Game-on!
We started the session with a team game involving two goals a balloon and newspaper batons; the aim was to hit the balloon and score goals. However, at half-time (2 mins) we moved the best players into the losing team giving them better payers and superior numbers; by the end of the game, the losers became the winners.
We played several games and kept making sure that the best players were moved to the losing team at half-time.
Afterwards we asked the children for their reactions and they said it wasn’t fair because some people changed sides – we then explained that today, we were going to look at someone who changed sides in the The Bible.
The Story
We told the story (with pictures on the screen) about Saul and his change of team; from being a top player for the Jews persecuting the Christians, to becoming a top player for Jesus. Saul, now Paul, (Hebrew to Roman name) joining the believers after his conversion and starting out on his new job of preaching the Good News to the Gentiles (the rest of the world).
We thought about people changing and how God can change us and others.
Jesus wanting us to pray for those who hurt us. For us to think differently and see situations God’s way.
We listened to Micah Tyler singing “Different” as we moulded playdough into a heart-shape and thought about how God could change us. You can see the video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUT4trsrBCw
We prayed with chocolate hearts asking God to help us with the situations and people we find difficult and to give us his heart for others.
The Video
We watched a Superbook video “The Road to Damascus” whilst munching on rocky road nibbles. The story centring around a burglar that broke into Chris and Joy’s house (yes, they are the names of the Superbook characters!) and how they were able to forgive the lad that had offended after witnessing Saul’s transformation (through Superbook’s amazing power to time-travel).
Lastly, we played another team game thinking about the difficulties of being blind and feeling and listing everyday objects inside a pillowcase.