BIG IDEA: I CAN CHOOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS
AIM: The aim of the ‘Make a Choice’ Childrens Lesson is to help childen to see that they are able to choose to follow Jesus and to allow them the opportunity to do so.
VIDEO AND SONG IDEAS: available via our dedicated Pinterest Board.
GAME IDEAS:
- Balloon Minions. (regular/widescreen) Preparation: Print off some small pictures of minions. Fold them up and put them inside some of the balloons. Game: Balloons are released to all of the children and they must try and find the minions inside the balloons by popping each of the balloons. Application: Just as we chose to put those minions inside the balloons and you chose to burst them.
- The Great Minion Dash. (regular/widescreen) After gathering all their points throughout the day, the teams then choose five different people (Group Leaders to record who has played a game each day) to answer a review question about the story/skit/object lesson of the day.
Once the five members are chosen they will line up on one side of the room. Player one – uses the space hopper. Player two – uses scuba flippers and a mask. Player three – uses skipping rope. Player four – uses balloons between their legs as they walk. Player five – uses a hula hoop to hop through as they walk. This is repeated for each of the five players. At the end of the game the points are added up. This is when the POWER Points are added and the winning team chooses one of their group leaders to be gunged.
- Go Bananas! (regular/widescreen) See how many bananas each player can eat in a couple of minutes. The player that eats the most wins. Alternatively, if you’d rather not use up a lot of food… invite the children to throw their craziest dance moves and ‘go bananas!’ The rest of the group vote on who they think threw the craziest moves.
BIG VERSE: “I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me.” Proverbs 8:17 (NLT)
Preparation: Blow up each balloon. However, with a couple of the balloons add flour first. With another couple of the balloons partially blow them up and then add water by putting the balloon over a tap. Write the individual words from the memory verse using a sharpie on each of the balloons.
Messy Balloon Pop. Encourage kids or leaders to hold the balloons up over their heads as the children read out the balloon words together to remind themselves of the memory verse.
INTRO QUESTION: What did you choose to have for breakfast today?
SET the Scene:
Read Acts 9:1-19. To tell the bible story for this lesson you will need the drama found here.
REVIEW QUESTIONS:
- Where was the road leading that Saul was travelling on? (Damascus)
- What was Saul doing to Christians at this time?
- A light flashed around Saul, but what did he hear? (a voice)
- Whose voice was it? (Jesus’)
- What did Jesus say to Saul? (Why are you persecuting me?)
SPOT the Simple Meaning:
1) I CAN MAKE A CHOICE
You will need to print the object lesson pages and you will also need a vase that is round with some water.
If you don’t have a vase or are unable to do this object lesson yourself, free to use this very short video clip (4 seconds long!) to show what happens. Explain that the water is like the Holy Spirit who enables us to turn our lives around when we are headed in the wrong direction.
Say: Did you see in the skit how Paul had a choice to make? [wait for feedback]
Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and told him to stop hurting his people. He showed Paul that He was God. Yet Paul could have simply walked away blind. He didn’t have to follow Jesus. Paul chose to spend the rest of his life following Jesus and telling others about Him too.
You know, we have TONS of choices to make in life. We can make good choices [put the sign up that says ‘Good Choices’] like choosing to help others, to obey our parents or guardians and to love others.
And we can make bad choices [put the sign up that says ‘Bad Choices’] like being unkind and miserable, choosing not to listen to our teachers or those that care about us.
The minions had to choose whether to bully and pick on one another or not. Do you think bullying is a good choice to make? [wait for feedback]
No, it’s really not good… so in our skit they made the choice to stop hurting one another and to try to be kind when they met Jesus. You know, those kind of changes can be difficult on our own. When Paul met Jesus he was changed. He stopped being nasty and throwing Christians in jail. He started to realize how much Jesus loved him and that Jesus was God’s Son – God – and it totally changed him!
You know, just like Paul, when we learn about Jesus we can choose to follow Him. The Bible says that God is 3 in 1. God the Father, God the Son, Jesus and God the Holy Spirit. When we ask Jesus to come into our lives and to be our Master the Holy Spirit is the one that helps us to make good choices.
The Holy Spirit comes and fills us up to be more like Jesus. He can help us live right. [add water to the vase] When we ask for His help and direction He can help us make the right kind of choices.
So… when a choice comes along and it looks like we are going to make a bad choice [get the arrow sign to travel towards the bad choices] God will remind us of who we are and how He is with us. And instead of making the wrong choice, Jesus can help us to make the right choice [show the arrow behind the vase pointing to the good choices.]
SEARCH the Scriptures:
Balloon Bananas. (regular/widescreen) Write the names of the people that chose to follow Jesus onto long yellow balloons. Tape the balloons to places around your room. Choose 2 players and have them race to collect one balloon at a time and bring them to the front. Alternatively, if you have a larger group, give them to different children so that the players can come and collect them from.
Paul / Peter / Timothy / Mary / Martha / Lazarus / Zacchaeus / Disciples – (Thomas / James / John / )
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Who do you know that has chosen to follow Jesus?
- Do you know what they were like before they followed Jesus?
- Do you think it is good to follow Jesus? Why/why not?
- Have you chosen to follow Jesus? Why/why not?
- What does Paul’s story tell us about Jesus?
- What does it tell us about following Jesus?
SENSE How You Feel:
- For minion themed craft check out our Pinterest board.
- Fill in/Color the activity sheets for 5-7s and 8-11s.
- Write a poem or song about the time you met Jesus.
- Create a comic of the story of Saul meeting Jesus.
- Build: a long road using building blocks, Lego or another construction toy.
- Create a Paul mask using one of our B&W Sad and Happy faces or our Color Sad or Happy Faces. Simply cut them out and attach a popsicle stick on the back of them – you could also stick them back to back and cut out the eyes of the sad faces.
- Mould: a long road out of playdough or clay and re-enact the story with toy figures.
SEEK God:
- Have you met Jesus? Now is the perfect time!
- How can you help others to make the choice of following Jesus?
- Who can you pray will come to know Jesus?
Click here for the ‘Make a Choice’ widescreen image
Click here for the ‘Make a Choice’ PowerPoint image
Click here for the ‘I Will Choose to Follow Jesus’ social image
