The Great Commission- Colour My World!

Today in Bible Class we studied about the Great Commission and the Ascension of Jesus.

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV)

I stressed four important words in the commission: Go, disciple, baptise and teach.

I asked how we could “make disciples” and I got the best possible response.  A little girl said, “Well, I think we could just tell someone a story about Jesus and then they will want to follow him.  Then they can tell someone else and they will want to follow him.  And then they can tell…”  This went on for a little while until someone else interrupted with, “If our whole class goes out today and tells someone then I think everyone in the world will be a disciple in about an hour!”

I want their faith!

Here is the class activity we did to help us learn about telling the world about Jesus.

Supplies:

• A plate with enough edge that it can hold liquid.
• A spoon
• A small bowl or saucer
• Eye dropper (if you have one, I didn’t)
• Toothpicks
• Milk
• Cooking Oil
• Dish-washing liquid

Instructions:

1. Pour a few drops of the dish-washing liquid into a small bowl and soak the ends of toothpicks in it.  Set aside.
2. Pour enough milk into the plate so the bottom of the plate is covered and there is a thin layer of milk.
3. Pour oil over the milk.  You don’t need as much oil as milk but you’ll need enough for it to eventually form a very thin layer over the milk (Don’t stress over the amounts).  Stir with the spoon then set the spoon to the side.
4. Now, spend a few minutes watching the milk and oil separate and form oil clusters.  
   1. While this is happening talk about how this looks like the world and all its people.  People like to live together in families and towns and countries.  The plate looks like a map of the world.
   2. Then talk about what it would be like if no one in the world followed Christ.
   3. Now, add drops of food colouring to represent Christians and talk about how Christians live in the world among people who do not follow Christ.  (If I had used a little eye dropper my “drops” would not have spread so much and this would have worked better.  Small droplets will make the best effects.)  What if Christians only stayed in one place and never told people about Jesus.
5. Now for the fun part!  Ask the children what they think the world would look like if Christians were to follow the Great Commission and go out into the world to tell other people about Jesus.  Then let the children take turns lightly touching the soap end of a toothpick to one of the drops of food colouring.  Amazingly, the food colouring shoots out across the milk and oil and makes amazing colours.
6. Continue doing this until the white plate is full of colours.  All the while you and the children are doing this talk about how telling people about Jesus changes the world.

I really think you will love this idea!  Here are some photos (click to enlarge):

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Great Commission- Colour My World Craft!

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