To Live is Christ (Paul): Week Two

"Christ came into the world to save sinners--of which I am the worst!" - 1 Timothy 1:15

I left church Wednesday night feeling really encouraged about the kids at Holy Cross and what they're learning, and moreso, how much fun they're having learning it. The kids are really passionate about Jesus and what He's doing and what He's done, and I can see in their faces and their actions how much they've changed and how their relationships with God are going. This week, one child told me that she wanted to start praying every day before she went to bed and when she woke up (we talked last week about how Saul did that growing up--I guess it had been on her mind!), and a few of them came into the program spouting off the bible verse from the week before (as well as the stuff they're memorizing Sunday mornings!) All of the kids remembered the bible verse from the week before--even our youngest! One of the kids brought a friend, and one of the parents told me there had been waterworks last week because a child didn't finish her homework (and the Mom wouldn't let her come to church without her homework done). It's great to see God moving in these kids lives--I can see a marked difference in the activities we do. Where a Wednesday night program used to be a ten minute lesson and thirty minutes of games and activities, I've found that recently, we haven't been doing any games that weren't biblical related, and the kids are having even more fun! We're teaching for a whole hour and a half to two hours, and the kids are LOVING it. And I am too. It's such a blessing to see how much they're learning each week at church, and what they're inspiring in their families at home.

So, keeping with our lesson on Saul, this week was Week 2, which was a more difficult lesson. The Stoning of Stephen. I was somewhat anxious about how to get this lesson across in a way that the kids could understand both the seriousness of it all, and at the same time, not go home scared out of their minds. I think the lesson came across well. The kids were sobered about life afterwards, but not discouraged, which was really good.

We opened with a review of last week's lesson (I really need to be more diligent about opening in prayer!). I opened up the timeline and the kids went crazy about what we learned about last week. I think they did my entire lesson in the three minutes I gave them to review.

Lesson: We cracked open the bibles and read Acts 6:8-15. We talked about what the issue was, and what the Jewish council was doing (lying to kill Stephen because they were scared) and about why that was such a big deal. The kids all agreed that it was not good what they were doing (one child even said, "I don't know why they were so scared! They should have just put it in God's hands!"). We then read Acts 7:54-60, and we talked about what it meant to be stoned, and how much it would have hurt, and how it was a really awful way to die, but Stephen had so much faith in God he did it anyway. Then we stopped and read Acts 8:1, and talked about what it meant that Saul urged the Jews on.

Activity #1: Stoning of "Stephen". We pulled out the cotton balls, some duct tape, and a trash bag. We cut a hole in the top of the trash can for "Stephen" to stick her little head out, then taped the trash bag (sticky side out). The kids circled around her and took turns throwing "stones" (cotton balls) at her, seeing if they would stick. Hindsight is 20/20 and I should have picked an older child to put in the center because "Stephen" got scared and started crying :-/ We calmed her down though, and I used it as a teaching lesson. We talked about how the kids felt when they were throwing the cotton balls at "Stephen", and how they felt when "Stephen" started crying. And we talked to "Stephen" and asked her if she'd done anything wrong, and what it was like having the "stones" thrown at her when she'd done nothing wrong. Then we talked about how it was different with Saul because in our game, we didn't want to hurt "Stephen", but these people did. We talked about how Saul urged them on and how he wanted to hurt Stephen, and how awful that made him seem. The kids were really sobered by this exercise.

Activity #2: We added the next week to our timeline. The kids did a great job figuring out the most important parts of the story. I had a great helper who made sure that we added Saul into the mix instead of focusing on Stephen. The kids also drew a picture of Saul throwing stones at Stephen. We taped them to the timeline and talked about them. The kids were all really excited to see what goes next on the chart!

Activity #3: We had stones left over from VBS decoration, so we pulled them out for an activity. All of the kids sat quietly and we thought of people we know who get persecuted, just like Stephen did. The kids all thought of somebody they know at their schools, the gym, the church, wherever they go who gets picked on or maybe doesn't have a lot of friends. They wrote the name of the person on the stone in sharpie, and then we held the stones in our hands and prayed for the person. It was really cool hearing all of the kids praying for the kids at their schools. They took the rocks home with instructions to put them somewhere they would see them, and when they did see them, to pray for the person on the rock. The kids were really excited about this activity and all said they would pray lots for the person on their rock :)

Activity #4: This activity worked with the help of a little bribery! We read the bible verse to memorize this week (all of the verses are verses Paul penned), and wrote it down on a big piece of paper, and set it in the middle of the circle. We played a game called "popcorn". Generally, the game works where you try and count as high as you can. However, you can't premeditate who says what number, and if two people say a number at the same time (or count out of turn), you have to start over again. We did it with the bible verse, and it was great! The kids had the bible verse repeated multiple times! I told them if they got through it, they all would get a cookie. And then I added to the mix and made them stand in line to get their cookies. They all had to repeat the bible verse to me while in line to get a cookie. All of them passed with flying colors, and one of the Moms even got in line and memorized the bible verse for a cookie! It was really great, hearing all of the little voices memorizing God's word.

The kids are really impressing me with how much they're learning and how on fire they are about Jesus! I'm having a blast planning the lessons, and I really feel like this semester is ordained by God! I can't wait to get into the next two weeks, which are about Saul's conversion, and talk about what it means to be a new creation! I think the kids are going to be really blown away by how DIFFERENT Paul is than Saul. I can't wait to see their reactions!