Until the conversion of Cornelius, the gospel message had been preached almost exclusively to Jewish people.  Any Gentile (anyone not born into a Jewish family) who wanted to follow Jesus would have first converted to Judaism.  But the good news of Jesus was for everyone and not just the Jews.  God used a vision of animals on a sheet and a miraculous pouring out of the Holy Spirit to reveal this important truth to the Apostle Peter and those he was teaching.  Following this, Peter baptised Cornelius, a Roman centurion, making Cornelius the first Gentile to become a Christian.

God wants everyone to hear about Him and become Christians.

Bible verses used in this episode:

• Acts 10:1-11:18
• 1 Timothy 2:4

Outline:

1. (Acts 10:1-8) In Caesarea: 
   An angel comes to Cornelius in a vision and tells him to send for Peter.
2. (Acts 10:9-23a) In Joppa: 
   Peter has a vision and then decides to accompany messengers 
3. (Acts 10:23b-48) In Caesarea again: 
   Cornelius is converted
   1. Cornelius welcomes Peter into his home 
   2. Peter makes a speech
   3. The Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the other Gentiles he had gathered.
4. (Acts 11:1-18) In Jerusalem: 
   Peter explains everything to the Jewish Christians

Tips for teaching children:

• Define the words “Jew” and “Gentile”
• Make a collage of pictures. To do this, you can first have children copy the words of 1 Timothy 2:4 on the centre of a paper or poster.  Surround these words with pictures of people.  These pictures could be ones you have gathered from magazines or downloaded from the internet and printed.  Children will enjoy cutting these out and glueing them to the poster.  If you prefer, the children can draw pictures of people instead of cutting and gluing.

Tips for teaching adults:

• This is a long story, but it needs to be read in class.  Divide the story into sections.  The best way is to do it according to the different scenes in the story.  Look for scene changes.  For instance, scene 1 would be 10:1-8, scene 2 would be v.9-16 and so on.  Choose a reader for each scene, and have the reader stand in a certain place in the room to read.  This would represent the different scenes in the story.  Then, read the story.
•  Ask the class to reflect on the two primary characters: Cornelius and Peter.  What boundaries did Cornelius cross to become a devout follower of the God of the Jews?  How had his life already changed?  What boundaries did Peter have to cross to interact with Cornelius?
•  Ask the class these questions: What are some good things about boundaries?  What are some bad things about boundaries? 
• Follow up with: What boundaries do you still need to cross for the sake of the gospel?   What boundaries must our congregation cross to take the gospel to people?

Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:

Bible Lesson:  Cornelius Becomes a Christian 

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