Romans 10:15 says, “And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” This verse and the ones that support it provide rich soil for teaching about peace and about sharing the gospel of Jesus. Teach kids about taking the gospel to the four corners of the earth. Before the class gather these items.
Supplies you’ll need:
- Old shoes
- Permanent marker
- Map
Spread the map out and use the pen to draw a few lines from city to city. You could illustrate some of the journeys of the apostles or show some journeys of missionaries you may know. Better still, if you have ever been to a foreign country, draw a line from your hometown to the places you have been to in the name of Christ.
Now prepare the old shoes for the object lesson. Write city names on the shoes using the permanent marker. The shows should be covered with city names. Place the old shoes on a table and cover them with a cloth. Display the map where the kids can see it.
Say: Hi kids! Who can guess what is under this cloth? Let the kids guess. Some of you were close but what is under here is…. Tada! Some shoes! I bet you were thinking it was something crazy–not shoes, right? Just plain old ordinary shoes. Even in Jesus’ time people wore all sorts of shoes. Because he lived in a hot climate, Jesus and his friends wore sandals. It is a good thing they did since Jesus walked around everywhere, visiting people. After you wear them for some time, shoes can begin to look old and dirty but the Bible tells us something special about shoes. For example, Romans 10:15 tells us that God considers the feet of the people who preach the good news to others to be beautiful. I don’t know, my feet can look pretty gross sometimes but God says that anyone who travels to teach others about Jesus has beautiful feet. Hmm…maybe we will look at our feet later.
See this pair of shoes? Let’s pretend this pair of shoes has been around the globe, sharing the gospel. Look at all the city names on here. Can you read some of them. Allow the kids to read some of the names. One day, God may ask you to go to one of these cities, to have beautiful feet and tell the people about Jesus. Would you be willing to go? Let’s pray about it and then I’ll let everyone try on my gospel shoes!
For more ideas, check out our longer Bible lesson for kids on the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. Read more from Mimi by visiting her blog at Tools for Kids Church.