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The Gospel

Unit 19 / Lesson 5

The Gospel

Slides for the Lesson

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • Donut on a String Challenge

      • Watch this video to see what this game is like:

      • Materials needed

        • One donut per child

          • Note: If you don't want to give each child a full donut, you may want to consider mini donuts from Safeway, or even Timbits, though Timbits would require some skill in order to attach them to strings.

        • One length of string per child (approximately 1 metre long should be sufficient)

        • One chair per two children

        • When donuts drop on the floor, you will want the floor covered with something relatively clean, so food will not be dropping directly on the floor. A roll of kraft paper, or garbage bags, or a disposable plastic tablecloth would work.

      • For a smoother lesson, tie each donut with a string before the lesson.

      • In the video, donuts are tied to a high-up bar. In this case, we will have someone hold on to the top end of the string. 

      • Please be prepared to play two rounds of the game so that children can take turns eating the donut and holding the string.

      • Also, you will want to be aware of allergies, and have an alternative for children with allergies.

    • Team Bowling

      • The concept of this game is simple: children will take turns throwing a ball at water bottles which are on the far side of the room from where they are throwing. Note, water bottles should be spread out, so that children can only knock over one at a time.

      • Materials needed:

        • At least four tennis balls (or other balls of similar weight, which can knock over a water bottle). Having more than four balls will allow you to increase the number of balls in the game, so that you can speed it up in case the children are taking too long.

        • Six water bottles to serve as bowling pins. Empty the water bottles beforehand to make them easier to knock over.

    • The Zoom Out Game

      • Review these two videos which will be played during the lesson:

      • Note: a large screen TV or projector is ideal for this game. In the absence of a large screen that everyone can see, a laptop might do for a small group, or maybe you can use several smartphones in the case that there are lots of helpers present and they can all start the video at the same time.

  • Main activity (Gospel Color Bracelet):

    • Please see this video for the concept of the craft:

    • This video will be shared during the lesson with the children.

    • You will want to make a sample bracelet so that you can show it to the children and demonstrate how to use it to share the gospel. In the lesson, after the video plays, you will have a chance to explain what all the colors mean. A full script is provided at the end of the lesson plan.

    • Materials needed

      • For each child:

        • A thick string

        • Two beads of each color: gold, black, red, white, and green.

      • You will also need scissors.

      • For children who make crafts quickly, you may want to provide extra materials so they can make a few bracelets to share with people they know.


    Intro

    SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    SLIDE 2

    • How was your week?

    SLIDE 3

  • Intro Game

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our lesson with a fun game.

      • It's the Donut on a String challenge!

      • Let's watch a video to see what it's like:

      • Teacher: play this YouTube video:

      • Today we don't have a bar to hold up the donuts, but that's alright, because we have chairs, and we have each other.

      • We will form pairs, and we will take turns. Half of us will try to eat the donut with no hands, and the other half will stand on a chair and hold the top of the string. Then we'll switch.

      • We'll have something to cover the ground in case the donut falls down.

      • Teacher's instructions:

        • Provide each pair of kids with one chair.

        • Provide materials to cover the ground in case the donut falls down.

        • Run two rounds of the game so that each child has a chance to hold the string during one round and eat the donut during the other round.

    SLIDE 4

    • Debrief

      • Who here loves donuts?

      • And, why do we love donuts?

      • Because they're sweet! And, when you put a donut into a game, it's fun!

      • And that's why a lot of people love games like this -- because we love things that are sweet, and we love things that are fun.

    SLIDE 5

  • Relevance

    • But, today we are going to talk about something that is even better than a donut, and even better than a great game.

    • Today we are going to talk about the greatest news in the whole world. It’s the happiest news in the world. It will help us on our bad days. And, sometimes we can really help other people if we share this news with them.

    • But, before we share the good news, we need to understand it first.

    SLIDE 6

  • Big Question

    • So, our big question today is:

      • What is the best news in the world?

    SLIDE 7

  • Big Idea

    • And, here’s our answer. The best news in the world is:

      • Jesus will fix our worst problems if we just trust him.

    SLIDE 8

  • Bible Reference

    • And, we'll see that in our Bible story today.

    • Let's watch this Bible story together:

    • Teacher: play this video (it's about 8 minutes long):

    • And, now let's read the most important part of that story, which is the question that the jailer asked Paul and Silas.

    • Acts 16:30-31 (ICB)

      • 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”

      • 31 They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all the people in your house.”


    Point 1

    SLIDE 9

  • The first thing we learn from these verses is:

    • 1. Jesus can fix our worst problems.

    SLIDE 10

  • Game: Team Bowling

    • Instructions

      • Teacher: set up six water bottles on one side of the room to serve as targets.

      • Let's start this point with a game! This one is called "Team Bowling." It's a really simple game. In a moment, we'll make two teams. Your team will have some balls to throw, and you'll try to knock over THREE water bottles on the other side of the room. The water bottles will be spread out so you can only hit one at a time. If you miss the water bottle, you can go to the back of the line for your team, and then the next person in line can run and get the ball and bring it back to the wall, and it will be their turn to throw. Just make sure you are touching the wall when you throw the ball. When your team knocks over three bowling pins, you win!

      • Teacher: form groups of about six people each. Give each group two tennis balls or other similar balls that have enough mass to knock over a water bottle.

    SLIDE 11

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it's about trying to hit something, but a lot of times we miss.

      • You can miss by a little, or you can miss by a lot. But, let’s think for a moment. How badly could you miss? Well, if you really had the wrong idea about the game, maybe you could just take the ball and never throw it, or maybe you'd throw it in the garbage, or maybe you'd throw it out the window, and you'd never be able to finish the game.

    SLIDE 12

    • And, life is like that too. God has given us things to do. And, people mess up all the time. Sometimes they mess up by a little bit, and sometimes they mess up by a lot. And, sometimes they don't even understand the point of what God wants us to do, so they don't even try at all. And that's why we need Jesus to save us, because we can be so lost.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 13

    • Let's read our Bible passage again.

    • Acts 16:30-31 (ICB)

      • 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”

    SLIDE 14

    • 31 They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all the people in your house.”

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 15

    • Like we watched in our cartoon, Paul and Silas were going to different places and telling people about Jesus. They were telling people that Jesus saves them from their sins.

    SLIDE 16

    • The word sin means "missing the target." We can think of the game we just played, because a lot of us missed the target in the game. But, in real life the target is whatever God told us to do. So, sin means that God gave us something to do, and we didn't do it.

    SLIDE 17

    • And, sin is a terrible thing. Sin is the biggest reason for why the world is broken. Think of all the terrible things people do to each other. And, think of all the bad things you've done.

    SLIDE 18

    • Jesus came to save us from all of those things!

    • Jesus came to forgive us, so that we could be friends with God, even if we have done terrible things. And, Jesus came to bring peace between people, so that everyone could love each other again.

    SLIDE 19

    • That's the good news. Jesus came to fix the worst problems in the world, and also the worst problems in our hearts. And, someday everything will be good again. There will be no more fighting, and there will be no more death. Instead, everyone will be friends, and we will live together with God.

    • That is how every Christian's story ends.

  • Application

    SLIDE 20

    • So, no matter how bad life gets, you can always remember the good news. The good news is that God loves you a lot, and he forgives you, and he will one day make everything good again. If we can remember these things, then our worst days won’t be so bad. And, if we love the good news, we'll want to tell our friends about Jesus so they can be saved too.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 21

    • Let's pause for a discussion question.

      • What is something that's wrong with the world?

    • Suggested comment:

      • Isn't it awesome that Jesus will make everything good again?


    Point 2

    SLIDE 22

  • Moving on, our second point is:

    • We just need to trust Jesus.

  • SLIDE 23

  • Game: The Zoom Out Game

    • Instructions

      • We'll start off this point with the Zoom out game! 

      • It's a picture guessing game on the TV. We'll be looking at a whole bunch of things that are zoomed in, and then it will slowly zoom out.

      • If you think you know what you’re looking at, let us know!

      • But there's only one rule: you only get one guess for every picture. So, if you guess wrong, you'll need to wait for someone else to guess the right answer.

      • Teacher: show these videos:

    SLIDE 24

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, we can't see the big picture right away. Sometimes we need to wait to see more before the picture makes sense. But, even before we see the big picture, we can trust that it will make sense if we just wait.

    SLIDE 25

    • And, sometimes following Jesus is like that too. Sometimes we don't know what he is doing, or why he tells us to do things his way. And, we just need to trust that it will make sense if we just wait long enough. That's the kind of trust that our Bible passage talks about.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 26

    • Now, let's go back to the passage and read again what the jailer said to Paul and Silas.

    • Acts 16:30-31 (ICB)

      • 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”

    SLIDE 27

    • 31 They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all the people in your house.”

  • Explanation and Application

    SLIDE 28

    • So, the jailer just needed to believe in the Lord Jesus. 

    SLIDE 29

    • In the Bible, to believe means to trust. We need to trust Jesus. We need to trust that he loves us. And, we need to trust that he's strong enough to save us. And, we need to trust that he’s smart enough to tell us what to do. And, if we really trust him, we will actually do what he says. And, we won't feel angry when he tells us what to do, because...(continue)

    SLIDE 30

    • He is Jesus -- the one who is so good and so wise that he came to save us.

    • If we trust him like that, our story will have a good ending. And, we will have something to share with all of our friends and family.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 31

    • Now let's pause for a discussion question:

      • What's the hardest thing about trusting Jesus?


    Conclusion

    SLIDE 32

  • Let's wrap up this lesson by going over the big ideas again.

  • Our big question today was:

    • What is the best news in the world?

  • And, the answer was:

    • Jesus will fix our worst problems if we just trust him.

    • When we know that he will fix our problems, we will feel safer and happier even on our bad days.

    SLIDE 33

    • And, when we know that we can trust him, we will be able to follow him and do great things for him, and we can tell other people about him.


    Main Activity: Gospel Color Bracelet

    SLIDE 34

  • And now it's time for our main activity.

  • Today we are making bracelets that help us to tell the good news!

  • Let's watch a video to see how it works.

  • Teacher: play this video:

  • Teacher: show the children your sample bracelet and demonstrate how it works:

    SLIDE 35-37

    • So, there are five colors in this bracelet and they all help us to remember the message.

    • The GOLD color reminds us of heaven. Heaven is a wonderful place. In heaven, there is no sickness, no pain and no hunger. No one ever dies. Everyone is perfectly happy. And, the most wonderful thing about heaven is that it is God’s home. God loves us very much and wants us to be with him. But there is something that stops us from being with God.

    • The DARK color reminds us of sin. Sin means we didn't do what was right. Because of sin, our world is broken, and we are broken inside, and we can't be friends with God. But God made a way for us to be friends with him.

    • The RED color reminds us that Jesus came to earth and died for us. If he didn't die for us, we would have died for our sins, and we would be away from God forever. But, Jesus died for us, so we don't have to.

    • The WHITE color reminds us Jesus took away all of our sins. Now we are clean, and we can be friends with God.

    • The GREEN color reminds us that God wants us to grow. God wants us to become like Jesus in the way we think and in the things we do. So, he wants us to keep learning about him, and he wants us to keep working with him. And, if we do, we will become very strong, and he will do great things with us.

  • Now that you know what the colors mean, let's make some bracelets!

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