‘The Greatest Friend’ Childrens Lesson on the Last Supper

BIG IDEA: Jesus is the Greatest Friend

AIM: The aim of the ‘Greatest Friend’ Childrens Lesson on the Last Supper is to help children discover how great a friend Jesus is and how they can be a great friend too.

1. ‘I am a Friend of God’ by WeAreWorship
2. ‘My Best Friend’ by Hillsong Kids

1. Three Legged Race.(regular/widescreen) Carefully tie two children’s legs together with fabric from each team. Those pairs must compete against one another to race across the room and see who can beat the rest. Play a number of times with different players if you have a large group.
2. Find a Friend. (regular/widescreen) Icebreaker game. The leader shouts out a category such as ‘food’ or ‘color’ and the children must find a friend that has the same favourite thing as themselves.
3. Fishing For Friends. (regular/widescreen) Print off the Fishing for Friends printable and laminate them. Fill a tub of water or paddling pool for each team. Have the children use their feet to fish out the laminated friends. Top Tip: only put the ‘friends’ inside the water a few seconds before the game begins to stop them from getting soggy or sinking to the bottom.

INTRO CHALLENGE: Can your kids make their own secret hand shake as a sign of an agreement between two friends?

Read John 13:1-4 // 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. For 5-7s read the sensory story and have kids do the actions with you. Explain that we take communion at church as a way to remember Jesus’ last supper and his words to the disciples. He asks us to do this to remember him.

 

1) JESUS IS THE GREATEST FRIEND Friend or Foe? (regular/widescreen) Use the images to ask the children, if these toys were their characters in real life, would they want to be their friend? What kind of friend would the character be? For older children, use the zoomed in pictures for them to try and guess the characters first.

Image #1: regular/widescreen. Zoomed: regular/widescreen

Image #2: regular/widescreen. Zoomed: regular/widescreen

Image #3: regular/widescreen. Zoomed: regular/widescreen

Image #4: regular/widescreen. Zoomed: regular/widescreen

Image #5: regular/widescreen. Zoomed: regular/widescreen

 

Say: There is no better friend than Jesus! He is the friend that always gives, always loves and always cares. Sometimes even our bestest friends can let us down, do wrong or think about themselves first. Yet Jesus never does.

Judas was the friend that turned against Jesus. If we’re honest, his actions were like those of an enemy or foe. Yet Jesus shows us what a true friend is. He showed the disciples that he cared about them.

Jesus is the greatest friend because He is always there for us, no matter what. He always puts His friends before His own needs and cares for them. No matter what we are going through or where we are, we can always turn to Jesus.We can always talk to Him. He will always listen and always be there for us. We can always repent (admit and turn away from the things we have done) and He will forgive us. That’s because He is the greatest friend.

Bible Name Match. (regular/widescreen) Place the names below on slips of paper and cut them up and put them in an envelope. Give each team an envelope with the names of the Bible characters. Give children a few minutes to try and work out which Bible names go together – which people were friends and which were not.

1. Jonathan and David
2. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
3. Ruth and Naomi
4. Elijah and Elisha
5. Job and his friends
6. Jesus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus
7. Paul, Priscilla, Aquila

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What makes a great friend?
2. How are you a good friend?
3. Who has been a good friend to you?
4. Why is Jesus the greatest friend we can have?
5. How was Jesus a friend to the disciples?
6. How is Jesus your friend?

Encourage the children to do one or more of the activities below as they think about the answer to this question:

What pacts/agreements have you made with your friends in the past?

1. Taste: Juice Tasting. Set our different types of juice. Can the children taste the difference between them?
2. Art: Juice Painting. Use crystalized juice to make a painting by simply adding water, Craft: Friend making. Create a paper chain of little people interlinked.
3. Mould: a play dough or clay person.
4. Sensory: Put a table cloth, bread, cups and little people out on a sensory table
5. Lego: Make the last supper scene out of lego.
6. Craft: Make a Last Supper Booklet with card and glue. Decorate it with pens. Communion: You could take communion together by passing around the bread and the juice and thanking Jesus for all He has done on the cross. As you do, think of the pact that He has made with people.
7. Serve: Include the children in an opportunity to serve grown ups a meal or snack or provide them with an opportunity to serve on the welcome team or another position on a Sunday morning. Remind the children that Jesus served in many different ways.
8. Fill in/Color the activity sheets for 5-7s and 8-11s.

1. Create a paper person and write the name of someone that God wants you to be a good friend towards.
2. Thank God for being a good friend by writing or drawing on a chalk board or wipe board all the good things he has done.
3. Are you a friend of Jesus? If you would like to become one today you can pray a simple prayer to ask him to be your greatest friend.