A Sunday School Lesson for Pentecost.

Pentecost Lesson
Materials for the Lesson

Introduction

If you wanted to say hello to every single person you would need to visit at least 5,720,000,000 people! You would also need to learn at least 2796 languages!

Can any of the children say “hello” in a different language? Here is the word “hello” in some of the more well-known languages:

Arabic: Al salaam a'alaykum [Ahl sah-LAHM ah ah-LAY-koom]

German: Guten Tag [GOOT-en Tahk]

Welsh: Bore da [BOH-ray DAH]

Indonesian: Selamat pagi [seh-LA-maht PAH-gee]

Chinese: Ni Hao [Nee HaOW]

You can find many more at this website: http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/hello/

Development

Imagine what it would be like to be in a strange place where everyone speaks a different language to you. How would you feel? (if time a small session could be acted out where the teacher uses a made-up “language” and tries to tell the children to do something such as fetch an item from another room).

The Jewish people, who live all over the world, like to visit Jerusalem at least once during their lives. It was the same back in the times when Jesus was on earth.

Bible reading: Acts 2: 1 – 11

What is a “tongue of fire” (or whatever terminology is used in your translation of the text)? Imagine how it would feel to have a flame on your forehead. It didn’t burn the disciples but would it tickle? How would you feel?

Activity for younger students: Make headbands with a tongue of fire attached to the front.

Activity for older students: make large copies of the ways of saying “hello” from a given list (see above). Create a display on a large sheet of paper or bulletin board. Add pictures (printed or hand-drawn) from around the world such as the Eiffel tower, Egyptian pyramids, a Mayan temple.

Extension activity: have students choose one nationality and practise how to say “hello” in that language. Children then move around the room greeting each other and must identify which languages are being spoken.

Conclusion

When God gave His Holy Spirit to the disciples, and they spoke in many languages, the other people were amazed and curious about what was happening. God still gives his Holy Spirit to all those who believe in Him. We don’t usually see tongues of fire on our heads however! So how can we know that the Holy Spirit is with us? The Bible tells us that those who have the Holy Spirit show: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control [Galatians 5:22-23] By showing all these things in our behaviour we too can make others interested in how the Holy Spirit is working in our lives.

Look at the headbands the children have made. They list the ways in which the Holy Spirit works in us all. In a final prayer ask the Holy Spirit to make His presence known in all hearts during the coming week.

Materials for the Lesson
(click the image on the right to download/view and print the pentecost head band.)

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