FAITH CHALLENGE

Paul and Silas

Week 5: At the Movies

Scripture:         Acts 16:11-15 (Lydia) and Acts 16:16-40 (Paul and Silas in Jail)

 

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.

·       God not only calls us to believe individually but also wants us to be a part of a community of faith.

·       Each believer contributes his or her own gifts and talents to the community of faith.

Objectives:

·       Students will review the scripture lesson by viewing the silent movie videos they made  in the jail lessons.

·       Students make connections between their group making the video, various ingredients coming together to make the Russian tea (analogy), and Christians joining as a community to accomplish goals, small and large.

Gathering Time: (Guide and Coach)

1.     6th and 7th grade classes are together for this lesson.

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

3.     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. 

4.     Hand out markers and ask the youth to write on chart paper any facts they can remember about Paul.  The Guide directs this activity. 

5.     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:

Tell the students that today they will:

1.   Read over the chart “Facts About Paul” that the students just wrote.

2.   Make Russian tea and popcorn. 

3.   Enjoy it while watching the videos.

4.   Clean up. 

5.   Discuss, make connections, and summarize

 

Read over the “Facts About Paul chart.”  Add any important information. (Students may or may not remember much of this depending on how much was time was spent on these facts.  This is background knowledge.) 

Teacher cheat sheet:  Paul’s Road to Damascus experience was about five years after Jesus’ execution. His life before Damascus well equipped him 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 and  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 lead 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.

Application:

1.     Prepare Russian tea using recipe in this lesson.  While making, speak of how each ingredient makes the tea better (how it does its part to contribute to the finished product, how some of the ingredients alone are not good whereas combined with others, they are, etc.  The grains give of themselves.) You may want to speak of the heat (catalyst in diffusing the flavors), steam, additional benefits of the aroma, and perhaps the creator(s)???   Whatever analogies come up. Also, distribute popcorn. Show a chart of how the Russian tea grains (ingredients) are like a group of people working together (community) and how the grains change from how they were before (rebirth and “giving of themselves”) to the end product).

2.     Serve popcorn and tea and while eating, watch videos.

 

Wrap-up:    

 

Bring closure to the activity. Discuss the videos, (laughs, kudos, or compliments).  Then summarize the Lydia scripture and jail scriptures.  Make connections between the individuals (youth or scripture characters) and their gifts - their contributions, and the goals, finished products, the Great Ends of the Church.  Connect to the making of the video and tea.

 

  1. Restate the lesson’s key concepts and plans for the following week. 
  2. Post the “visual” on the timeline.

3.     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 coffee maker with water for Russian tea and turn on.  It takes about 1 minute per cup of water to heat.

2.     Set up TV/VCR. Room set up should include chairs for watching the videos and a table for making tea

3.     Popcorn for all.

4.     Hang chart paper.  Title it “Facts About Paul.”

 

Supply List

Chart paper

Marker

VCR

TV

Coffee maker

Water (1 cup per person)

The silent movie video of the scripture lesson

Cups, spoons and napkins – in the old kitchen

Ingredients for Russian tea

Mixing bowl and spoon

Measuring spoons

Measuring cups

Recipe

Popcorn in bags

 

Reference

Susan Mazzara’s study notes
Instant Russian Tea

 

Makes approximately 16 servings

 

 

2 cups Tang

 

1 ½  cups sweetened instant tea with lemon

 

½  tsp cloves

 

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

 

½ tsp allspice (optional)

 

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Add 2 heaping teaspoons mix to 1 cup boiling water.  Stir.

 

Use coffee maker to make hot water.