Gospel

 

What would Jesus do?

 

Jesus said the two greatest Commandments are to love God and to love your neighbour (Matthew 22:36–40), in this unit of work we are going to explore what Jesus might have meant by this.

1) Design challenge - The Wise and Foolish Builders, Matthew 7:24–27

 

Start with a fun design challenge: can you use 12 kebab sticks and some masking tape to create the tallest possible Bible stand?

 

You could use play sand, play dough or clay for the base. Which is easier?

 

Read the parable: imagine the scene from inside the story. What do you think the story is about and why? 

 

What did the wise and foolish builders learn? If it is not a manual for builders, why did Jesus tell this story?

 

Jesus is clear that his words give foundations for living — and without them, people will get swept away. This unit explores the kinds of things that form these foundations for living.

2) The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5–7

 

Read through these teachings from Jesus.  Which do you think are the most important and why?

 

Can you explain what they mean?  Talk about them together at home.

 

Can you make a poster illustrating how Jesus wants us to live and treat each other using some of these teachings?

3) A healing miracle: The Centurion’s Servant, Luke 7:1–10 

 

Can you video yourself acting out this story at home?  We would love to see it!

 

Note that Jesus brings ‘good news’ — for whom, in this story?

 

Talk about how Christians respond to the stories of Jesus’ healing miracles by imagining a conversation between two Christians about how to interpret and apply what they learn from the story. 

4) WWJD about prayer today?

 

 

Read some prayers used by Christians (for example, www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/topicalprayers.aspx).

 

Remember the four common components of prayer: praise, confession, asking, thanksgiving. Can you find them in the prayers?

 

Why do Christians think prayer is a good thing to do?

 

Have a go at one of these tasks:

 

a.Writing prayers that Christians might use for school, town, Britain or the world about topics of justice, health, kindness or peace, linking to the Sermon on the Mount.

 

b.Look at examples of the work of Prayer Spaces in Schools. How might this help someone to understand prayer?

 

c.Consider three ways in which prayer might help someone who is sad, worried, lonely, or wants to follow Jesus.

5) WWJD to make a better world?

 

The Christian story says humanity is a good thing (created by God), spoiled (fallen into sin), and that Jesus was God the Son, who came to Earth to turn things round.

 

So Christians who follow Jesus always want to make the world a better place.

 

Can you make a list of ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ from this unit of study, and match each ‘wrong’ with something Christians can do to follow Jesus?