Scripture: Acts 9:1-20
Memory Verse: "Anyone who belongs to Christ
is a new person. The past is forgotten,
and everything is new.” II Corinthians 5:17 CEV
Concepts:
Objectives:
The
objectives of this workshop are to teach the children
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions:
1.
Greet
the children and introduce yourself.
Wear your nametag.
2.
Explain
the purpose of this workshop.
Example: “Today we will talk
about how Jesus changes people who decide to follow his way and how Jesus gives
them work to do that makes God happy.”
3.
As
the children are getting settled, count them or ask the shepherd(s) for a
count. You can prepare your container
of characters—more details of this follow.
Scripture/Bible Story:
Warm-Up Questions: Examples: This passage is from the book of Acts. Does anyone know in what part of the Bible we would find Acts? New Testament Does anyone know whether the events in the book of Acts happen before or after Jesus died? After In Faith Quest we recently studied the Pentecost story about the arrival of the Holy Spirit on earth. Do you remember in what book we found that story? Also in Acts. Today we are studying what happened after the story of Pentecost.
Background Information: (You can tell the children this before reading the passage)
· This passage is about a man named Saul but not the same Saul who was king when David killed Goliath. This Saul was a man who lived a little after Jesus’ time and who believed in God but not in Jesus. He thought he was doing God’s work by getting rid of people who believed in Jesus. He was well known by all Jesus’ followers as a man who would find followers of Jesus, beat them, put them in prison and sometimes have them killed.
· When you hear the word “Lord,” it refers to Jesus.
· There is a Judas in this story, but it is not the Judas that betrayed Jesus before he was killed.
Ask the children to open their Bibles to Acts 9. Read the Scripture Passage (from the CEV):
.
Example of
Discussion after the Passage:
This is an amazing story about how Jesus can change people to do God’s work.
·
What do you remember hearing about Saul’s work before
this story? He thought he was doing God’s work—he was finding followers of Jesus,
then beating them, putting them in prison, and trying to have them killed.
·
Who appears and speaks to Saul on his trip to
Damascus? Jesus Jesus makes Saul blind. I wonder why Jesus did that? This
is a really important concept because it makes people think about how Jesus/God
accomplishes God’s purposes. If the
children don’t have any ideas, you can get them thinking by saying, “I wonder
whether Jesus was trying to…” and bring out these ideas:
q get Saul’s attention,
q keep Saul from going after Christians,
q give Saul a few days to think about what Jesus had said to him,
q show Saul Jesus’ power,
q show Saul that he was “blind” to the truth about Jesus
q show Saul how bad blindness is,
q give Saul a chance to experience Christian love during and just after his blindness
·
What happens to Saul while he is blind? He
seems to have accepted Jesus and become one of his followers.
· What does it mean to accept Jesus? believe God raised Jesus from the dead, make Jesus Lord over your life Try to think of someone in your life that has changed for the better-- maybe Jesus changed that person. Try to think of someone you would like for Jesus to change--you can pray for Jesus to change that person. Would you like Jesus to change you for the better?
Puppet Application:
After completing the Bible passage, introduce the puppet part of the lesson. Example Introduction: Today everyone is going to perform one group skit to understand more about how Jesus changed Paul.
Discussion
Suggestions: The things that happened in
this skit were also from the books of Acts (chapters 21, 22 and 26). Did you like having more details about what
happened?
Also from later in the book of Acts, Paul gives even more details about what Jesus said to him. Jesus said, “I want you to open people’s eyes, so that they will turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then their sins will be forgiven, and by faith in me they will become part of God's holy people." JESUS WANTED PAUL TO OPEN PEOPLES’S EYES. MAYBE THAT’S WHY HE MADE PAUL BLIND.
Was Paul a better person after he was changed? Yes, he believed in Jesus and he stopped being cruel to people who believed in Jesus. He also told other people about Jesus, so they could be changed also. Were you able to think of someone you would like Jesus to change—maybe someone who isn’t very kind or very happy? If anyone wants to discuss this, please let them. You can pray for people to be changed.
You can also pray for Jesus to change you. You can start by believing in Jesus—that God raised him from the dead and that he is the Lord—and you will be changed too. Who believes God raised Jesus from the dead? hopefully all will raise their hands or say me. Let’s all say, “Jesus is Lord.”
I wonder what kind of God’s work Jesus gives to
children? Obedience to God, parents and all authority, such as teachers and principals;
being kind to others; taking care of people and animals; reading the Bible;
visiting the sick and lonely; helping adults feed the homeless; playing with
homeless children who are staying at our church; cleaning up the earth;
gleaning; teaching younger children about Jesus; all the promises made during
Baptisms…
Reflection Time:
Ask
the shepherds to pass out the journal sheets and pencils/markers. Tell the
older students to write down what they thought was the most interesting part of
the story today or something learned for the first time today. Tell the younger students to draw a picture
of Paul doing something from the story
(ideas: speaking to the crowd,
being blind, being led by men traveling with him, being chained). The workshop leader(s) and shepherd(s) can
help parents by asking the children what their drawing is about and writing a
caption on the picture.
Prayer: Write your own or use this
example. Thank you God for raising
Jesus from the dead, for providing Jesus as our Lord. Thank you Jesus for changing us and other people to do God’s
work. Thank you for the jobs you give
us.
Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help tidy
up. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.
Teacher preparation in
advance:
1. Pray that God will guide you to teach what He wants taught during this workshop and scripture passage. Pray for a loving and patient attitude toward the children.
2. Please practice reading the scripture passage out loud.
3. Make at least 20 copies of the script. Highlight one script for each different part. Prepare some scripts that are just generic crowd parts.
4. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.
5. Make signs—Temple at Jerusalem, Fortress, Road to Damascus/Damascus and Narrator Area to hang in various quarters of the room. Post these on floor or walls on Sunday morning before the class comes in the room. Take down each Sunday and repost the next week.
6. Using the character attachment, make nametags for each part. Put in a container.
7. Prepare 2 “chains” for soldiers to use (actual chain or perhaps rope with magic marker links drawn on).
8. Prepare a closing prayer.
Suggested Supply List
20 copies of the scripts
Poster board or other paper for signs
Something to use as 2 chains (perhaps 2 pieces of rope with magic marker links drawn on them)
Container for character slips
Flashlight
Nametags for puppets
References
Notes supplied by Lori Houck
for curriculum writers' Bible study
Paul Talks
About What Happened
(From Acts
21:27- Acts 22)
Stage
directions: Designate a quarter of the
room to be the temple, and have all the crowd and Paul start there. Another quarter of the room should be the
Fortress where the Roman commander and his soldiers start. The narrators can be in another quarter of
the room. The last quarter of the room
is the Road to Damascus and Damascus.
Saul, Men traveling with Saul, light person, Jesus will be on the Road
and Ananias will start in Damascus. One
puppet will play Paul, and different puppet will play Saul. Give the flashlight to the light
person. Give the “chains” to the
soldiers.
Younger children:
Workshop leader reads the script telling the kids what to say next. For
example, you say: “and then the Roman Commander says to the soldiers, Arrest him and bind him with two chains!”
The kids will repeat: “ Arrest him and bind him with two chains!” with their puppets mouthing the words.
Narrator 1: Saul later became known as Paul. Paul became one of Jesus’ followers, and the job that Jesus gave him was to travel around and tell other people about Jesus. He was arrested many times for talking about Jesus by people who thought, just as Saul used to, they were doing God’s work.
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Narrator 2: Today, we are going to re-enact a day that really happened in Jerusalem when Paul was doing the work that Jesus had given him. It takes place at the temple in Jerusalem after Paul had been talking about Jesus. Paul: Remember what the prophets and Moses said would happen, that Jesus the Messiah would suffer and be the first to be raised from death, so that he could bring light to his own people and to the Gentiles. Narrator 1: A large crowd started attacking him. They were shouting, Crowd
Person 1: Friends, help us! Crowd
Person 2: This man goes around
everywhere, saying bad things about our nation and about the Law of Moses and
about this temple. Crowd
Person 3: He has even brought shame
to this holy temple by bringing in Gentiles. All
Crowd: Help us. Grab him.
Drag him out of the temple. (gathering around Paul) Narrator
2: The people were about to kill Paul
when the Roman army commander heard that all Jerusalem was starting to riot.
He quickly took some soldiers and officers and ran to where the crowd had
gathered. Roman
Commander: Come on, soldiers! Follow
me to the Temple! Soldiers
1 and 2: Yes, sir! Roman Commander and
Soldiers move to the Temple area. Narrator
1:
As soon as the mob saw the commander and soldiers, they moved away
from Paul. Roman
Commander: (To the soldiers) Arrest him and bind him with two chains. Soldiers
1 and 2: Yes, sir! Let’s put on the chains. Roman
Commander: (To the crowd) Who is
this man? What did he do? Narrator
2: Part of the crowd shouted one
thing, and part of them shouted something else. Crowd
Person 1: He’s Paul. He’s bad. Crowd
Person 2: He’s Saul. He’s bad.
All
Crowd: Kill him! Kill him!
Narrator
1: But they were making so much noise
that the commander could not find out a thing. Roman
Commander: Soldiers, take him into
the fortress. Soldiers
1 and 2: Yes, sir! Soldiers take Paul toward
the Fortress. The crowd follows. All
Crowd: Kill him! Kill him! |
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Paul: (turning toward the crowd) My friends and leaders of our nation, listen as I explain what happened!
Narrator 2: When the crowd heard Paul speak to them they became even quiet.
Paul: I am a Jew, born and raised in the city of Tarsus. I was a student and was taught to follow every single law of our ancestors. In fact, I was just as eager to obey God as any of you are today. I made trouble for everyone who followed the Lord's Way, and I even had some of them killed. I had others arrested and put in jail. I didn't care if they were men or women. The high priest and all the council members can tell you that this is true. They even gave me letters to the Jewish leaders in Damascus, so that I could arrest people there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. One day about noon I was getting close to Damascus, when a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.
(Light person should shine
light at Saul not Paul and Men traveling with Saul. Saul and Men who are traveling with Saul should try to block out
bright light with their hands.)
Paul: I fell to the ground and heard a voice asking,
(Saul falls to the ground)
Jesus: Saul, Saul, why are you so cruel to me?
Saul: Who are you?
Jesus: I am Jesus from Nazareth! I am the one you are so cruel to.
Paul: The men who were traveling with me saw the
light, but did not hear the voice.
Man
1: What is that light?
Man
2: Who are you talking to, Paul?
Saul: Lord, what do you want me to do?
Jesus: Get up and go to Damascus. When you get there, you will be told what to do.
Saul: I can’t see. Please lead me by the hand to
Damascus.
Men who are traveling with
Saul need to take Saul by the hands and lead him forward.
Man
1: Can’t you see at all?
Man
2: Who were you talking to?
Paul: In Damascus there was a man named
Ananias, who faithfully obeyed the Law of Moses and was well liked by all the
Jewish people living there. He came to me at Damascus and said,
Ananias: Saul, my friend, you can now see again!
Saul: I can see!
Ananias: The God that our ancestors worshiped has chosen you to know what he wants done. He has chosen you to see the One Who Obeys God and to hear his voice. You must tell everyone what you have seen and heard. What are you waiting for? Get up! Be baptized, and wash away your sins by praying to the Lord.
Paul: After this I returned to Jerusalem and went
to the temple to pray and speak about Jesus.
All
Crowd: (shouting and waving their arms)
Stop him from talking about Jesus!
Take him away! Kill him! Kill him!
Roman
Commander: Take him to the fortress and
beat him with a whip. I want to know
why the people are screaming at him. (Soldiers grab Paul and start to take him
closer to the Fortress.)
THE END
Character Nametags
Attachment
|
Narrator
1 Narrator
Area Narrator
2 Narrator
Area Crowd
Person 1 Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Person 2 Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Person 3 Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Temple
at Jerusalem Crowd
Temple
at Jerusalem |
Roman
Commander Temple
at Jerusalem Soldier
1 Temple
at Jerusalem Soldier
2 Temple
at Jerusalem Paul Temple
at Jerusalem Saul Road
to Damascus Man
1 Road
to Damascus Man
2 Road
to Damascus Jesus Road
to Damascus Light
person Road
to Damascus Ananias Damascus |