Man Let Down Through The Roof
Scripture: The scripture passage is Mark 2:1-12.
Key Scripture Verse for this Workshop: Mark 2:3-5 “Four people came up carrying a crippled man on a mat. But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they made a hole in the roof above him and let the man down in front of everyone. .... Jesus saw how much faith they had...” (Contemporary English Version)
1. Jesus helped the man to show he had the power to forgive sins.
2. We show our faith in God by helping and praying for others.
Children will create a story picture depicting the paralyzed man and his friend with faith.
1. Students will learn about the architecture of ancient homes.
Welcome and Introductions:
1. Welcome the children and introduce yourself. Wear your name tag. Make sure that everyone is in the right classroom! Kids will either already have name tags on, or will get a name tag from their shepherd. Make sure that you know everyone’s name and greet the students individually. Remember you are interacting with a different group of students each week that may not know you.
2. Start the “lesson time” with prayer. Ask for volunteers, but plan on praying yourself. A short prayer thanking God for the many skills and talents we as a Kirk family have received would be appropriate. Ask God to help us use those talents to help others and to help us use our talents with a good attitude.
Spend a short amount of time on the scripture passage referenced above. Have the children use their Bibles to locate the story. Story summary: Jesus healed a crippled man when the man’s friends lowered him through the roof into the room where Jesus was staying. Jesus was probably staying at Peter’s house in Capernaum and there were so many followers outside and in the building that it was impossible to enter through the door. The four friends were so sure that Jesus could bring about healing that they climbed up to the roof, dug through the thatched roof and then lowered the man who couldn’t walk by himself through the opening into Jesus’ presence.
Talk about the faith of the four friends. Jesus was staying at a small fishing village on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Because it was a small village, Jesus had probably seen the crippled man before. Jesus recognized the faith of the man’s four friends. They believed that the crippled man could be healed. The friends struggled to deliver the man who couldn’t walk into the presence of Jesus.
Provide some background on Middle East architecture. Show pictures of buildings and towns. They will see that homes in that part of the world are very different than houses here. Because the climate is mostly dry, people do not have to worry about heavy snow or pools of water on their roofs. The houses are connected side by side and the roofs are almost flat - sometimes they have slight domes in the center. Walls are made of stone and stone steps on the outside of the houses leading up to the roof. A roof is made of a network of wood beams, branches, and mud. These roofs are very strong and when the weather is good, they are used like a deck or patio. To keep the heat out, windows are few, small and high up.
2. Take a minute to talk to the children about the creation they are going to be doing in this workshop. Remind them that the folding and cutting may seem a little difficult at first, but it will be fun to have a stand-up picture to remind them of the healing power of faith.
1. Create! Pass out materials. Every child will receive a piece of heavy paper 8 3/8” x 11 3/4”- the best material is ˝ of a cream colored file folder, cut to size. Scissors, staplers and markers will be available to share. Put supplies in a basket or box and on the tables.
2. Tell the children to place the paper in front of them with a narrow end facing them.
3. They should then fold up about 4 ˝”, being sure to have the ends meet evenly. Their papers will now have about 4 ˝” doubled over for the house and about 2 1/2” single thickness for the rooftop (it does not have to be exact). Some popsicle sticks (or some other cardboard stick, rulers) cut to 4 ˝” would help with the measuring.
4. Now they should take markers and draw the outside of a stone house with lots of Bible time people crowded outside and four men on the roof. They should draw a line above the cut edge to designate a roof.
5. When the outside is completed, they can flip the short piece forward and draw Jesus and his followers and a man on a mat being lowered inside.
6. Lastly, an upside down “T” should be cut in the short side. Cut down the center of the short side and then along the fold in both directions until about 3/4” from each end. Use one staple on each upper edge to anchor the outside of the house to the inside. Open the flaps. You can see inside the house. Close the flaps and you see people gathered in front of the house. The friends are on the roof.
7. Turn the homes over and write the children’s names on the backs.
8. Show the children how to use the story-picture to tell the story about the paralyzed man and Jesus. Encourage the children to take home their story-picture to share with their parents.
9. Clean up! Involve all kids in this so that you will have time to share together in the closing. You may want to have a prearranged signal or sound for clean up and tell them at beginning of art project what that will be - perhaps giving them a 5 minute warning and then the final clean up notice to allow those who need a bit more warning that they need to complete whatever they are working on
1. No later than 10:35 the students should begin journaling. Shepherds will pass out the journals and pencils/markers. You may wish to give the children a sticker or a copy of the memory verse to put in their journal.
The children should spend a few minutes reflecting upon the morning’s lesson which people have brought us to Jesus? List the people who help to teach us about Jesus. (parents, Faith Quest teachers and Shepherds, Pastors, grandparents) Do we even feel that we could bring someone to Jesus? Sometimes healing is needed not for an injured body, but for feelings like worry or being afraid of something. Write the memory verse in your journal.
Extra Activity: prepare a crossword puzzle, word search or some other activity sheet for those who quickly finish the artwork or journal writing.
2. At 10:40 ask the kids to close their journals and prepare for the closing prayer.
Encourage the children to share ideas about how their friendship and faith in God’s power to heal can help others.
Say the Key Verse together (see above). You may want to have this verse printed on a banner and hung in the room, write it on the white board in the room, or have it on slips of paper that each child can take home with them. Pray! Ask the kids if they have any prayer requests. Thank God for healing.
If you have extra time with the older children, have them locate the other gospel accounts of this story -- Matthew 9:1-8 and Luke 5:17-26. Call out the passage and let them race to see who can be first to find it in the Bible.
Teacher preparation in advance:
1. Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
2. Prepare an opening/closing prayer in case nobody volunteers to pray.
3. Get books from public and/or Church library.
4. Purchase materials and cut to size. Make a sample.
5. Prepare all the materials you will need for the creation process. Have the materials ready to go. There will be limited time for the creation process so do everything you can to conserve time.
6. Decide how you want to close the lesson. Prepare a prayer or use one of the group suggestions above.
File folders cut in half and trimmed to 8 3/8” x 11 3/4”
Books from public library to show Middle East architecture:
Israel - Time/Life 956.94 page 103 has excellent picture of village houses in Palestine w/ exterior staircase
Biblelands - Tubb J220.9 page 6 has small picture of village near Hebron
Books from Church library:
Great People of the Bible and How they Lived - Readers Digest page 306 shows an excellent rendering of a small village of clustered houses with people on rooftops.