Bible heroes and villains series
Gather
Prepare the space
Display the words TRUE and FALSE on opposite ends of the meeting space.
Introduce the theme
Explain to the group that trusting what people say is so important. The Bible in many places talks of blessing those whose words are pure (1 Peter 3.10), and it also suggests that God is disgusted by those who lie (Proverbs 12.22).
Who do you trust fully in what they say?
Are there people whose words you cannot trust?
Gathering activity
Invite the children to take turns at telling two facts about themselves.
One fact should be true, one should be a lie.
The rest of the group have to guess which is the fact and which is the lie.
Open the Word
Read Matthew 3 . Herod is one of the most fascinating and villainous figures of the biblical world. Each year we are reminded of the character flaws of this evil king, when he is played by children in the annual Christmas nativity play.
Ask the children to think about why Herod is a villain.
How did he reject God?
Respond
Does this face lie?
A discussion and drawing activity.
You will need : flip chart size paper and marker pens.
- Draw two large faces on flip chart paper, one with a smiling face and one with a frowning face. From the mouths of both of the faces draw a speech bubble.
- Ask the children to shout out ideas about the effects of telling the truth and telling lies. Discuss these ideas as you write them into the relevant speech bubbles.
True or false?
Tell the children that you are going to give them statements that could be false or true, they must decide and then make their way to the end of the space that you have identified as ‘true’ and ‘false’. Some examples of statements to give are on the web .
Session material on Bible villains: