Unit 10 / Lesson 5
Other Christians And Churches
Slides for the Lesson
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Teacher's Prep
Games
Electricity
Watch this instructional video before the lesson (about 3 minutes long)
You will need an object to grab, like a stuffed animal or a paper cup. It is probably best if this object is on a chair so people don't bump heads while reaching down.
Stacking Cups
66 styrofoam cups per group of four
Each team needs exactly 66 styrofoam cups, as that allows for a triangle with 11 cups on the bottom, and the triangle will be 11 cups high. You will want to portion out 66 cups per team before the lesson to make distribution easier
Blanket Name Game
Watch this video to get familiar with the game
Materials needed: one big blanket or cloth sheet that people cannot see through.
Floating Ball Craft (Main Activity)
Watch this video for the concept:
Floating Balls Craft! - Bitz & Bob
Note: this craft will probably work best with ping pong balls instead of an aluminum foil ball. The craft will make a ping pong ball levitate.
Materials (per child):
Pencil
Cardstock (very heavy paper)
A bowl to trace a circle
Scissors to cut the circle
Bendy straw
Ping pong ball (aluminum foil works alright, but a ping pong ball is better)
Tape
Have the crate made before class to demonstrate before they make their own.
SLIDE 1
Intro
Gathering
How was your week?
SLIDE 2
Intro Game: Electricity
Instructions
Let's start this point with a game. It's called "Electricity."
Let's see how it works
Teacher: play the first 1:30 of this video:
Electricity, by Youth Ministry Great Games
SLIDE 3
Teacher: While the video is playing, set up a chair at one end of the room with an easily grabbed object (e.g. paper cup, plastic water bottle, or stuffed animal)
SLIDE 4
The first thing you need to do is find a partner! You and your partner will go on opposite teams.
Your teams will line up, so that I can squeeze your hand on one end, and you will be able to grab the object at the other end.
If your team is the first to grab the object, your team wins the round. BUT, if I don't squeeze, and you still grab the object, the OTHER team wins the round. So, you need to be careful to only pass the squeeze when your hand has been squeezed.
Teacher: play several rounds. After each round, the person in front can rotate to the back of the line. That way, everyone will have a chance to be at the front and back of the line. If one team is consistently winning, you may want to add people to the fast team, because more people on a team makes for a slower signal. Or, you may want to shuffle the teams.
Debrief
We played this game because it's about working together! Everyone on your team needed to work together, and you couldn't win without all the people on your team.
Relevance
Real life is a bit like that. Every Christian is on the same team. Our team is bigger than just our church. Actually, there are churches all over the place that believe the same things as us.
SLIDE 5
One of the greatest things we can do is work together with all of those Christians, so we can do God's work together.
Locating this lesson in the “Apostles' Creed” series
These days, we're going through something called the Apostles' Creed, which is a special list of really important things that almost every Christian believes. It's a list that helps us to understand who is on our team.
SLIDE 6
Let's read the parts that we've covered so far:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
SLIDE 7
This lesson is about the next few lines in the Apostle's Creed. It says:
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
There are a couple of big words here, so I need to explain:
SLIDE 8
The word "catholic" here just means it's for everyone -- all Christians everywhere, not just the people we know.
SLIDE 9
The word "communion" means deep friendship.
SLIDE 10
Our lesson today is about the way the Holy Spirit helps Christians everywhere to be great friends and work together.
Big Idea
Our big idea today is:
The Holy Spirit gives us power and friendship.
Bible Reference
That’s what we’ll see in our Bible story. It’s about a group of Christians who really knew the Holy Spirit and they did things the right way. Let’s read it:
SLIDE 11
Acts 4:31-35 (CEV)
31 After they had prayed, the meeting place shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and bravely spoke God's message.
32 The group of followers all felt the same way about everything. None of them claimed that their possessions were their own, and they shared everything they had with each other. 33 In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers, 34 and no one went in need of anything. Everyone who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money 35 to the apostles. Then they would give the money to anyone in need
Point 1
Our first point is, the Holy Spirit gives us power.
SLIDE 12
Game: Stacking Cups
Instructions
We'll start this point with a game! It's the cup pyramid challenge! This one is super hard. In a moment, we will need to split into teams. Each team will have four people, and you will see how high of a pyramid you can build together.
The pyramid will be a big triangle, with eleven cups on the bottom, and if you finish it, it will be eleven cups high.
You'll have eight minutes to do your best as a team to complete the challenge
Teacher: split the class into groups of four people each. Each group should have 66 cups. Keep time so that each group has exactly eight minutes.
Debrief
We played this game because it's about working with gravity. Gravity is the invisible force that pulls everything down to the ground. In this game, gravity might feel like it's the enemy, because it's always pulling all your cups down and making your towers fall over. However, if you didn't have gravity, you could never build a pyramid because all the cups would just float away, and you would float away yourself! Gravity is not your enemy, you just need to work with gravity the right way.
That's what it's like to be around the Holy Spirit. We need to work with Him.
By the way, you might be wondering, who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God in the same way that Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is not Jesus, but He’s like Jesus, and He’s invisible.
It’s hard to understand how it all works, but that’s what the Bible teaches, so that’s why we believe it.
SLIDE 13
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit lives with every Christian, and we are close friends with the Holy Spirit, He gives us power.
Bible Reference
SLIDE 14
Let’s go back to our Bible story and see what the Holy Spirit did for a group of Christians.
Verse 31 says:
After they had prayed, the meeting place shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and bravely spoke God's message.
And verse 33 says:
In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers, and no one went in need of anything...
Explanation
These verses are about some of the first people to believe in Jesus. When they heard about Jesus, they were so excited that they told everyone else about Him. These Christians got into trouble because some people didn’t like their message.
SLIDE 15
The Christians prayed, and when they prayed, it was like their house was shaking because the Holy Spirit was letting them know He was with them.
Then the Bible says they were filled with the Holy Spirit. That's a way of saying these people were really good friends with the Holy Spirit, so that they did what He wanted, and He helped them.
SLIDE 16
The Holy Spirit gave them power to tell people about Jesus, and the Holy Spirit made it so that everyone at their church had everything that they needed.
Application
The Bible teaches us that when we are close friends with God, we will see His power.
He answers our prayers,
He gives us everything we really need,
He changes peoples' hearts so that they can know Jesus,
He works in everything for our good
You might be wondering how we can be close friends with God?
The answer is, we need to love Him. If we love him, we will obey him. That's how Jesus explained it to His disciples:
John 14:23 (CEV)
Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them.
SLIDE 17
Let's love God. Let's always remember that He saved us, He's the greatest thing for us, and how He tells us to do things, because He knows what is best for us. With these things in mind, let's do everything He wants -- everything He tells us in the Bible to do. Then, we will be close friends with God, and He will give us all the power we need to do His work.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 18
Let's pause for a discussion question:
Do you have any ideas for how to be closer friends with God?
Point 2
Our second point is, the Holy Spirit gives us friendship.
SLIDE 19
Game: Blanket Name Game
Instructions
We'll start this point with a game! It's called the Blanket Name Game. Let's watch this video to see how it works:
Teacher: play this video
Before we actually play though, we'll need to tell everyone our names.
Teacher: have the children introduce themselves, then split them up into two teams. Have two volunteers hold up a sheet that people can't see through. Play some practice rounds, and then start elimination rounds, where the person who is slower is eliminated, and the team that wins is the last one standing.
Debrief
We played this game because it encourages us to get to know each other's names. It also encourages us to work together and try our best for each other. When we know each other's names, and we work together and try our best for each other, we have the beginnings of a great friendship.
Bible Reference
In our Bible passage, we saw people who were amazing friends because God was working in their hearts.
SLIDE 20
Acts 4:32-35 (CEV):
32 The group of followers all felt the same way about everything. None of them claimed that their possessions were their own, and they shared everything they had with each other. 33 In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers, 34 and no one went in need of anything. Everyone who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money 35 to the apostles. Then they would give the money to anyone in need.
Explanation
It must have been fun being around this group of Christians.
SLIDE 21
They shared their feelings, and they shared everything they had. Some of them owned houses or pieces of land, and they would sell those things for a lot of money, using it to help people in need and to help spread the message about Jesus.
The Bible tells us we need to have that kind of friendship too.
Application
If you want to have friends like that, one of the best things you can do is to be a good friend yourself.
SLIDE 22
We need to love each other deeply, watch out for each other and take care of each other. We need to be happy when the other person is happy, and sad when the other person is sad--it's important to feel what the other person is feeling.
Then someday you'll run across another Christian who loves people just like you do, and you'll get along super well, and you'll be great friends.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 23
Let's pause for a discussion question
How does knowing Jesus help a person be better friends?
Conclusion
Let's wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again.
SLIDE 24
Our big question for this lesson was: what does the Holy Spirit do for a church?
Our big idea today is: the Holy Spirit gives us power and friendship. We can enjoy these gifts when we spend time with other Christians.
SLIDE 25
Main Activity: Floating Ball Craft
Now it's time for our main activity! We are going to make a craft that makes a ping pong ball float in the air for a short time. Let's see how it works.
Teacher: demonstrate your model craft.
Now let's see how to make a craft like this.
Teacher: Show the class this instructional YouTube video.
Floating Balls Craft! - Bitz & Bob
In the video they used aluminum foil to make a ball, but we are going to use a ping pong ball instead.
This craft helps us understand the lesson. The Holy Spirit is like the wind which lets us do things that look impossible. In the craft, all the parts are built to work with the wind, just like christians get together to work with the Holy Spirit.
Let's build this craft step by step together.
Teacher: distribute materials. Show the instructional video again, pausing between each step so it’s easy to follow along.
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