Intergenerational Pentecost Activity
By Laura Sherlock and Drew Robertson at Westminster Church, Des Moines
Recently we had a chance to have all of our students together in one class and decided to teach them a group lesson about Pentecost. After adding the Men’s group and a few volunteers we created an amazing intergenerational activity that we wanted to share with you! If you have any questions e-mail Laura at lsherlock@westpres.org.
Tonight we are on a special mission to learn about Pentecost. Now remember, Jesus has just died and risen again, but it was dangerous for his disciples. They were being hunted and had to be careful about who they talked to. Your job tonight is to find the lost disciples and learn about the words of Jesus.
Supplies:
Battery Operated Candle, one per student – we purchased these from dollar tree and used the color changing ones so the kids could see the difference between students and disciples.
Larger Battery Operated (or real) candles – one for each disciple.
Worksheet – download here.
Students – we paired up our K-5 kids with our 6-12 kids so that the older kids could help the younger ones with writing and searching. For our activity we had 12 pairs in the end. If you have too many of either age then have a team of three.
Adults – 12 adults to serve as the disciples. If you are missing a few disciples you can tell the kids that they have been put in jail and have left the word for you. That station can have a candle with the Jesus quote on the table. The quotes can be found here.
Pencils
Large Dark Room – we used our large dining area in our basement where we can get it very dark.
Setup
Have older students get the room set up, tell them what is happening so that they will take more ownership of it. We told our older students that if they act like this is lame then so will the younger students. Give each older student their worksheet and a pencil. And gather them in one area of the room.
Print out the disciples’ phrases and give them to each disciple. Explain to them their job tonight.
Have the older kids sit together in an area of the room.
Younger students are in the hallway waiting.
Activity
Gather the younger students outside of the darkened room and give them each a candle.
Gather all the students together in a circle and tell them the story of Pentecost. We used the story in the Spark Storybook Bible so that it wouldn’t go over the heads of the younger kids. The story tells about how the disciples gathered and were blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Like their little candles in front of them the light was passed on to them but did not burn.
Talk with the kids about what it would be like for the disciples. They had to be careful who they shared the word of Jesus with because they were being hunted! The authorities wanted them to stop spreading the word and were trying to have them arrested. Your job tonight is to find them and learn Jesus’s words.
Pair younger kids with older kids. Their job is to go around the room and find the hidden disciples. Now the disciples will turn on their candles.
When the pair goes up to a disciple the disciple will say their phrase. The students will fill in the blanks on their worksheet. On the disciples paper the words that they are missing are bolded so that they can help the kids know what words they will need if they don’t get them the first time they read it.
Have the pairs go around the room looking for the disciples. If possible, have everyone whisper to reiterate that this was dangerous for the disciples. (We tried this but after a few stations everyone forgot)
When the worksheet is done have the pair come up to a program leader and have them review it. We gave them each a treat when they finished. We then had the pair go to another room and have free-play while the others finished up.
We had a lot of fun with this activity. The kids learned some Bible verses and the adults enjoyed teaching the kids. If you have any feedback please e-mail lsherlock@westpres.org.