Sunday 7th June 2020 - Peter
Peter
Worship:
Let’s be thankful that we can ask God to be with us in everything in every part of every day. Join in with the Well actions team! ‘Everyday’ by Hillsong United.
Word:
How do we see hope in Peter’s story, despite mistakes along the way?
For older children - Challenge your children to tell you everything they know or can remember about Peter (Simon Peter) from the New Testament.
For all ages - Here are two good overviews of Peter’s journey with Jesus:
(On the children’s website of friends and heroes, there are video links to stories about Peter too.)
There are many things we can learn from Peter, his experiences as one of Jesus’ closest disciples and how he grew in faith and confidence. Perhaps over this week you could spend some time reading from God’s word about Peter or/and from 1 and 2 Peter together. Here are some things to think about in relation to Peter and how we can find hope, even when we’ve made mistakes:
- Talk about Peter’s job as a fisherman; what do you imagine it was like being a fisherman?, why do you think he left that behind to follow Jesus?, why do you think people talk about disciples being ‘fishers of men’?
- Why did Jesus give a new name to Peter - he had been known as Simon before whilst he was a fisherman (John 1:42)? Do you know what your name means? Why do you think names are important?
- Peter witnessed many of Jesus’ amazing miracles. Find out about some of them and imagine how it would have been to have been there. How do you think seeing such miracles increased Peter’s faith and hope?
- Peter worked out who Jesus was and is recorded as being the first to say that Jesus is the Son of God (the Messiah) (Matt. 16: 13-19). But Peter was also the one who denied (claimed not to know) Jesus after his arrest, not just once, but three times (Luke 22: 54-62). Peter went on to receive Holy Spirit at Pentecost and explained about Jesus to many thousands of people who went on to believe in Jesus and be baptised (Acts 2: 14-41). We see in Peter, that none of us get it right all of the time, but that God can use all of us to His glory - there is great hope for us all in the example of Peter.
Activity Suggestions:
Under 7’s
Read / re-tell / watch the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water from Matt. 14. This video tells the story
or this link has a child-friendly re-telling
Get your child to act out the story - to pretend to be Peter. Ask them to imagine being Peter and talk about how you felt and why you got out of the boat, and why you started to sink etc. You might want to make sound effects for the storm or dress up or even make a video of your re-telling!
7-11’s
Make a mosaic/pictorial representation of Peter’s life
Or
Hot-seating - choose a couple of different stories about Peter from the Bible and get your child to sit in the ‘hot-seat’ and imagine themselves as Peter. Ask them questions about what they’ve seen/heard/done/how they feel etc.
Reflection:
Make a paper prayer boat. Instructions to make the boat can be found online. For example
Often the key thing that is talked about linked to Peter getting out of the boat and walking to Jesus on the water is to remember to keep your eyes on Jesus! Talk about how there is always hope in Jesus as you make / float your boat. Older children may want to write a prayer on their boat.
Perhaps the adults can share about the difference it has made in their lives when they have kept their eyes on Jesus (or what happened when they went alone).