St. Paul Missionary

OBJECTIVE

Children will learn of God's plan to use St. Paul, who was an extremely devout Jewish person, to become a Christian and an evangelist. St. Paul spread Christianity throughout southern Europe (Greece and Italy) and parts of Asia (Turkey, Syria, Iran & Iraq). St. Paul ordained many bishops and priests and instituted the first church. Our church is following St. Paul's directions for ordination and church doctrines. This makes our Church an Apostolic church with deep roots going back to the early Christian era and direct disciples of Christ.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 10 Minutes

Please review the previous week's lesson. (5 minutes)

The previous lesson discussed the Pentecost and the spread of Christianity after the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Check with the children about the life application/task were given to be nice to their parents and after being nice you tell them the Holy Spirit inside me told me to be nice. Please give them time to answer and talk about their experience.

Also please review last week's verse.

• Last week we talked about the Day of Pentecost and how Christianity starts to spread. Who made the first preaching to people and converted 3,000 people to Christianity? (St. Peter)
• Was St. Peter one of the 12 disciples and what was his profession before becoming a disciple of Christ? (yes, fishermen)
• Today we will talk about St. Paul, do you know who is St. Paul? Was he one of the disciples? (No)
• He was not one of the disciples that followed our Lord Jesus Christ while He was on earth, but was selected by God later after Christ went up to heaven. Let's see how that happened.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Acts Chapter 8 & 9

Memory Verse

"I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers." (Philemon 1:4)

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 25 Minutes

• St. Paul's name used to be Saul and he was a well-educated Jewish person. When he heard many Jewish people started to become Christians, he became very upset and decided to torture them to bring them back to be Jewish and kill them if they didn't agree.
• One day Saul was in Jerusalem and saw many Jewish people taking a Christian person out of the city and they started to stone him. The person's name was Stephen and instead of saying bad words to them, St. Stephen asked God to forgive them for what they are doing to him. Saul was standing there and saw and heard the whole thing. Saul was thinking about what happened and felt very strange, and wondered how a person can forgive those who hate him and are killing him.
• Later, Saul told his family that he is going out of town to Damascus to arrest some of the Jewish people who became Christians. While on his way, Saul was blinded by a bright light and heard the voice of Jesus talking to him. Paul was blinded and was unable to see after seeing the bright light. Paul obeyed Jesus' instructions to go to Damascus and waited.
• The Lord appeared to a Christian man in Damascus called Ananias and told him to go to Saul and pray for him to receive his sight. He was baptized and received the Holy Spirit. His name has changed to St. Paul.
• We now know St. Paul was not one of Christ's disciples but the Church considers him as one of the apostles because he preached in many places. He took long trips and we can take a look at the map. You can see he preached and started churches in many countries, like in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Syria, and other islands in the Mediterranean Sea. He ordained bishops and priests wherever he went. The Holy Spirit guided him in every step he made. He always prayed and asked God what his next step would be and where he should go.
• One time St. Paul was arrested and the Jewish people decided to stone him as they did with St. Stephen. He fell down and they continued to stone him until they thought he died and left him for dead. But the next day miraculously he stood up and went around preaching again. The Jewish people became very upset and did not know what to do with him.
• St. Paul was arrested many times because he was preaching the word of God. He was beaten when they arrested him, but he did not change his mind about being Christian or preaching the word of God to everyone.
• St. Paul made many disciples and some of them became bishops like St. Timothy, who became a bishop of a city called Ephesus.
• He wrote 14 letters and they are in the New Testament and they are called the Pauline Epistles. We read part of his writings every time we have a liturgy or a service in the church.
• He was arrested for the last time and sent to Rome for trial in front of Caesar the emperor. There he received the crown of martyrdom, and we commemorate his feast on July 12th.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 10 Minutes

• What was St. Paul's original name? (Saul)
• What was Saul's religion at first? (Jewish)
• Did he originally like Christianity? (No)
• What did he use to do to the Christians? (He tortured and killed them)
• Who was the Christian person that made a difference with Saul when he saw him? (St. Stephen)
• How did he become Christian? (God appeared to him on the way to Damascus and sent Ananias)
• How many letters did St. Paul write? (14)
• Was St. Paul one of the disciples? (No but the church considers him one of the apostles because of his large service)

LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes

• A big part of St. Paul's reason to think about Christianity was St. Stephen. The critical moment was at the time of St. Stephen's stoning; although he was being killed, he asked God to forgive those who were hurting him. In early Christianity, preaching was not only by giving sermons and talking to unbelievers only, but an important part of preaching was the way each Christian was behaving. The non-believers when they see someone doing good things or being nice to others, they ask him "have you met a Christian today"
• Do you think you can do the same this week? Will you be able to do everything at home and with your friends cheerfully and lovingly, even if they do things you will not like?

ACTIVITY - 5 Minutes

Complete the Crossword Puzzle or the Connect the Dots activity together based on the story of St. Paul's conversion.

SERVANT RESOURCES

Map of St. Paul journeys

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

This week the children learned about the life of St. Paul and they were asked to be cheerful and accept anything that happens good or bad in a nice Christian way. Please encourage them to do the right thing.

LESSON ATTACHMENTS