A Miraculous Turn Around
Group Activities

Sermon Title: "A Miraculous Turnaround"

Scripture Reading: Luke 7 :11-17

SANDWICH SIGN:

Have the children or teacher cut a sheet of poster board in half (or in quarters for small children). Tie strings to both halves to hang over the shoulders to form a SANDWICH SIGN that children will write the message MIRACULOUS TURNAROUND - I HAVE VICTORY IN JESUS!

DEAD MAN SKIT:

After the Bible lesson today, have the children act out the skit as the teacher tells the story once again. At the end of the story, have all the children say TOGETHER.... "What a miraculous turnaround - there is VICTORY in Jesus"! This could also be a mini skit for the morning church service - children LOVE to serve Jesus in this way! They could also sing the song, 'VICTORY IN JESUS'!

VICTORY PICTURE:

If the teacher has a picture of the children available, have them glue their picture onto a sheet of construction paper as a frame and title the picture - "I have VICTORY in Jesus, a Miraculous Turnaround." If a picture is not available, have the children draw their own picture and glue it onto the paper picture frame with the same title.

VICTORY BOOKMARK:

Have a bookmark and a ribbon available for child to put together. Have the child write the following words on the bookmark, "HE WHO BELIEVES IN JESUS WILL LIVE FOREVER"! or the teacher could have the "saying" typed out for each child to glue onto the bookmark and then decorate the bookmark with stickers.

MIRROR VICTORY:

If available, the teacher can have small mirrors or something similar that will show a reflection of the child as they look into it. The teacher will ask the children to LOOK INTO THIS MIRROR AND TELL WHO CAN HAVE VICTORY IN JESUS? On the back side of the mirror, the children can glue a slip of paper on which the teacher has typed, "I HAVE VICTORY IN JESUS. I AM A MIRACULOUS TURNAROUND!"

BIBLE VERSE FIND:

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die". (John 11:25-26) Have children take turns getting a Bible verse slip of paper that is taped around the room and bring it back to the table to tape onto a poster board that is labeled MIRACULOUS TURNAROUND. Children can piece together the memory verse. The verse can be shortened for younger children.

MIRACLE CIRCLE CHAT:

Encourage children to sit in a circle and play a game of IT'S IMPOSSIBLE. The children should say, "It's impossible to __________" and tap the next child. If they take more than 15 seconds (or amount of time the teacher chooses), then they are out of the circle. So the idea is to keep the ideas moving around the circle quickly for "It's impossible to ______." Then tell today's Bible story about this miracle.

MIRACLE CHALK ART:

Give each child a piece of light colored construction paper, a sponge paint brush, and some buttermilk to spread on the entire sheet of paper. Then the children can use colored CHALK to draw a picture of today's Bible lesson and let the art work dry! The buttermilk will keep the chalk from smearing or smudging!

MIRACLE PANTOMIME:

Divide the children into teams and pick a miracle from the Bible to "pantomime" to the other teams and when someone guesses what the story is - all the children will shout -- ITS A MIRACLE!

SHARE A SNACK:

The BIBLE tells us about many miracles that Jesus did. Let children take 2 graham crackers and place a little chocolate frosting and/or marshmallow cream between the layers. A frosting gel tube can be used to draw a picture of a cross on the front of their snack as well as a border to make their snack look like a Bible. If desired, the children can place a piece of fruit "ribbon" (red) to come out of the bottom of their Bible snack as a red ribbon of a book mark!

Song: "Victory in Jesus" by E. M. Bartlett

This song is under copyright, so we cannot provide a copy of the music here. It can be found in many hymnals and song books.