Scripture: Mark 4:21-32, Luke 8:16-32, Matthew 13:31-32
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn Jesus told parables to help people understand godly principles.
- Students will learn parables contain important lessons God wants us to remember and follow.
- Students will learn God wants us to have faith and tell others about God.
- Students will learn how to shine God’s light.
Guiding Questions: How can students learn to reflect God to others?
Materials: Flashlights
Procedure: Review the students Parables of the Lamp, Seed, and Mustard Seed from the scriptures above. Highlight the main principles taught in each parable and remind students that parables are used to teach us lessons that God wants us to know to help us lead a Christian life. Explain to students that God finds it very important that we share our faith with others.
Introduce the activity. Bring in flashlights and have students try to hide the light. Note that it is almost impossible to entirely hide light unless we turn it off. Our lights should shine brightly. We shouldn’t try to hide that we are a Christian. Have students come up with various ways they can shine their light showing the way to God. Challenge them to do one or more of those things this week and then discuss what happened.
Additional Questions: How can students shine light in places where they most commonly communicate with others?
Supplemental Activity: Have students create a plan for how they can shine their light within a specific community (classroom, school building, extracurricular activity, etc.). Students can report back the following week with how the plan went.