FOLLOWERS OF JESUS MEET TOGETHER

Transcription

1 BOOK 3, PART 2, LESSON 1 FOLLOWERS OF JESUS MEET TOGETHER THE BIBLE: Acts 1:8; Acts 1:14a THEME: God gave Jesus followers the power to carry on the work Jesus had begun. They gathered together to hear the good news of the story of Jesus. They established churches wherever they went. Those people were called Christians and still today there are Christians who have fellowship, worship God and witness to the Good News. PREPARING FOR THE LESSON MAIN IDEA: The followers of Jesus met together to pray, to remember Jesus and to prepare to tell others about Jesus. We can be followers of Jesus today. MEMORY VERSE: " and you will be my witnesses " Acts 1:8b NRSV KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS TO BE LEARNED: a. Followers those who practice what others tell them to do. b. Power being able to do, act or to accomplish something. c. Holy Spirit the Spirit of God, the presence of God in our lives. d. Jerusalem the holy city of Israel. e. Judea & Samaria countries in the time of Jesus. BIBLE BACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS: The book of Acts was written by Luke, the same author of the book that has his name as its title. It is a continuation of the story told in the book of Luke. You will see that the book is written to a person by the name of Theophilus. Luke was telling his friend about the story of Jesus and what happened after the resurrection. The Book of Acts is the story of the apostles, followers of Jesus, and gives us the basis for knowing about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ was spread. This unit will use several passages that help describe the activities of the early Christian leaders. The passages for today are lifted from the very first chapter of the book. The first one helps to identify that God gave the disciples the power to be witnesses about Jesus to the places where they lived and to the rest of the world. The second one, verse 8, refers to the disciples. They are named in verse 7 just prior to this. These words show us that the disciples centered their lives in prayer. This is very important for followers to know. UNDERSTANDING YOUR STUDENTS: It will be easy for the children to think about the disciples meeting in a group because they are part of your class and that is a group. It should also be easy for them to understand that the disciples would pray when they were together, and that they

2 would prepare to tell others about Jesus. You have been meeting with many of these children and you know them well. As you begin this study, it will be important for you to know that the students can be people of prayer. They can also understand how the early people called Christians were followers of Christ. You will need to help them make the connection between the early Christians and the Christians today. The younger children will not have a good understanding of history and will not be able to transfer stories from a time past to the present. They have to begin where they are now in their experience and then have the past related to that. This lesson plan will help you do that. DEVELOPING YOUR FAITH: It is always important for followers of Jesus, or Christians, to read the Scriptures and think about what they are telling us about the story of our faith. It is also important to think about what the story might say to us today. As you prepare to teach the lesson this week, read the first chapter of the book of Acts. Below is a suggested way to order this reading: 1. Read through the first chapter as you would read a storybook. 2. Read again the first five verses of the book. Take time to reflect using these questions: To whom is the book written? What does it tell us about what has happened in Jesus' life? What does Jesus tell the disciples? What do you think it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? 3. Read verses 6 through 14. These verses describe the ascension (the rising of Jesus to be with His Father in heaven.) From your reading, how would you describe this information to another person? Who do you think the two men in white robes were? Verse 11 tells us that Jesus is going to come again to earth at a time we do not know. Have you heard anyone speak about the second coming of Jesus? This is one of the verses they use to support that understanding. What did the disciples do when they gathered? 4. Begin with verse 15 and read the rest of the chapter. Peter is telling the story of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus for a bit of money. Who replaces Judas as a disciple? How did the disciples determine who the person would be? This practice for making decisions was a part of their culture. How do we make such decisions today? 5. As you reflect on the readings from this chapter, what understandings have become clearer to you? Does the story this far have any application for you in your life and understandings about being a follower of Jesus? 1. INTRODUCTION TEACHING THE LESSON As the children arrive, greet them by saying, "Good morning, followers of Jesus!" Then give them instructions to take their places in the room. Hold the Bible in your hands and turn to the book of Acts. Turn the Bible around so that the children can see the beginning of the book of Acts. Tell them this is another book they will be learning about in the next few weeks. This particular book has the

3 story of the early church in it. Let them know that we will be learning about the followers of Jesus, who later became the Christian church. Say again the phrase, "Good morning, followers of Jesus!" and ask the children to repeat it after you. Do that one more time. Now have the children greet each other by using the same phrase. 2. EXPLORE THE BIBLE MESSAGE Now read the selected scripture verses while still holding the Bible in your hands. Begin with reading Acts 1:8. ASK the children what it means to be a follower. SAY: The scripture passage is telling us that a special presence of God, called the Holy Spirit, will be present with followers of Jesus. When the Holy Spirit came into the life of the followers of Jesus, it was called 'Pentecost'. Today, when we celebrate Pentecost, we remember that the Holy Spirit came upon the people and the Christian church began. We will study that next week. SAY: This passage is also telling us that all people who follow the ways of Jesus are witnesses or people who tell others about Jesus to people who are different than they are and live in all parts of the earth. Teach the children the memory verse: " and you will be my witnesses ". Have them repeat that phrase until you think that they know it. Read now the 14 th verse of the chapter. SAY: This is what the scripture tells us about the followers of Jesus who were called his disciples. They devoted themselves to prayer. SAY: We know that those people who lived at the same time as Jesus, who followed his teachings, were called 'disciples' they were the followers and they led other people to follow. Jesus told them to go about telling everyone about this life. The disciples and those that learned about Jesus and became the early church were always praying because they needed the guidance and direction of God in their lives 3. RESPOND TO THE BIBLE MESSAGE Activity 1: Play "Follow the Leader" Tell the children that you are going to play a game with them. You may want to go outside for this game if it is appropriate. If not, do only those activities that you can do within your classroom. It is called "Follow the Leader". You are going to be the leader and they are to follow your directions and do what you are doing. Have them stand up and get a little space between them. Now begin to do things like clapping your hands, turning your body around, waving your arms up and down, snapping your fingers, turning your head from side to side or up and down, and marching in place. Make up things you want to do that the children can do in your setting. You do the action and then they follow what you are doing. Do this for a little while and then designate a child in the room to be the leader and let them make some movements for the group to follow.

4 When you are ready, stop the game by telling the children it is time to be very quiet. You may want them to sit down or go back inside if you are outside for the game. Now tell the children that you are going to give a different kind of direction and they are still to follow what you say. Give them instructions to gently tap someone next to them on the back; tell them to shake hands with another person; tell them to put their arm around someone s shoulders; tell them to place their hands in their laps. Now ask them what they were doing? (They were following you. They were doing what you told them to do.) Now ask one child to get up and come to where you are standing. Ask another child to join you. Ask a third child to stand beside you. Now tell the first child to go stand in one corner or spot in the room, tell the second child to go to a different place in the room, and then tell the third child to go to yet another different place in the room. Ask the group what these children were doing. (They were following your directions what you told them to do.) Now let them go back to where they were sitting. SAY: People who were in the early church learned to follow their leaders. The disciples of Jesus went about telling others what they needed to do very much like what we have just done. They were telling others about the man, Jesus, and what a kind, forgiving man that he was when they knew him. They told others that Jesus wanted us to live as he had lived, caring for all of God s creation, even people who did not believe in him or people who were different than they were. These people followed their leaders, just as we have done today. Activity 2: "Being Witnesses" (Artist: Prepare four signs. One will read "Jerusalem", another to say "Samaria". Another to read "Judea" and the fourth one to read "ends of the earth".) The following activity can be done inside if you have room to move in your classroom. You may prefer to do this activity outside. Place the four signs for this lesson at different places in the room or in different places outside not close to each other. Read the signs for the children and help them to pronounce the names. Select three children to go and stand near or under each sign. They will be the people who lived in those towns. Tell the remainder of the children that they are now the disciples, or followers of Jesus, who lived when Jesus lived. You will be reading from the Bible and speaking to them as if you were Jesus. When you tell them that they are to be witnesses in each of these places, they are to go to where that place (where the sign is in the room). When they get there, they are to tell someone about Jesus. They can say that Jesus was a kind man that wanted them to live a good life or whatever they want to say about him. Now read the passage to them, allowing time for them to move to the "places". Give them time to talk with the people "who live in the town" briefly about Jesus. Then read on to give them the next place, and so on until they have gone to the "ends of the earth".

5 When you have finished your travels to tell others about Jesus, have the children sit back in their places. SAY: What we have just done is follow Jesus' orders to go into all of the places that he knew about to help other people become followers of Jesus. This is what we are to do as people who love Jesus and believe in what he taught us. ASK: Do you remember our memory verse? Help the children repeat it. SAY: We are to be witnesses; we are to tell others about Jesus. We do not have to pretend to be living in Jesus' time in order to tell others about Jesus. ASK: Who are some people you know that you would like to tell about Jesus? Give time for everyone to answer, if they wish. 4. CLOSE IN PRAYER SAY: We have so much to be thankful for. Because Jesus was a man that people wanted to be like, they were willing to follow what he taught them. Once Jesus was no longer with them, they still wanted to be like him because they understood that he showed them what God is like. Because Jesus lived and people knew him, the church began to develop. It became a 'church' because the disciples and their followers told others about Jesus too. Have the children repeat each line of this prayer after you, the teacher: Dear God, Thank you for Jesus who showed us what you are like. Thank you for those people who loved him and told others about him. Help me to know and love Jesus also. Help me to tell others about Jesus and about God. We know that you are with us through the Holy Spirit. Help us always to feel that you are near. Forgive us when we forget and do things that are wrong. Help us to be followers of Jesus. AMEN.