FAITH CHALLENGE

Paul’s Travels

Week 1: Paul and Silas in Jail

Scripture: Acts 16:16-40

Memory Verse: Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself. Romans 12:10

Concepts:

· God calls us to share the good news of Jesus with others.

· God calls us together as a community of faith called the church.

· Greater accomplishments can be made by a community of faith than by individuals.

· As a church (or community of faith), we are called to care for each other and sometimes to put the welfare of others before ourselves.

Objectives:

· Students will familiarize themselves with the scripture through drama. Using Silent Movie techniques, they will re-enact the scripture and videotape it for later viewing.

· Most of the concepts listed above will be addressed in next week’s lesson. Mention or tie in any you want as you read the scripture or plan the drama.

Gathering Time: (Guide and Coach)

1. At the beginning of each class, the Coach greets arriving students and supervises snacks.

2. The Guide and Coach remind students to write prayer joys and concerns on the Prayer Wall and to place their offering in the offering jars.

3. As students arrive, have them read silently the scripture lesson for the day, Acts 16:16-40. Those who finish reading early are to begin listing the characters from the scripture on chart paper. The Guide directs this activity. Characters: Paul, Silas, Slave girl, spirit, owners of slave girl, officials, police, crowd, jailer, other prisoners, jailer’s family.

4. After most students have arrived and snacks are ended (no later than 9:55 a.m.), the Guide asks the Coach to lead an opening prayer. This can be brief and may or may not involve the prayer chain.

Workshop Lesson Procedure: (Guide takes over from here)

Scripture/Bible Story:

Background knowledge for guide: Paul’s Road to Damascus experience was about five years after Jesus’ execution. His life before Damascus equipped him well for his job as the Jewish apostle to the Gentile world. His parents were Jewish and he lived in a Hellenistic city so he was well educated in Jewish tradition. He was fluent in Greek, being bilingual (and probably more). He was very bright and a Roman citizen. Sometime in his life he learned the trade of tent making. This allowed him great mobility and the ability to support himself everywhere in his life as a missionary. His travels may have totaled 10,000 miles, mostly by foot, occasionally by boat.

The book of Acts is the second book written by Luke. It tells of the spread of the Christian message to many people and many countries. After Jesus died, there was a struggle among the followers as to who could belong to God’s people. Many thought that since Jesus and his followers were Jews that it was only natural that his message was for only Jews. In Acts, the Spirit is always present to show that his message is for all and that God wants followers from every nation and race. Paul did the most to spread the message. He led people to Christ by individual conversions, families, and groups. This scripture demonstrates a conversion. Contrasting with the other conversion in this unit, the conversion of Lydia who was a long time devotee of God, the jailer’s conversion takes place during a personal crisis.

Explain to students that Paul was a follower and missionary of Jesus and apostle to the Gentiles.

Read over the scripture aloud. (Teacher reads with enthusiasm and drama.) This lesson will focus on Acts 16:16-40 in which Paul and Silas are put in jail. Ask the students to write down the characters as they are introduced during the reading.

Look at the list of characters on the chart paper that the students wrote during gathering time. Add any characters to the list.

Application:

Tell the students that they will recreate the story. To add a new twist, they will act it out using silent movie techniques and videotape it. They will watch the finished videos (theirs and the other class’s) at the 5^th Sunday and have popcorn.

If a silent movie video is available, show some of it to the students so they can see the techniques of no talking, print to convey conversation, and melodrama or “overacting.”

Show a small clip of a silent movie so that the kids understand this technique. Point out the written dialogue, close-ups, melodrama, and reacting to get the message across to the audience without speaking the words.

In the interest of time, provide an outline of the scenes that may be filmed. Quickly review the scenes with everyone.

Determine Roles:

Divide into 2 groups: those who want to be actors and those who want to be technical help and writers. Actors put on costumes and decide on roles.

Writers (2 students): for each scene, determine the dialogue and write it on one piece of poster board. Use no more than 2 posters per scene. The acting must imply most of the dialogue. Get the title poster and first scene’s dialogue done first so that the others may begin work on that scene. Keep the speech short and clipped e.g. “Hark! Do you hear that? Are they singing!!??” And “Silas, is that an earthquake?!!” Ask the coaches to assist the writers while the guide works with the actors and directors.

Camera persons (1 or 2 students) set up the easel for filming the dialogue posters. Get camera ready. Film the title poster. Decide on angles for close-ups and for long shots. Each scene is one continuous camera shot, interrupted by dialogue.

Directors: (2 students) Student directors may alternate scenes deciding where the actors are to stand and what they are to do.

Actors: Determine your roles. Some may need to play dual roles. Decide on actions and reactions to what is taking place. Over dramatize so that the audience understands what is happening without dialogue. Do some warm up exercises to get you loose and ready.

Camera, Ready, Action!

Block, rehearse and film each scene in sequence. Don’t rehearse the whole thing, rather rehearse and then film a scene before moving on to the next scene. It will go faster this way. One take per scene. This camera does not allow for backing up and redoing a scene. Don’t look for perfection.

The setting and costuming could be in modern times, “silent movie times,” or New Testament times.

If time allows, finish videotaping today, if not it can be finished next week.

It helps to have a cue for all to be quiet. “Quiet on the Set!” is a good one to bring activity and talking to a close.

Wrap-up:

Bring closure to the activity. Restate the lesson’s key concepts and plans for the following week of finishing any of the videotaping etc. and discussion and extension of the concepts.

2. Ask students to tidy up.

Closing (Coach):

1. The Coach conducts the closing prayer time. All students and adults gather around the prayer chain. The Coach begins and ends the prayer. The Coach asks each student to contribute a joy, thanksgiving or concern in turn.

2. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.

Guide preparation in advance:

1. Set up TV/VCR to show silent movie video

2. Video camera and tape.

Supply List

Bibles

Silent Movie videotape if available

TV/VCR

Costumes box

Video camera and tape

Chart paper

Markers

Poster paper for lines of speech

Copies of Scene Outline – one for each student

References

Susan Mazzara’s study notes.

Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg

Paul and Silas – Scene Outline

Characters: Paul, Silas, Slave girl, spirit, owners of slave girl, officials, police, jailer, crowd, other prisoners, jailer’s family. The crowd, other prisoners and jailer’s family may be the same actors as well as police and officials.

Scene 1: Slave and spirit - slave girl tells fortunes, follows Paul and Silas, Paul gets upset, casts out demons, slave girl’s owners get mad, they drag off Paul and Silas.

Scene 2: Court and Beating – Paul and Silas dragged into court, judge listens to complaints, crowd surrounds Paul and Silas, tear at their clothes and beat them.

Scene 3: Inside Jail – Jailer chains the feet of Paul and Silas, Jailer leaves, Paul and Silas start to sing, other prisoners listen, jailer listens too.

Scene 4: Earthquake: earthquake begins to rumble, chains fall off prisoners

Scene 5: Jailer talks with Paul: Jailer sees the open prison door, takes out sword to kill himself, Paul intervenes. Jailer checks prison and sees prisoners, shakes head and asks Paul about being saved.

Scene 6: Everyone gathers to hear Paul - Paul talks with Jailer, prisoners and others, a couple of people tend to the wounds of Paul and Silas, they are given something to eat, Paul takes a cup of water and pours (pretend) on head of jailer

Scene 7: Paul and Silas set free – Police come to tell jailer to set Paul and Silas free, Paul announces that they are Roman citizens and demands an apology, officials enter and make apologies, officials and everyone lead Paul and Silas away, waving goodbye.

The End.

Writers: for each scene, determine the dialogue and write it on one piece of poster board. Use no more than 2 posters per scene. The acting must imply most of the dialogue. Get the title poster and first scene’s dialogue done first so that the others may begin work on that scene. Keep the speech short and clipped e.g. “Hark! Do you hear that? Are they singing!!??” And “Silas, is that an earthquake?!!”

Camera persons - set up the easel for filming the dialogue posters. Get camera ready. Film the title poster. Decide on angles for close-ups and for long shots. Each scene is one continuous camera shot, interrupted by dialogue.