds like a great idea! Frieds, let s say goodbye to Theo. Bible Time: Truth That Hurts Bible My Bible Hugs crayos CD Player Teacher Pack CD: Truth That Hurts (track 15) Bible Time: Truth That Hurts Easy Prep Remove the Lesso 12 pages from each My Bible Hugs studet book, ad write childre s ames o them. Ecourage the childre to wave or say goodbye to Theo. The put Theo away i a safe place for ext week s use. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What s somethig importat you could use the megaphoe to say? What s somethig importat you could use the megaphoe to say about Jesus? Say: Theo likes usig his megaphoe so he ca tell importat thigs ad everyoe will hear him. We kow a lot of importat thigs about Jesus that we wat others to hear, but sometimes people do t wat to hear about Jesus. WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS whe we tell eve those people about Jesus. Bible Time: Truth That Hurts Ope your Bible to Acts 6, ad show the childre the words. Tell childre that the Bible is God s special book. Say: The Bible tells us that WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS. A Lesso 12 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
145 ma amed Stephe was brave whe he told others about Jesus. But some people did t wat to hear about Jesus. Give each child a My Bible Hugs page. The say: As I tell you about Stephe, you ll color each picture wait to color each part util I tell you to color. Stephe was a good ma. God allowed him to do miracles, ad people were healed by God. Poit to the picture that shows someoe who was just healed. Color the crutches because Stephe healed sick ad hurt people. Allow time. Stephe prayed, too. Poit to the picture that shows Stephe prayig. Have kids color the lamb ext to the prayig Stephe. Stephe read the Bible. Have kids color the scroll Stephe is readig. Stephe helped give food to hugry people. Have kids color the bread ad fish Stephe is givig to the people. Stephe could talk to ayoe about God. Have kids color Stephe tellig others about Jesus. Some people got agry whe Stephe told them the truth about Jesus. Let s hear some thigs Stephe said. Whe I give a thumbs up, that meas Stephe is speakig. Whe I give a thumbs dow, that meas the other people are speakig. Play the Truth That Hurts (track 15 o the CD), ad show thumbs up ad thumbs dow at the appropriate times to help kids follow. The say: Some people did t wat to hear what Stephe said about Jesus. They did t wat to liste to him, eve though he was sayig somethig very importat. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Tell about a time someoe did t liste to you. Why do you wat others to hear about Jesus? Say: Stephe told the truth about Jesus eve though the people did t wat to hear. But othig could stop Stephe from tellig other people about Jesus. WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS, just as Stephe was. 4 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Choose at least two of the learig ceters to help reiforce today s Bible lesso. Gather the eeded materials, ad put the supplies i a out-of-sight area util you re ready for them. Allow the childre to choose which ceter they d like to explore first. The circulate amog the childre as they create ad explore. Ecourage them to make coectios betwee their activities ad the Bible by askig them the questios icluded with each ceter s descriptio. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 12
146 CENTER 1: Ivitatio Celebratio Ceter 1: Ivitatio Celebratio 1 evelope per child pe crayos craft supplies Teacher Pack ivitatio Ceter 1: Ivitatio Celebratio Easy Prep Complete the geeral iformatio o the ivitatio, but do t fill i the childre s ames. Make eough copies for each child to have oe. Say: We re learig that WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS. We kow that Jesus is woderful. He loves us so much. He died so we ca be frieds with him. But sometimes we might meet people who do t seem to like Jesus. They might eve say they do t wat to be our frieds if we love Jesus. I times like that, we ca be brave for Jesus. We do t eed to be afraid because we kow Jesus is always with us. Today we ll be brave ad sed out ivitatios to ivite people to church maybe eve people who do t love Jesus yet. Give childre each a ivitatio, ad write their ames o the appropriate lie. Tell the childre to draw pictures of themselves ad the decorate the borders. After kids fiish, help them fold their ivitatios ad place them i evelopes that the church ca mail out or had deliver to a few homes ear your church. Say: You re so brave to sed ivitatios to ivite people to church. Ad I kow whe ew people come to church, you ll be brave as you meet them! Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What s scary about ivitig people to church? What ll you do to show you re brave whe ew people come to church? Say: WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS we re brave to ivite people to church, we re brave to meet ew people, ad we re brave to share what we kow about Jesus so all people ca be frieds with Jesus, too. Ceter 2: Bravery Sacks 1 flour tortilla ad 1 small cup per child apple butter atibacterial gel (optioal)! ALLERGY ALERT CENTER 2: Bravery Sacks Have childre wash their hads ad the sit dow for the sack. Give each child a flour tortilla. Show the childre how to roll their tortillas ito a coe shape like the megaphoe Theo had. The say: We kow Jesus wats us to be brave. We ca be brave for him by tellig people about him. We ca also be brave by stadig up for people whe others are mea to them. We ca also be brave by doig the right thig whe other people are t doig the right thig. Ecourage the childre to say, We re brave for Jesus! through their megaphoes. Give each child a small cup filled with apple butter, ad let the kids ejoy dippig their tortillas i the apple butter as they play with ad eat their tortilla megaphoes. Lesso 12 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
147 Say: Megaphoes help get the word out about importat thigs, ad they show other people we re sure of what we wat to say. Whether we re brave by tellig others about Jesus, by beig helpful to someoe who s hurtig, or by doig the right thig, WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS all the time. CENTER 3: Jesus Parade Say: We ca always be brave for Jesus! Stad up ad put your hads o your hips to show cofidece. I believe i Jesus ad I m proud to tell others about him. Stad up if you believe i Jesus. Allow time. I m ot afraid! Stad like me if you are t afraid. Allow time. You re brave to help someoe whe others are t beig ice. Preted you re helpig someoe up, ad have kids do the same. That makes us brave for Jesus because he asks us to love others. You re brave for Jesus by doig the right thig. Preted you re sayig o with me whe someoe asks you to do somethig you re ot supposed to do. Demostrate ad have kids do the same. You re also brave to say what you believe, eve if people do t believe the same. I believe i Jesus! Say it with me. Have kids repeat. I m brave for Jesus! Have kids repeat this with you. Give each child a megaphoe, ad say: WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS by showig his love. Let s have a Jesus parade to show we re brave for him i all these ways. Play Share the Love (track 16 o the CD) to the tue of Joy, Joy, Joy, ad ecourage childre to sig the words through the megaphoes ad parade aroud the room. Remid kids that there are lots of ways we ca be brave for Jesus. Ceter 3: Jesus Parade CD player Teacher Pack CD: Share the Love (track 16) megaphoe Ceter 3: Jesus Parade Easy Prep Before assemblig the megaphoe for the Puppy Poiters activity, copy the page. The make 1 megaphoe per child. I wat to share the love of Jesus Christ with you. (poit to a fried) Jesus loves you! (poit to aother fried) Jesus loves you! (poit to aother fried) I wat to share the love of Jesus Christ with you. (poit to aother fried) Jesus loves you today. (poit to aother fried) Ad I m so happy, so very happy, That Jesus loves you, that Jesus loves you. Ad I m so happy, so very happy. That Jesus loves you today. (Repeat.) Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What s it like to sig about Jesus i a group? How ca that help you be brave? Say: We ca be brave for Jesus by showig his love i may ways. We ca do Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 12
148 the right thig, help hurt people, ad tell others about Jesus. However we do it, WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS whe we re with others, Jesus helps us be brave. CENTER 4: Bravery Challege Say: Our Bible poit tells us that WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS like Stephe was whe he told others about Jesus. It might ve bee scary for Stephe because people were mea to him. What are some thigs you re scared of? Allow time. Thaks for sharig! I m scared of some of those thigs, too. But I kow we ca always be brave because Jesus is always with us! Let s take a bravery challege. Will all of you be brave with me as I try a few scary thigs? Pause. I m scared of the dark. Will all of you be brave with me if I tur the lights out for 10 secods? Check that kids are comfortable with the idea before you do it. The tur the lights out ad cout to 10. Tur the lights back o. The say: You all were so brave! Let s try aother challege. I m afraid of fallig ad hurtig myself. Will you fall back ad let someoe catch you? Pause. The catch is you ll close your eyes. Have kids try the challege while you catch them. It ca be scary to fall whe you do t kow if someoe will catch you, but you all were very brave. Thaks for tryig these challeges with me you helped me kow I ca be brave! Ad if we ca be brave with thigs like this, I kow we ca be brave for Jesus. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Tell about a time you did somethig scary. What scares you about beig brave for Jesus? Say: You all were so brave with our challeges. Ad I kow that you ca be brave for Jesus, too. The ext time somethig seems scary, remember that WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS because we kow he s always with us! Lesso 12 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
149 5 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges After the childre have cleaed up their ceters, brig everyoe back to a circle area o the floor. Review the lesso activities ad the Bible Poit, ad the ecourage the childre to share what they remember about what they leared from the Bible today. Daily Challeges My Bible Hugs Also use this time to challege kids i their faith. Ecourage them to choose a Daily Challege for applyig today s lesso to their lives this week. Use this challege for ecouragig your childre s growig relatioships with Jesus. Say: Today we leared that WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS. I would like each of you to choose a way that you ca be brave for Jesus by sharig about him this week. Read the three Daily Challege ideas for childre to choose from: Do the right thig if someoe asks you to do somethig you kow you should t do. The thak Jesus for helpig you be brave. Ask your mom or dad to help you try somethig ew this week, like somethig o the playgroud. Before you try it, ask Jesus to help you be brave. Itroduce yourself to someoe ew, ad ivite that perso to church. Have kids each whisper i your ear or tell you which idea they ve chose, ad the circle it o each child s My Bible Hugs page. Make sure you tell kids the challege you choose. Your commitmet will ispire childre ad will give them a opportuity to see God at work i your life as well as i theirs! Actio Prayer Have the childre sit i a circle. Have kids make a megaphoe with their hads ad say, I m brave for Jesus! The have them repeat the followig prayer. Dear God, Thak you for helpig me be brave. I kow Jesus is strog ad he s always with me. I kow I ca try ew thigs. I kow I ca do the right thig. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 12
150 I kow I ca tell others about you. I love you, Jesus. I Jesus ame, ame. Say: Remember, WE RE BRAVE FOR JESUS because we kow he s the best gift ever! Weavig Faith at Home Have childre take home their My Bible Hugs pages whether they worked o them or ot. Have the childre tell their parets the challege they committed to i the Daily Challeges activity. Ecourage the parets to help their kids fulfill this commitmet throughout the week. By workig together ad focusig o the same goals, you ad parets ca help childre weave faith ito their lives! Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Lesso 12 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4