Every child can relate to the idea of a birthday party.  Try this interactive story-telling method to help children celebrate the beginnings of the church.

Background:

The “birth” of the church was long-anticipated and expected.  From the beginning chapters of Genesis and onwards, we read how God, the Father, worked out a plan to redeem imperfect people back to himself.  In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of building “his church”. Then, in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit ushers in a new age and the birth of the church.

Among the crowds gathered in Jerusalem, there were one hundred and twenty believers gathered and waiting just as Jesus had told them to do.  By the end of the festival, specifically the Day of Pentecost, three thousand others had been added to this group of followers.  The Day of Pentecost marks the beginning of an age when imperfect people could have their sins washed away in baptism and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This was the beginning of the church.

Items to Gather:

• 12 cupcakes topped with soft icing or whipped cream
• A plate or platter for the cupcakes
• 12 candles
• Matches or a lighter
• “Sprinkles” or “Hundreds and Thousands” (or any tiny cake decorations)
• A gift box and wrapping paper.
• The following verse that you have transcribed on an index card or piece of paper:
  “Peter said to them, “Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38 ICB

Prepare:

• The words below are provided as a guide and are not meant to be read like a script.  Keeping this in mind, read and become very familiar with the events of Acts 1:12-2:41 so that you are able to share the story with the children in a natural way. For additional help, refer to the lesson: Sermon at Pentecost.
• Place the verse card inside the gift box and wrap it like a birthday gift.

How to Tell the Story:

1. Introduction: Ask the children to share their experiences of birthday parties.
   As you and the children are talking about this, set out the 11 cupcakes and the gift box on a table in front of the children. (Keep the 12th cupcake hidden from view.)
2. The church had a beginning: Explain that birthday parties are a way of remembering and celebrating the birth or beginning of a person’s life. “Today, we are going to talk about a different kind of beginning.  It is not the beginning of a life of one person.  This is the beginning of the church.”
3. One hundred and twenty followers of Jesus: Just before his ascension, Jesus had told the apostles to go to Jerusalem and wait for a special gift to arrive. (Luke 24:49) Tell the children about the 120 followers who had gathered together with the apostles.  Now, add a few sprinkles to the tops of the cupcakes.  Ask the children to help you estimate 120 sprinkles in all.
4. Eleven Apostles: Ask the children to count the cupcakes and point out that there are only 11.  Talk about how Jesus had chosen 12 Apostles, but after Judas betrayed Jesus and died, there were now only 11.  Matthias was chosen to replace Judas.  This is the time to bring the 12th cupcake out from hiding.
5. Arrival of the Holy Spirit: Have the children make sounds like the wind and then talk about how the apostles heard a sound like a mighty wind.  Place a candle in each of the cupcakes and, as you light them, talk about the flames of fire resting upon the head of each apostle. The sound of wind and flames made it clear that the Holy Spirit was there that day.  We cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we know he was there because of these things.  Jesus said that the Spirit would give power.  Explain the power these 12 men now had to speak in languages they had not even studied.
6. Peter’s Sermon: The Holy Spirit also gave Peter the power to courageously preach a sermon to a huge crowd of people that day. Push one of the cupcakes in front of the others as you talk about the sermon content. Jesus wanted all of the Jews to have good hearts and turn to God.   Peter told this crowd of Jews that, instead of following Jesus, they had crucified him.
7. “What should we do?”: The people felt terrible (quietly blow out the candles and set them aside). They had done a terrible thing.  How could they ever make it right?  They asked Peter.
8. The gift for everyone: Peter knew that the Holy Spirit had given the apostles a special kind of power, but the Holy Spirit was also a gift that God wanted everyone to have in their life. Peter knew exactly what to say to the people that day.  Now, you or one of the children can open the gift and read Acts 2:38.
9. Three thousand people were baptised: As you discuss this, group the cupcakes back together and bring out the sprinkles again.  Remind the children that there were 120 believers at the beginning of this day.  Begin adding more sprinkles to the cupcakes so that you cover them with what seems like 3,000.  These may even spill over onto the plate. Talk about how 3,000 people were added to their number on that day.
10. Conclusion: This was the beginning of the church.  In the book of Acts, we read that, from that day forward, more and more people began to follow Jesus and were baptised.  And even today, when people are sorry for their sins and are baptised, God still adds them to the church as well. Some day, I pray that even you will be added to that number.

And now it is time to celebrate and eat those cupcakes!

I often tell Bible stories without using pictures at all.  My careful description of the event, dramatic inflections of my voice and appropriate gestures help the listener form mental pictures in their own minds that are better than any I could draw on my own.

Sometimes I let the children draw their own pictures (see Draw and Tell Visual Aids Made by Children).  Besides being a great way for children to express themselves the pictures give me an insight into whether or not I have communicated the story well.  The pictures also often reveal the child’s understanding and reaction to God’s word and I learn a lot from that.

But, if I find really good illustrations from other sources I like to use them.  The old saying “a picture says a thousand words” is particularly true with illustrations of Bible events and I want to make sure the “words” the picture is saying are true to what God is saying.  For this reason I am careful in using such illustrations.  Here are some tips:

• The illustration should be biblically correct.  If the Bible describes people, settings and actions then the picture needs to depict them as it is written in the Bible.  Occasionally I will use a picture that strays from this in a small way but I am careful to point that out to the child I am showing it to.
• The illustration should be age appropriate.   Children are quick to tell you that they are not “babies”.  A picture that looks too childish for the age you are teaching shows a lack of respect on your part.  But, on the other extreme graphic pictures can be too mature for a younger child and they could be traumatised in some way like having bad dreams.  A picture that alludes to the event is more appropriate for young children.
• Facial expressions should make sense.  The stories of the Bible involve many different emotions and children study the facial expressions in illustrations to make judgements about the characters.  (Note the angry expressions of the synagogue leaders in the picture above.  I used this picture in teaching the story of the Stoning of Stephen.)
  And not every story has a “happy ending” for every character.  For instance, if you are telling a bible story that involves suffering or temptation it would not make sense for the characters to have smiling faces.  This trivialises the Word of God and does not actually prepare children for real life situations that Christians face.
• Illustrations should reflect the culture and time period of the event.  Artistic license allows an artist to interpret events into modern-day settings.  I personally enjoy some of this artwork but children are usually more literal in their thinking so they can be confused by this.  For this reason I try to use illustrations that depict the biblical characters in clothes and settings of the time in which the event took place.
• A few illustrations can be better than many.  One good illustration might be enough to use while you tell the entire story.  As a teacher you could cover up part of the picture and reveal it in stages or simply point to different parts as you tell the story.  You might even choose to combine the visual aid with a craft or other activity.  Try these ideas at New Ways to Use Simple Colouring Pictures. 
• No picture can replace good teaching.  Finally, remember this…even if you choose perfect illustrations you must not depend on them to tell the entire story.  Children need to hear God’s Word for a growing faith.

Free Illustrations from Sweet Publishing

Today I wanted to share with you a great resource for illustrations that I have stumbled upon.  It is found at https://www.unfoldingword.org/sweet-publishing/.  Good quality illustrations can be downloaded and used in an unlimited number of ways.  Sweet Publishing has made a vast number of illustrations available for public use and free of charge.  The terms of use say

“These free Bible illustrations are © Sweet Publishing and are made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.”  

The user can even distribute the works as long as they are attributed to Sweet Publishing according to the instructions provided.  I’ve been working on lessons from the Book of Acts and have used the illustrations for slide shows and visual aids.  I’ll include them below and am quite happy to attribute them to http://sweetpublishing.com.  

I hope you will give the Illustration Website a try and use the illustrations as you share the Word of God with children.

Illustrations from “Free Bible Images”

Another wonderful resource for visual aids is http://www.freebibleimages.org/  If you have used the illustrations from Sweet Publishing then you will notice that Free Bible Images has made use of many of their illustrations.

At this website you will find downloadable flip charts and illustrations for many Bible Stories.  I like that you can download in a number of formats.  When you download you will be asked to agree to their terms of use.  These are generally quite generous but you will need to read each one.