Use this children’s Sunday School lesson to teach kids about when and how to tell others about Christ.
Needed: Bibles, blindfold
Intro Game: Disciple Tag
Choose one student to be It. When they tag someone, that person links hands with them and joins their team. They continue adding people to their team, linking hands with each one until all but one student is part of their chain. That remaining student becomes It for the next round.
Play two or three rounds and then, explain that when we tell people about Jesus, we want them to believe in Jesus too. If they do, they become a Christian and join our team. Then, they help us tell more people about Jesus.
Intro Activity: Acting It Out
Divide students into groups of two or three. Have each group decide on and act out a scene in which someone is sharing about Jesus, but the other person doesn’t want to hear it. Ask them to show how each person might react.
Lesson
Ask students, Have any of you ever told somebody about God or Jesus?
What made you want to tell that person about God or Jesus?
What happened when you told them about God or Jesus?
(Read Acts 16:6-10.)
“Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
The Bible tells us that Paul and his friends were traveling in one area, telling people about Jesus, but that the Holy Spirit had told them not to go to Asia or to certain other parts of their country. Why do you think the Holy Spirit would tell them not to go somewhere to tell the people living there about Jesus?
Sometimes, God doesn’t want us to tell people about Jesus because maybe they’re not ready to believe in Jesus yet. You can tell people about Jesus, but if they’re not ready to believe in Him in their hearts, it won’t matter what you say.
What did Paul see that night when he was dreaming? (Paul saw a vision of a man in another city asking for help.)
What do you think the man wanted Paul to do to help him? (The man wanted Paul to come to talk to him about Jesus so that he could believe in Jesus and be saved and go to Heaven.)
Did Paul go to help the man? (Yes.)
Do you think God wants you to help people by telling them about Jesus so that they can be saved and go to Heaven when they die? (Yes.)
Game: Who Does God Want You to Talk To?
Pick one student to be It. Put a blindfold on them. Then, silently pick another student to be the Speaker.
Students, including the Speaker, spread out around the room. Then, the Speaker says, “Help me,” as quietly or as loudly as they want while the rest of the students talk and make noise. The student who is It has to guess which student the Speaker is.
When It guesses correctly, the Speaker becomes It, and the teacher chooses a new student to be the Speaker. Play until all of the students have had a chance to fill both roles. At the end, explain that we have to listen closely for God to tell who He wants us to talk to about Jesus.
Activity: Acting It Out part 2
Now, have the groups continue their same scene in which the Christian comes back later, and the other person is ready to listen, or in which the non-Christian later approaches the Christian for more information.
Closing Prayer
Holy Spirit, help us to listen to You to tell us which people to talk to about Jesus and which people not to. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
You can also find this lesson for Kindle or in print in my book, Paul: The Odd Apostle.