Walk-in activity 

A idea that the kids in your children's ministry can do while the program hasn't started yet. Suitable for children's work, where children gradually trickle in.

Today we reflect on the first church. A group of new believers who were all separate pieces at first, and now become a beautiful puzzle in which they are one with each other in everything and share with each other.

There is really a deep unity among the believers, in which they share everything with each other and agree on everything. It really is those wonderful honeymoon weeks of the first church. Everyone has food to eat. Rich people sell their house or a piece of land and give that money to the apostles. The apostles then shared this among the poor.

What you need:

- one or more puzzles (difficulty depending on age)

What to do:

Children who come in may help to make the puzzle or puzzles together. Can you do this in the 5 or 10 minutes we have?

Afterwards
Share: Today we reflect on the first congregation. A group of new believers who first were all separate pieces and now become a beautiful puzzle in which they are all one and share are one with each other and share with each other.

A story from the New Testament about Philippi

It’s the Sabbath, the rest day for the Jewish people.

There is a group of people standing by the river in Philippi. They are all women. They have come together to pray. They believe in the Lord God and love him a lot. One of the women is called Lydia. She is a very rich woman. She sells beautiful red and purple material that you can use to make wonderful clothes.

A bit later a few men come walking up to the women and sit on the ground next to them. The women are surprised. They don’t know who they are. What are they doing here?

One of the men says ‘I am Paul”. We thought that you were praying. We also love the Lord God and also his son Jesus. He is the saviour, the Messiah.”

The women are even more surprised. Do these men know who the saviour is? The Messiah?

Then Paul starts to talk....

An easy to tell Bible story

We at Creative Kidswork want to make storytelling as easy as possible for you. That’s why we provide you with tons of easy to tell Bible stories. You can read this story aloud or tell it in your own way. 

This Bible story from Acts 16:14-15 was written by Ellen Zuijdwegt for a Dutch Sunday school method, but you can use it at home, within a church service, Sunday school setting or anywhere you like

Download

You can download the story here:  'Lydia is thankful for God's church'

A fun game to help the children think about being one, but also being different

This idea is part of a complete Sunday school lesson on Philippians 1: 1 - 11.

Paul writes in Philippians 2:2 that we have fellowship with and through the Spirit and urges us to be one in mind and spirit. What does it mean to be one? Does it mean that we should all be the same? Or is it actually a good thing that we’re different?

This is fun game on Philippians 2: 1 - 11 about being an unity together while still being all different. It will help the children in your Sunday school lesson, youth ministry, Bible lesson, children’s church or children’s ministry to reflect on this powerful Bible passage.

What do you need:

- a large play parachute

What do you do:

Tell:
In a few minutes we are going to play a fun game together. This game is all about being one and at the same time being completely different.

Ask:
- How can we be one and at the same time be completely different?
- Can you give an example? (like a sports team)
- Why is it important to be one in a sport team? (same goal / same objective / working together / using each other's different strengths)

Tell:
Paul tells the church in Philippi that they are one. They belong together. 

Ask:
- If the church in Philippi would be like a sports team - what would be their goal and their objective?
- If we are like a sports team - what would be our goal and our objective?
- How can we work together to reach that goal?
- Which unique strengths and gifts do we need?

Do:
Put the children in a large circle and get them to all hold on to a large parachute. Practise raising and lowering the parachute together.

Raise the parachute and call out a word, for example ‘boys’. Now all the boys have to run underneath the parachute to the other side.

Try to think of some things that only apply to one or two children, and others that apply to the whole group. Try to think of different gifts, strengths and talents.

Tell:
We can be very different to each other in some things and alike in others, but whether we’re alike or different, we can form one body, just as we are all holding the parachute. 

Make a large painting that consists out of lots of small paintings

This idea is part of a complete Sunday school lesson on Philippians 1: 1 - 11.

It is a fun crafts activity on Philippians 2: 1 - 11 about looking at what it means to be one in Christ.. It will help the children in your Sunday school lesson, youth ministry, Bible lesson, children’s church or children’s ministry to reflect on this powerful Bible passage.

What do you need:

- for each participant you need a small canvas of 10 x 10 cm, paint and brushes, or wax crayons.

What do you do:

Tell:
We are going to make a big painting together, consisting of lots of different small paintings. Paul tells the church in Philippi that they are one. They belong together.

Do:
Read the text again carefully.

Ask:
- What is it that binds the people in Philippi?
- Is that easy, do you think?

Tell:
We’re going to make a painting of a meadow of flowers together. Everyone is going to paint their own flower, but the edges of your painting must blend seamlessly with the painting next to it.

Tip:
Write the name of each child lightly in pencil on the canvases, then put them all on the floor to make one big canvas. Then write on the four edges of the canvases the names of the children whose canvas borders on the other canvases. In this way the children will know who they have to work with to make sure that their paintings blend together.

Do:
Depending on the age of the children you could draw the shapes of the flowers that overlap two canvases. Then at the end you can put them back together, like a puzzle.

This is a cool science experiment that you can use in a class room or Sunday school lesson

A rainbow is a symbol of hope. A symbol that God will keep his promises. So any time you are going to talk about hope, God's promises and God's faithfulness you can create this rainbow.

You can also use this experiment to tell the story of Noah and the rainbow.

But personally we also use this to talk about unity -  we are all different, but still one! 

And what do you think about the fruit of the Spirit? So many expressions of the same Spirit in different colours...

Watch the video below:

Probably one of the best object lessons of all time

We think that this toy is maybe one of the best object lessons of all time. You can buy it for a few dollars or pounds on Amazon.com or on Amazon.co.uk

It works very simply.

Invite a few children to come forward. Ask them to stand in a circle and hold hands. Take the energy stick in your right hand and take the hand of the child on your left. Leave the circle 'open' by not taking the hand of the child on your right. Then ask the child on your right to also take hold of the other end (the silver end) of the energy stick. When they do this, something amazing happens. Lights go on and you hear a funny noise. What's happening?

There is a small current that you don’t feel and that you can’t see. This current flows through the whole circle as long as everyone is holding hands. It connects through the circle of hands to the other side of the energy stick and then the electrical circuit is complete.

But how can use this in different ways within your kids ministry?

Multiple uses within Christian ministry

Some of the teaching points that you can make using the energy stick are...
- the importance and power of unity
- everybody belongs to the group
- everybody is important
- if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer
- the power of the Holy Spirit
- the existence of God
- God’s amazing love that flows through us

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