A New Life in Jesus
Group Activities

Sermon Title: "A New Life in Jesus"

Scripture Reading:Mark 1:4-11

SIGNS GAME:

The teacher will have signs to show to the children, such as a STOP sign, a GO sign, a RAILROAD SIGN, etc. The children will do whatever the sign says. Let children know that today we will talk about a SIGN of a new life... baptism.

SIGN LANGUAGE:

Teach children a few sign language motions and then children can watch the teacher or other classmates make signs for what they want the children to do each time.

SIGNS BOOKLETS:

Give children 1/4 sheets of construction paper to form a small booklet. The title page can be decorated to say NEW LIFE IN JESUS.. and each page can have a picture of a road SIGN. The last page can have a picture of a little stick person coming out of the water to show the SIGN of Baptism...the beginning of a new life.

WORDLESS BOOKLET:

Give children 5 sheets of construction paper, cut in half. Each child will need a black page for sin, red page for Jesus' blood, white page for purity, yellow page for heaven and a blue page for baptism. The children can decorate each page with symbols, etc, but no words. Let children take turns telling what each page stands for in their booklet.

CROSS BOOKMARKER:

Provide children with a cross to trace and cut out and decorate with glitter glue and markers. Tie a thin red ribbon to a hole punched in the top and let children write NEW LIFE IN JESUS who washed my sins away. Tell children the red ribbon can remind them of Jesus' blood that was shed for our sins.

BIBLE VERSE PUZZLE:

Today's Bible verse (or a portion of the verse) can be typed or written in big letters on construction paper and cut into several sections. Let children put the verse together as a puzzle and recite the words on the puzzle verse. If time allows, let the teacher and children recite the Bible verse and EMPHASIZE a different word each time, such as emphasize CONFESSING the first time and SINS the next time, and BAPTIZED the next time, etc.

WATER WORKS:

Give children blue paper to tear into pieces to glue onto another piece of paper to look like water. Children can draw a person coming out of the water as in baptism, and write words from today's lesson on the waves of the water.

BIBLE WORDS HUNT:

The teacher can have parts of today's Bible verse written in big letters on a large poster board. The words that are missing can be hidden around the room for the children to find at the appropriate time and tape the missing word to the Bible verse poster. Words to HUNT for could be BAPTIZING, DESERT, PREACHING, REPENTANCE, FORGIVENESS, SINS, COUNTRYSIDE, JERUSALEM, CONFESSING, BAPTIZED, JORDAN RIVER, MARK.

SING A SONG:

INTO MY HEART; TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS; WORDLESS BOOK CHORUS;

SHARE A SNACK: Children can be given licorice or other candies that could form a CROSS before eating and talk about today's lesson, or could enjoy a cupcake with a cross frosted on the top.

Song: "Into My Heart" by Harry D. Clark

Words and Music (pdf)

MP3 Accompaniment Track

Song: "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" by Helen H. Lemmel

Words and Music (pdf)

MP3 Accompaniment Track

As far as we know, these songs are in the public domain and may be copied and reproduced for ministry purposes.