Acts of the Apostles
The Church Begins

4th-6th grades

This page is devoted to sharing the actual lesson plans I used while teaching The book of Acts to 4th-6th graders in a Bible class setting. I also throw in a few personal thoughts along the way.

History of the Church — a Study of Acts

A lot has happened since I last posted. My oldest son married. We were in Colorado last Sunday. That happened to also be the first day of our new quarter. That wouldn’t normally be a big problem, except that it was also promotion day. Two kids are leaving the class and 4 are entering. I didn’t have anything ready for the new quarter, so my substitute was to review and let the kids finish up their project folders.

This quarter’s study is about the church. We will be studying the book of Acts through Paul’s 2nd journey. We’ll finish it up next quarter. Our stations this quarter are:

Bible lesson Review
Chapters of Acts — They’ll be memorizing something that happened in each chapter.

Paul’s 1st and 2nd Journeys — they will memorize the major stops and what happened at each.

The Unknown God –Acts 17:22-31

The Acts of Worship — they will be memorizing a passage to support each of the acts of worship.

The Steps to Salvation — they will be memorizing a passage to support each of the steps of salvation.

The Mission and Organization of the Church — Matthew 28:18-20 and Philippians 1:1

Review of previous quarters’ lessons

Since we have a bunch of new kids, and they are younger than the rest, I’m going to spend tonight reviewing the whole Bible story. We’ll start at creation and go all the way through the resurrection of Jesus. I also want to spend some time talking to all of the kids about what we do in class, how I expect them to behave and so on. We were all getting a little bit lax in our standards of conduct. I think this will be a great time to “crack the whip”. I want to sing some with them also.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: We won’t be spending any time at the stations tonight. I’ll introduce the stations but we’ll spend most of our time reviewing the lesson.

New Testament cards — We didn’t get all of these finished. I’ll put the last 2 (Jude and Revelation) on the wall. If any of them are ready to recite them, that’s great.

Today’s lesson: Review of Bible story through the resurrection

Sing: Is It I? Also I Will Sing (another song I wrote — I hope to have it online soon)

Recite (in unison): I would like to work systematically with the Unknown God (Acts 17). It is longer than most of the passages we memorize, but it is one of my favorites.

Resurrection

Wednesday night we talked about the big picture. We started at creation and got to the crucifixion of Jesus. I wanted to get to His resurrection, but the bell rang. It was the first time I had the younger kids in this class. There were supposed to be 4 moving up. They did and brought 3 more as visitors. They weren’t used to the style of teaching I was doing, but I guess they’ll get used to it. When I told them to turn in their Bibles they just sat there. Not one of them had a Bible with them. I hope that will change tomorrow.

I will talk about the resurrection tomorrow. We’ll also introduce the Bible reading, stations, project folder and other things in volved in the class. I also need to introduce the first chapter of Acts card.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — We have the same kind of cards for Acts that we had for the NT. We will be learning something out of each chapter of Acts. We’ll do Acts 1 — the ascension.

Today’s lesson: Review of Bible story (very briefly) through the resurrection

Pass out Project Folders — Do the first verse of The Unknown God together (copy in project folder).

Recite (in unison): I would like to work systematically with the Unknown God (Acts 17). It is longer than most of the passages we memorize, but it is one of my favorites.

Sing: Is It I? Also I Will Sing (another song I wrote — I hope to have it online soon)

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

My class continues to grow. Sunday AM I had 12 in attendance. Out of those, 5 were visitors. Three of my regulars were either sick or out of town. We’ll see what happens tonight. I’m pretty sure one of my students is still out of town.

The only problem with all of the extra students is that I can’t seem to get a handle on getting the ones that moved up into the routine of our class. If I take out time to talk to them about our class, the visitors get nothing out of it. It is as if I have 3 groups of kids: the original 5 kids, the new 4 kids and whatever visitors we have. I got to do a little of introducing the stations and the project folders Sunday AM. Since our Wednesday PM class is about 15 minutes longer, I should get it done tonight.

Tonight we will get into the book of Acts. We’ll be talking about the first chapter where Jesus ascends into heaven.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — We have the same kind of cards for Acts that we had for the NT. We will be learning something out of each chapter of Acts. We’ll do Acts 1 — the ascension. I didn’t get to this Sunday AM. I’ve got to do it tonight.

Today’s lesson: Review the crucifixion, resurrection and talk about the ascension. I want to make sure the kids understand the importance of this. I’ve been trying to bring it all back to Genesis when Adam and Eve sinned and so lost their relationship with God. Jesus death, burial and resurrection is what will bring all those who obey back into a right relationship with God.

Pass out Project Folders — Do the first verse of The Unknown God together (copy in project folder). Work on this a little more.

Recite (in unison): I would like to work systematically with the Unknown God (Acts 17). It is longer than most of the passages we memorize, but it is one of my favorites.

Sing: We sang Richard Morrison’s RESURRECTION Sunday AM. It went very well with our lesson. I have it made into a large poster and it is hung on the wall. We’ll probably sing it again tonight. If we have time, we’ll try to get to Is It I? Also I Will Sing (another song I wrote — I hope to have it online soon)

Choosing Matthias

We had another large class Wednesday night. I was prepared this time and things went much better. There are 2 sets of siblings that are visiting their respective grandparents. That’s why all the visitors all of a sudden. I’d love to have that many all the time. It’s fun when I’m ready for them.

I added 8 more activities to the stations today. There’s a some more I need to do, but, we’ve at least got the absolute “have to haves” done.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — I think we’ll just do this activity on Wednesday nights. I’m leaving it in the lesson plan so I won’t forget to do it come Wednesday.

Today’s lesson: Discuss the apostles and see how many of them can tell me who they are from memory. Review Judas and then go into finding a replacement for Judas.

Project Folders — Do the second verse of The Unknown God together (copy in project folder).Read the entire passage together. After they’ve copied the 2nd verse, recite verses 1 and 2 together (from memory).

Recite — Start looking at The Church — It’s Mission and Organization. We are memorizing Philippians 1:1 and Matthew 28:18-20.

Sing: Is It I? Also I Will Sing (another song I wrote — I hope to have it online soon)

The Day The Church Began — Acts 2

I taught this lesson Wednesday night, but haven’t had to time to put a lesson plan up until now. There were 12 in my class again Wed PM. I know for a fact that most of the visitors have returned to their homes. It was fun having them in class. Some of them I see fairly regularly and some not nearly often enough.

We studied about the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Acts 2 is the pivotal point of the Bible. The Old Law is looking forward to the beginning of the church and the New Law is looking backwards at it. All of the promises from Genesis 12 have now been kept. Abraham’s family became a nation at the foot of Mt Sinai when Moses received the law (and the 10 commandments) from God. Abraham’s family received their land when Joshua lead the Israelites in and took it over, beginning at Jericho. Now, the promise that through Abraham’s seed all the world would be blessed has been kept through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

In Acts 2 we see the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles. We hear Peter preach the first gospel sermon. We see the first people (actually 3000 of them) being added to the church after they repented and were baptized.

In class, I read the chapter to the children. They all had their Bibles except for one of the visitors. I was very impressed. They all followed along while I read and we stopped occasionally (okay, it was frequently) to make comments or explain what was going on.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — We introduced Acts 2 on Sunday AM, so we reviewed Acts 1 and 2.

Today’s lesson: The Beginning of the Church

Project Folders — Do the third verse of The Unknown God together (copy in project folder).Read the entire passage together. After they’ve copied the 3rd verse, recite verses 1 and 2 together (from memory). They are really getting the hang of this. I think they’ll be pleased when they see that they have memorized it all.

Conversion Chart: We have a chart on the wall that shows all the conversion in Acts and what each person did to be saved. Each square on the poster is covered. During this class, we uncovered the row that talked about the 3000 that were converted in Acts 2. We’ll uncover each of the others as we come to them in our studies. I’ll try to get a picture of this on here soon.
Sing: We sang I WILL SING and RESURECTION

The Man At The Gate Called Beautiful Is Healed — Acts 3

Now that the church has been established, we see Peter begin to go out and teach others about Christ. He heals the lame man at the gate called Beautiful. Peter goes on to preach to those that are marveling at this miracle. At the end of his sermon (vs 25 and 26) he states that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise God gave Abraham — “and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed”.

I want to spend a little bit of time talking to the kids about miracles. The miracles that Jesus and the apostles did are very different from what we hear people claiming to do today. The miracles then were done immediately. Peter told the lame man to rise up and walk. He took him by the hand and immediately the lame man walked. We’ll have several opportunities to talk about this during our study over the next few months.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 3. I still don’t have any tacky stuff (to stick them on the wall), so these cards are just on the chalk rack of the white board (I guess it’s not really a chalk rack if it’s a white board).

Today’s lesson: The Lame Man healed at the gate called Beautiful

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 4th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Sing: We probably won’t have time for a song, but if we do, I’ll let them decide what to sing.

Peter and John Arrested — Acts 4

Wednesday night was our monthly singing, so we didn’t have class. I enjoy teaching the class, but it sure is nice once a month to get a little break.

Tomorrow we’ll be studying from Acts 4. After Peter healed the man at the gate called Beautiful, he was given the opportunity to speak to the large crowd that gathered around and marveled at the miracle. The Jewish leaders didn’t like them speaking about Christ being raised from the dead, so they arrested them. This gave them another opportunity to teach about Christ. They were threatened and told not to speak about Christ anymore. Of course, this didn’t stop them. They meet up with all the Christians and pray to God for boldness.

I hope to instill in the kids the appreciation for the boldness the early Christians had. They didn’t back down and stop telling what they knew to be the truth. We need to all strive to have that kind of trust in God. Trust that no matter what happens, God will be with us. Not that He will necessarily keep us from being harmed, but that He will be with us through whatever hardship we suffer for His cause.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 4.

Today’s lesson: Peter and John’s arrest

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 5th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Sing: We probably won’t have time for a song, but if we do, I’ll let them decide what to sing.

Ananias and Sapphira — Acts 5:1-11

Tonight we will talk about Ananias and Sapphira. When I was young (and not so young), I had trouble differentiating between Ananias and Sapphira of Acts 5 and Aquila and Priscilla that we meet later on in Acts. Aside from their being similar, the two couples are quite different. I think I’ll try to remember to make a folder activity contrasting the two once we meet Aquila and Priscilla.

Since the day the church began until Acts 5, things (as far as we know) were going smoothly. People were submitting themselves to God through baptism. God was adding them to the church. They all shared what they had so that none lacked. Then, Acts 5.

Ananias and Sapphira sold what they had and they wanted to give the proceeds of it to help out. Their only problem was that they wanted to keep some of the money back but let everyone think they were giving it all. They could’ve kept some of it back. They weren’t even required to sell what they had. They wanted people to think they were doing something wonderful. They lied. Their punishment: death. I imagine this shook everyone up. Imagine how the news spread about their death. God certainly made His point quickly, swiftly and with great surety.

After the death of Ananias and Sapphira, the gospel was still preached, Peter and the apostles did many signs and wonders and believers were still being added to the Lord. It was now evident (if it wasn’t before) that God expected obedience. He expected honesty.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 5.

Today’s lesson: Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 6th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Peter and John Arrested — Again — Acts 5

I love the way God shows up people that don’t believe in Him. This lesson is a prime example. Peter and John are arrested again. An angel comes to them in the night and tells them to go and preach publicly. They do, much to the dismay of those that arrested him. Before they are even missed, these men are standing out in public preaching the very thing they were arrested for. The guards and everyone involved were confused and humiliated. This time, the much revered rabbi Gamaliel steps in. He tells them to let the men alone. If they are from God, then they will not be able to stop the teaching. If they are from men, they will go the way of all the others that have tried to teach that the Messiah had come.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Encourage the kids to start at the stations when they come to class. Let them spend 5 or 10 minutes at them after class starts.

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 5.

Today’s lesson: Peter and John arrested again.

Worship — discuss new activities in worship station and go over some of the vocabulary words involved.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 6th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Stoning of Stephen — Acts 6 and 7

Wednesday night, I didn’t get a lesson plan up, but we did have class. We talked about the 7 being chosen to help with the Grecian widows. It was a nice short lesson which allowed me to spend some time on talking to them about church organization. We’re memorizing Philippians 1:1 to help them understand it better. Since our lesson was so short, they were able to spend a lot of time at their stations which they seemed to enjoy.

We continue to have visitors. Wednesday evening we had 4. Two of them are friends of one of my students and 2 are relatives of a couple in the congregation. It looks we might have all 4 of them on a semi regular basis.

Today’s lesson is on the stoning of Stephen. This is such a great story about the bravery of a new Christian. It describes how he became at odds with “the powers that be” and how he taught them. His sermon will take the main portion of our class time this morning. He reminds his accusers of their history and how Jesus fits in to that history.

From the beginning of this class, I’ve taken time periodically to tell the same story Stephen told — the story of how God chose the Israelites to bring His son into the world. Today’s lesson will give me another opportunity to tell the story and encourage the children to learn the story well enough to be able to tell it themselves. Stephen’s sermon would be great for memorization, but a little too long to tackle in this class.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: We won’t be spending any time in our stations once class begins. We’ve got a lot to talk about this morning.

Acts cards — I introduced Acts 6 Wed PM. I’ll wait until this coming Wednesday to introduce chapter 7 unless we just have some extra time.

Today’s lesson: Stephen is stoned.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 7th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

The Gospel Spreads to Samaria — Acts 8

Tonight’s lesson we get to see how what Jesus told his apostles in Acts 1 (…and you shall be wintesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.) begins to come to pass. Because of the persecution the church was beginning to experience, the Christians scattered. This allowed the gospel to begin spreading outside of Jerusalem.

In Acts 8 we get to follow Philip and see what his contribution to the spread of the gospel was. We also get to see what happened when someone who had become a Christian by believing in Christ and being baptized does if he then sins. Today there are many people that believe once you are saved, you can’t be unsaved. Simon the sorcerer was a Christian and he sinned. Philip ordered him to repent of his wickedness and pray for forgiveness. If Simon had chosen not to repent and pray for forgiveness, he would still be in sin. Someone in sin cannot spend eternity in Heaven (or be saved).

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 7

Today’s lesson: Philip and Simon the sorcerer

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 7th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Bible Class Review Activities — Introduce the activity folder for Stephen. Put it in the station’s box so they can do it when they have time.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch — Acts 8

Wednesday night we had our 2 semi-regular visitors again. This time I gave them each a project folder of their own and told them I expected them to come back every time. They are neighbors of one of our members and apparently beg her to bring them. I hope they’ll keep it up. The older one was answering some of the questions. That was very encouraging to me. He was not only listening, but he was understanding as well.

Tomorrow’s lesson is on the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. This is a great lesson to discuss what baptism means and how it is done. I’ve seen many pictures of Philip and the Eunuch going down into the water (like the Bible says) and then Philip pouring some water on top of the Eunuch’s head. Baptism is a burial or immersion in water. The 2 men didn’t need to both go down into the water if all they were going to do was pour a little water on the Eunuch’s head.

Acts 8 talks about the gospel beginning to spread into the areas around Jerusalem. The Bible says it was spread to Samaria and Judea. With the salvation/conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch, it was now sure to be spread into Africa since that’s where he was headed.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 8

Today’s lesson: Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

Salvation Station: Go over the 5 steps to Salvation and recite in unison the passages that teach them. We also get to uncover another row on our salvation chart. This will be our 3rd conversion we’ve talked about so far.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 8th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Saul is Converted — Acts 9

Tonight we will discuss Saul’s conversions. We were first introduced to Saul at the stoning of Stephen. Now we are going to see why Luke introduced him back there. Saul is to become the apostle that spreads the gospel to the Galatia, Macedonia and eventually to Rome. My class is memorizing Paul’s (Saul eventually changes his name to Paul) sermon in Acts 17. We are almost through copying it one verse per class and several of the kids seem to have the memory part down fairly well. Tonight we will get to uncover another row on our conversion chart that will show us what Saul did to be saved.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 9

Today’s lesson: Saul’s Conversion

Salvation Station: Go over the 5 steps to Salvation and recite in unison the passages that teach them. We did this Sunday AM, but we’ll do it again tonight.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Copy the 9th verse of it in their project folders. Try to have the time to recite it from memory in unison.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Peter Sees a Vision — Acts 10

I got busy last week and didn’t get my lesson on here for September 2. We studied the end of Acts 9 – Aeneas was healed and Dorcas was raised from the dead. It gave me another opportunity to point out the complete and immediate affect or miracles (as opposed to a healing today that is not immediate or complete).

Today we’ll talk about the Peter vision saw while in Joppa. I plan to go back to the beginning and review up through the giving of the law. I want to stress how God set aside the Israelites as his people and stress the laws of eating clean and unclean animals. Without knowing these two parts of the Old Testament, understanding what happens in chapter 10 doesn’t really mean anything.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 9

Today’s lesson: Peter’s Vision

Worship Station: Since we’ll be talking about Jewish laws today, this will be a good time to go over the acts of worship at this station. If we don’t have time to do it today, we’ll do it Wednesday PM.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. We’ll introduce the next to the last verse on Wednesday PM.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Cornelius — Acts 10 and 11

This lesson is actually from last Wednesday night and for this morning. Wednesday evening we studied the conversion of Cornelius. This event marked a huge change in what the Jews understood the church to be. Of course, God had it planned all along. Now, Gentiles that obeyed God’s word could now become Christians. If it wasn’t for this part of God’s plan, most of us would not be part of God’s family — the church.

Today, we be studying from Acts 11. After Peter goes back to Jerusalem (from being with Cornelius), he is confronted by some of the Jewish Christians. They did not understand why he would be taking the gospel to the Gentiles. Peter tells them what happened and in the end, they all rejoice over this event.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 11

Today’s lesson: Peter’s Explains Cornelius’ conversion to the Jewish Christians

Worship Station: Go over whatever they seem to need help with.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. They should now be copying the entire passage in their project folders. I expect some of them to be able to recite the entire passage from memory soon.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Peter In Prison Again — Acts 12

This is the last lesson before Paul’s First Missionary Journey. It is a chapter that covers not only Peter’s miraculous release from prison, but Herod’s miserable death. I was greatly helped with background information by reading Bob Waldron’s Go Tell The Good News.I highly recommend it.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 11 and 12

Today’s lesson: Herod persecutes the church, Peter is miraculously released from prison and Herod dies a miserable death.

Paul’s Journey Station: Introduce the 1st journey. Most of the kids have done the activities at this station. I want to make sure they are doing the work in their project folders and get them ready to recite the first 2 journey by memory.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. Introduce the last verse of Paul’s sermon. Do a vocabulary activity from the Unknown God station as a group.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

Paul’s First Journey Begins — Acts 13

Someone asked me what the Acts cards were that I keep referring to. I hope to get a picture up soon, but they are cards my husband did to help kids learn what’s in each chapter of Acts. He drew pictures that help with the memory such as: Acts 12, when Herod died of worms, there is a crown with worms crawling all around it. He also did this for each book of the New Testament.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Introduce Acts 13

Today’s lesson: First journey begins. We’ll talk about beginning and going through Cyprus all the way to Perga where John Mark left.

Paul’s Journey Station: Introduce the 1st journey. Most of the kids have done the activities at this station. I want to make sure they are doing the work in their project folders and get them ready to recite the first 2 journey by memory. We didn’t do this Wednesday night, so we’ll have to do it today.

Project Folders — Read the entire Unknown God passage. They should have copied the entire passage by now. I hope some can recite it this morning.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

The First Journey Continues — Acts 13:13 and following

As the first journey continues, Paul and Barnabas are in Antioch. They first talk with the Jews in the synagogue, but after being rejected take their message to the Gentiles. The sermon Paul preaches in the synagogue in Antioch again reminds the Jews of their history and how Christ is the one that was promised long ago. I hope to, again, impress on the students the whole story and how it fits into God’s plan.

I was asked about the Unknown God that I keep referring to. This is the sermon in Acts 17 that Paul preaches to the Athenians. It is a wonderful sermon for the kids (and anyone else) to memorize. If you ever find yourself doubting who God is, this is the place to go. Paul had a wonderful opportunity to use what the Athenians knew — idolatry — and teach what they needed to know. He told them that the God they worshiped without knowing — the unknown God — was the one and only God.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Acts cards — Review the Acts cards.

Introduction to lesson: Quickly review the whole story starting from creation. This will set up the sermon that Paul preached in Antioch.

Today’s lesson: After review of the beginning of the journey, continue with the events that happened in Antioch.

Paul’s Journey Station: Go over the events in the first journey.

Project Folders — I haven’t gotten to spend as much time on the mission and organization of the church as I would have liked. I hope to spend some time tonight helping them with this station and this part of their project folders.

Sing: If there’s time let them choose a song to sing.

The First Journey Ends — Acts 14

This is our last class for this quarter. It has been interesting to say the least. With the younger kids moving up and the regular visitors, the class has doubled in size. There have been several classes where we didn’t have enough places for everyone to sit. It has been a challenge, but very enjoyable.

One of the visitors asked a couple of weeks ago if I had a Bible she could have. It old her I would get her one. Well, being the forgetful person that I am, I didn’t do it. She came up to me every time she saw me to ask if I had gotten her Bible yet. Well, I finally ordered 10 Bibles — one for her, one for her brother and the other to keep in the classroom. They should be in early next week. I’m glad I’ll finally be able to tell her that her Bible is one its way.

We are finishing up with the end of the first journey. It is the last part of this journey where Barnabas and Paul are mistaken for gods. The priest of the temple of Zeus was even preparing to offer sacrifices of oxen to them. Of course, to the Greeks, this would be the highest form of a compliment, but Barnabas and Paul were not happy about it. They made it clear that there was only one true God and that is who they should worship.

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in the congregations as they passed back through on their way home. This will be another good opportunity to talk about the organization of the church.

My lesson plan:

Time at Stations: Spend some time in stations

Project Folders: Since this is the last class of the quarter, take some time to praise the students that completed the Bible reading. I think about 4 of them read all of the reading required. Also recognize those that did some memory work.

Acts cards — Review the Acts cards.

Introduction to lesson: Using the Eyewitness book on Ancient Greece, introduce the Greek culture. Especially the part about the gods they worshiped.

Unknown God: Review the Unknown God. Paul says some of the same things in this sermon as he does in Acts 14.

Today’s lesson: Review the first part of the first journey and then go over the end of the journey in chapter 14.

The Church (It’s Organization) Station: Go over each verse.

Sing: We’re having our 5th Sunday Singing this afternoon. The theme of it is the Resurrection. To get them thinking on this, sing The Resurrection by Richard Morrison.

Pictures of the Bible Class

I really should take pictures at the beginning of the quarter, but I don’t. These are pictures of the posters that are at each station. Our new quarter starts Sunday, so I’ll be taking these down tomorrow. If you’d like to see how the room is set up, click here:Life of Christ and scroll down to the pictures.

Worship: At this station we learned about worship (singing, praying, preaching, giving and the Lord’s supper). We learned a verse that teaches about each one.

The Unknown God: We memorized the sermon that Paul gave in Athens (Acts 17).

Steps To Salvation: We learned what needs to be done to be a Christian (Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, Be Baptized) and passages that teach each one.

Paul’s 1st and 2nd Journey: We learned about 8 cities from each journey and what happened in each city. We are only up to Acts 14, so we’ll be studying the 2nd, 3rd and 4th journeys in the new quarter.

Review What You Know: This station was just a review of the memory work they had done in the past 2 quarters.

The Church: We learned about the organization and the mission of the church. They were to memorize a verse for each. We also looked at passages that taught about elders, deacons, and saints separately as well as edification, evangelism and benevolence.

Bible Lesson Review: This station had folder activities added that pertained to the lesson we were studying each week.

Acts: This is the station where they memorized something that happened in each chapter of Acts.

Conversion Chart: This chart shows all of the conversions in Acts. At the beginning of the quarter the steps taken to salvation for each person (or group of people) was covered with pieces of black paper. When we studied that conversion, we uncovered the row to see what they did. As you can see, we have 2 more conversions to go.