‘Light of the World’ Children’s Lesson on John 9

Suggested Schedule: (90 mins)

• Welcome (5 mins)
• Game (5mins)
• Review Big Verse (5 mins)
• Set the Scene: Bible story/skit and review questions (10-15 mins)
• Object Lesson 1 talk (5mins)
• Game (5 mins)
• Object Lesson 2 talk (5 mins)
• Game (5 mins)
• Object Lesson 3 game and talk (10 mins)
• Game (5 mins)
• Sense How You Feel activity (10 – 25 mins)
• Seek God Prayer (5 mins)

Supplies:

• Lots of tea lights (small candles) and something to light them,
• Candles (tea lights)
• water pistols
• tables
• Images of different lights
• Bible and/or skit
• Blindfold, chairs
• Jam Jars
• glass pens
• glue
• tissue paper, ribbon
• tags
• Sheets
• pillows
• Glow Sticks
• Cross
• Sign “I am the Light of the World”

SONG and BIBLE STORY VIDEO IDEAS available via our dedicated Pinterest Board.

 

GAME IDEAS:

CANDLE BLOW OUT –mins

Description: Team Game

Supplies: Lots of tea lights (small candles) and something to light them, tables.

Details: (regular) Line up the teams in front of their table, with 10 candles lit on them. The children take it in turns to blow the candles out when the leader shouts ‘Next.’ The first team to have blown all 10 candles out are the winning team.

 

CANDLE SQUIRT – 5 MINS

Description: One-on-one game

Supplies: Candles (tea lights) and water pistols and tables.

Details: (regular) Two children battle it out with a water pistol each to see who can shoot out the most candles on their table before the time is up.

 

WHERE AM I?– 5 mins

Description: Power point Game

Supplies: Powerpoint game and a way to show it

Details: (Keynote/PowerPoint) Children have to identify what the landmark is as soon as they can.

 

BIG VERSE: Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

(regular/widescreen/social media image) Download the Bible cards here.

 

SET THE SCENE: 10-15 MINS

Description: Storytime

Supplies: Bible and/or skit (included)

Details: Read or act out John 9. Then ask a few of the review questions below:

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Who had sinned, to make the man be born blind? (v3)

2. While he was in the world, what was Jesus? (v5)

3. After washing his eyes as Jesus told him, what happened to the man? (v7)

4. Did all his neighbours believe he was healed? (v9)

5. Who did they go to, to investigate? (v13)

6. Why were the Pharisees angry? (v16)

7. How did they act? (v34)

8. After speaking to Jesus, did the man believe who he was? (v38)

 

SPOT THE SIMPLE MEANING:

1) THERE IS LOTS OF DARKNESS IN THE WORLD –5 MINS

Description: Object Lesson 1

Supplies: Blindfold, chairs.

Details: Blindfold a child and get them to walk through an obstacle course of chairs. Ask them how it felt to be blindfolded.

When we are in the dark it can be quite scary because we don’t know who is there or what is going on around us. (Can turn the light off to show them) When the light is turned on we can see what is actually going on around us! (Flick light on) It must have been a bit scary sometimes for the blind man not to be able to see the world around him too. He would have had to get used to all the different noises and learn to feel around him as he walked so that he wouldn’t fall or trip.

The world can seem like a dark and scary place for us too sometimes. Lots of people live for themselves and don’t care who they hurt. Their hearts become very dark with the bad things that they do. Without Jesus life can seem very dark and scary, we may feel lonely and sad or even angry. Our hearts can become dark with the bad things we do too.

Jesus knows that the world and our hearts can be a dark place and that’s why He said that He was the light of the world! So we can choose to keep living in the dark, maybe doing bad things ourselves or being being sad or scared at the world around us, or we can turn to the Light of the World and start to get to know Jesus for ourselves!

 

2) JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD – 5 MINS

Description: Object Lesson 2

Supplies: You will need pictures of the “lights” (PDF) below.

Details:

But what does a light do? How does a light help us? Have you got any ideas? Yes that’s right, it helps us to see! Just like Jesus helped the blind man to see in our Bible story! Let’s have a look at some of my examples of light to see more ways that light can help. (For each picture choose a volunteer to hold them).

Sun:  Is the source of life for all things living on Earth. Just like without the sun everything would die, Jesus is what life is all about! Without Him, the Bible says we can’t please God. So unless we know Jesus and have asked Him to come into our hearts and lives, we won’t be able to live with Him forever.

Campfire/fireplace: Provides warmth and comfort. Just like a campfire helps us to feel warm, Jesus can help us and bring us comfort when we are feeling sad or alone. We just need to talk to Him!

Lighthouse: Protects us from dangers. Like a lighthouse protects us from dangers, Jesus can help protect us from doing the wrong thing and hurting others. He shows us how to live a life of love for others.

Torch: Guides us onto a safe path. If we follow Jesus then just like a flashlight leads the way, Jesus will help us make good decisions in life. He even gives us His words in the Bible to help us when we are not sure what to do or how we should live.

Nightlight: Stops us from feeling afraid. When we are feeling scared or afraid we can ask Jesus for help. He is bigger than any problem we have!

So we can see that light is a GOOD thing that helps us when we can’t see. And Jesus said that He was the light of the whole world! That means that he can be light to anyone everywhere around the world, including you and me!

 

3) WE CAN SHINE FOR JESUS – 5 MINS

Description: Object Lesson 3

Supplies: You will need a candle and a match.

Details:

Say: Jesus said that we don’t have to be part of the darkness, but we can be light, just like Him. We can be different to the world around us and stand out from the crowd. When we ask Jesus as the light of the world to come into our lives and our heart he can help us stop living for ourselves and to stop doing bad things. He can forgive us and help us to do good instead. If we have asked Jesus to come into our lives and help us to live like Him then He says we are the light of the world too and we can shine for Him!

How do we shine for Jesus? We can shine by doing good things instead of bad. We can love others instead of hurting them. We can tell others about Him. What good things can you think to do? [Use the pictures from object lesson 2 to help].

(Discuss)

[Turn all the lights out, and light a candle.] This candle may look very small, but when all the lights are turned off it shines brightly for us to see. We may feel like the world is a huge scary place, but Jesus can help us to shine brightly for Him and for the entire world to see!

 

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES:

SCRIPTURE IN THE DARK –10 MINS

Description:

Supplies: John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” printed onto sheets of paper, torches and a box.

Details: (regular)

Print the scripture out onto separate pieces of paper and then put them in a box (or if your room can be made dark then spread the words around the room). You will need to repeat this depending on the number of teams you have.

Children get into teams and form a relay. The child going first is given a torch and needs to run to the box and using the torch find the first word which makes up the scripture. They run back and hand the torch to the next person who uses it to find the next letter.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How do we walk in darkness?
2. How is Jesus a light for us?
3. How does following Jesus help us to have light?
4. I wonder what it would be like if Jesus wasn’t a light for us? What difference would that make?

 

SENSE HOW YOU FEEL – 10 MINS EACH OR IN TANDEM/ROTATION

Encourage the children to think about the questions above as they do one of the activities:

 

Description: Craft.

Supplies: Jam Jars, glass pens, glue, tissue paper, ribbon, tags

Details: Decorate the jam jars with either tissue paper and glue or glass pens. Place a tea light in the bottom of the jar. Write on the tag “Jesus is the light of the world”.

 

Description: Moulding activity.

Supplies: Playdough or clay.

Details: Mould different objects that give us light.

 

Description: Building activity.

Supplies: Lego or construction toys.

Details: Build a lighthouse.

 

Description: Sensory activity.

Supplies: sheets, pillows

Details: Make a den and have lots of bibles and torches in the den. Encourage the children to read their bibles using the torches.

 

Description: Activity Booklets.

Supplies: 5-7s and 8-11s booklets (included in download), markers.

Details: Fill in or color the 5-7s (PDF) and 8-11s (PDF) booklets.

 

SEEK GOD: 5 MINS

Description: Prayer activity

Supplies: Glow Sticks, Cross, Sign “I am the Light of the World”.

Details:

Give each child a glow stick and ask the children to form a small circle. One child stands in the middle while the other children pray that God will help them to shine brightly

At the end gather the children together and say this prayer:

Thank you God that you are the light of the world – that you guide us and lead the way. Help us to shine brightly for you. AMEN

After the prayer add the sign “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD” to the cross or space at the front.

If you feel led you could use this opportunity to pray for any children who are afraid of the dark. Ask them to come forward and either pray for them individually or as a group.

Finish by singing My Lighthouse.