The Easter Journey

The Easter Journey

Good Friday is a very reflective day, one that is oftenmore solemn leading up to Easter Sunday. It is helpful for Good Friday to have a separate space and activity for children right from the start of the service. This can often be a slightly shorter service than usual. Below you will find an outline with some suggestions for a shorter kids’ church lesson.

In preparation for these activities read Mark 10:45

Connecting In:

In the Pond/ Out the Pond:

To play this game have the kids stand in a line next to each other – shoulder to shoulder.

When you say ‘in the pond’, the kids jump forward one jump.

When you say ‘out the pond’, the kids jump backwards one jump.

The secret is to say ‘in the pond’ and ‘out the pond’ really quickly and alternately so that the kids get confused.

This game is just a fun game and will get them into the practice of jumping around for the main activity.

The Main Thing:

For this activity you will need:

2 mats
Large pillows OR large sheets of paper
A large room with enough space for your children to jump around

First of all read the verse from Mark 10:45 to the children. ‘Inthe same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve. The Son of Man came to give his life to save many people.’ (ICB)

Ask:

I wonder who the Son of Man is.

I wonder what this verse means.

Place the 2 matson the floor.

Choose a mat to represent ‘people’ and the other to represent ‘God.’

Have the children stand on the ‘people mat’ and leave the ‘God mat’empty.

Talk about how people were created to have a friendship with God and be close to God. As you say this move the ‘God’ mat close so the children can easily step back and forth between the two mats to represent the friendship that God has with people.

Explain that people started doing things wrong that hurt other people or hurt God. This caused people to be separated from God and broke the friendship. As you say this move the ‘God’ mat far enough away sothe kids can’t jump to it. This willshow them that when people made bad choices (sin) it broke our friendship with God.

Point out that no matter what people try to do, we cannot fix the gap that sin created between us and God all by ourselves.This made God really sad but God had a plan.

‘God sent Jesus to the world – God’s son. While Jesus was on earth He talked about God’s love and how God wanted to be friends with everyone.The things that we did wrong still got in the way.’

Ask:

I wonder if you know what today is called. (Good Friday)

Who can tell me what is special about today?

Remind the children that Jesus is God’s son and that Jesus was perfect. He never ever sinned and did anything wrong.

Ask:

So why would they crucify (kill/murder) Jesus when he hadn’t done anything wrong?

Say:

‘That seems so unfair. But God allowed Jesus to take the punishment for the world’s sins. Pilate demanded that somebody be punished and God allowed and gave up Jesus who he loved so very much.’

Wow, what do you think of that?

‘Jesus was used to repair our friendship with God. By taking the punishment for our sins Jesus created a bridge between us and God. Jesus’ death on the cross repaired the gap that sin created between God and us.’

(To illustrate how Jesus’ death and resurrection bridged the gap between God and us, create a ‘bridge’ between the two mats using pillows or paper and let the children walk freely across.)

‘When we ask Jesus into our hearts, we are forgiven of our sins and can enjoy a friendship with God. That’s what we celebrate at Easter!’

‘God’s wants to have a friendship with us. All we have to do is say sorry to God for the things that we do wrong and ask him to be our friend.’

‘Jesus died to bring us back together with God.’

Tying In:

Ask:

I wonder what sorts of things we may do that may stop us having a friendship with God.

Explain that our sin, things we do wrong blocks God from our lives and the only way to God is for us to say sorry. We need to trust God and ask Jesus to be part of our everyday lives. We don’t want anything to be in the way of our relationship with God. We want to live everyday being friends with God and Jesus.

Ask the children if any of them would like to walk over the bridge between themselves and God by telling God they are sorry, asking God to be their friend and believing in Jesus Christ.

Some example prayers could be:

I am sorry for the things in my life that are wrong.
Thank you Jesus for taking the punishment for my sin.
Thank you that you love me so much.
Help me when I am tempted to make the right choice.
Thank you for dying on the cross for me.
I would love you to be my friend and live in my life.

Spend time praying with the children and have a leader finish with a prayer.

Remind the children that Sunday is coming and it is an exciting day. They need to come and find out why.

1 of 3 Written by Debbie Taylor