Title:

The early church was full of excitement as they saw more and more people becoming Christians every day. Many people who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost stayed longer to be with the rest of the new Christians. The church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread (Lord’s Supper), and prayer.

The church is not a building but is made up of Christians. The church today does the same things as the early church.

Bible verses used in this episode:

• Acts 2:42-47
• Matthew 16:18
• Ephesians 2:19-22
• Hebrews 10:24-25

Tips for teaching:

For Children:

• To help children understand that the church is people instead of a building, first, draw an outline of a church building on a large piece of paper.  Then, ask the children to write names or draw pictures inside the outline depicting all of the people at church.  Once they have done this, then use scissors to cut away the outline.  All that is left is the people.  The saved people of God do not need a building to be the church.
• Plan a way for the children to participate together in an aspect of church life that is unfamiliar to them.  They might prepare the Lord’s Supper for the church or interview the preacher and learn what preparations he is making for the upcoming sermon. A visit to a member’s home is another idea.
• Older children might take photographs or make a scrapbook to show what your church does together.
• Sing “Building Up the Temple” and talk about Ephesians 2:19-22  

For Adults:

• Challenge the class to memorise these verses (or, as an alternative, just verse 42).  And then challenge several people to recite these verses in the class.
• Print out the text for each member of the class.  Ask them to circle all the words and phrases that denote groups, such as “they spent time”, “everyone felt great respect”, and “all believers stayed together”.  How many of these describe your class?
• Ask the class to brainstorm ways your class group can be more devoted to these four things (apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer).  Be creative.  What can you do to make your gatherings (your fellowship time) more meaningful and rich?  What can you do as a class to make each one feel special, loved and valued?  For example, one thing you can do to make prayer more meaningful is to pray at the beginning of class, in the middle and at the end.  One prayer is focused on praising God, another on the spiritual growth of your class, and the other on the needs the class has.  When you come together, make it a habit to eat together with a little twist.  Always include bread that the host will break at the start of the meal to signify fellowship, unity and friendship. 

Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:

Bible Lesson:  The First Church 

Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.

Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.

For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org