Jesus meets us

[John 17:1-26]

Intro: We’ve seen Jesus meet lots of people while he was here on earth, both before and after he died on the cross. But what difference does that make to us? It was 2000 years ago and Jesus has gone back to heaven so it doesn’t matter… or does it?

Games: To get to know the kids better as individuals

1. Bulldog - One person stands in the middle to catch people as they run across the space. Kids may run across the room if what is said is true of them, if they get to the other side they are safe but if they are touched by someone in the middle they will join them to help catch people next time.
   Some suggestions for things that are true:
   Run if you are blonde;
   Run if you can swim;
   … have curly hair;
   … are wearing trousers;
   … are an older brother/sister;
   … have been on an aeroplane;
   … were born in March; etc.

2. I Have Never - Have one child in the middle of a circle who must think of something they have never done. Everyone else who has also never done this must swap places and the person in the middle will try and sit down. Whoever is left without a seat is the next person to think of what they’ve never done. For older children: have them swap places if they have done what the person in the middle has never done. Some helpful questions to ask kids whose minds have gone blank:
   Have you broken any bones?
   What country haven’t you been to? (With suggestions if necessary)
   Is there something you haven’t eaten?
   Which school do you go to? Now name a different school you’ve never been to?

3. Name game - Stand in a circle with one person in the middle. Pick someone to start by saying someone else’s name they must then say someone else’s name. For instance: you say ‘Haris’ Haris then says ‘Tarun’ who says ‘Darcy’ and Darcy must choose someone else’s name. The person in the middle must try to touch the last person whose name has been said before they say someone else’s name. No-one is allowed to move away to avoid being tagged and anyone who moves or is tagged becomes the new person in the middle. For round a table you don’t need someone in the middle instead if a child is too slow or sends the name directly back to the person who sent it to them, they are out. Have them put one hand on their head for their first mistake and the other hand for their second when they are fully out. After a round or two with their real names you can try surnames, favourite colour, favourite vegetable etc.

Drama:

It’s strange to have this under the subheading drama because what we did (and therefore what I suggest doing) is having someone come in, as themselves, and talk about how they met Jesus. It can be one of the leaders or just someone from church. We picked someone who was a Sunday School kid when she became a Christian since we thought that’d connect best with our kids. You could have a couple of people and allow the kids to ask questions at the end.

This button will take you to a page which can help to prepare to tell your own story.

Activity: to help understand the relations Jesus has with his people today

Play Leader Bingo. Collect various facts from your leaders: favourite Bible verse, age when you became a Christian, best thing about knowing Jesus, biggest surprise about Jesus, looking forward to…
Mix up the answers and put them in a little chart and give the children one. They had to go and ask the leaders if a fact was about them (the older ones could read them out, the younger ones could just point to one and have the leader read it) the leader would then say ‘yes’ and write their name on it or say ‘no’ if it wasn’t them. If you had five facts from five leaders try making two 5 by 4 grids with a different selection of facts on to avoid people copying.

Songs:
Your Love - Sovereign Grace Music
Jesus is the King - Cool Worship Kids

Memory Verse:

Have a bunch of small prizes (sweets, biscuits, erasers, pens etc) that you can give the kids for remembering the verses they have learnt.

John 1:1, John 1:10-14 and John 11:40.