Teaching 1 Peter 1:1-21

[This is our first week teaching 1 Peter. Its hard!]

3-5s

Theme: God chose Christians to be His and not belong to this world

Intro:

Who am I? – have lots of stickers. Choose one of them and the others need to tell you about themselves. As they do write on a sticker and stick on. Examples – name, boy/girl, age, where they live, etc.

Is … an alien? What is an alien? [explain concept: someone from another planet, someone who doesn’t belong here on earth, its not their home]

Bible Teaching:

• Introduce letter written by Peter to Christians, a long time ago – have a scroll made to look old with tea bags and coffee
• Peter tells these Christians that they have a new ‘identity’, new words saying who they are. They were Christians who were having a tough time because they had stopped doing the bad things their friends were doing. They were thinking, ‘Should I join in with my friends again. But Peter says, ‘No, that’s not who you are anymore’. So who are they now?
• Chosen – read v1-2 and ask what it means – stick it on ‘Chosen’ with a tick. Before God even made the world He had chosen … to be His. Before you were even born God had chosen you.
• ‘Away from home’ – explain what this means. They belong in heaven not this world – stick it on word with a picture of a house. Also see v4-5: being kept safe
• New life – v3 – stick it on with a picture of a seedling. The old life of living the way their friends did has gone. Jesus has given them a new life inside them, now they are to live for Him.
• Children of God – read v 14 and 17 and stick it on with a picture of a child/baby. We can be that because he has ‘bought us’ – read v18-19. God has chosen us to be His children.

Peter says that Christians are like aliens, not because we come from another planet, but because we don’t belong here on earth, its not our home. We belong to God, He’s bought us with Jesus, chosen us. So we should live for Him and not be like people around us who do lots of wrong things.

Give them an alien egg with their name on it – but keep in class to bring out each week.

Pray

Activities

• Have an outline of a body shape – they (or you) write their name at the top – then stick on the pictures used during the talk
• Make an old scroll of Peter’s letter using tea bags and coffee (careful!). They stick on ‘From Peter’, ‘To Christians’

Songs

Our God is a great Big God

No more tears and Follow, Follow (from a Very, Very Big God)

5-11s

Theme: God chose Christians to be His and not belong to this world

Intro:

Aliens! – essentially stuck in the mud: the aliens need to run away because they are different

Bible Story:

• Introduce letter written by Peter to Christians, a long time ago – have a scroll made to look old with tea bags and coffee. Have a Peter ‘writing’ the letter. He’ll be the one that sticks on the labels
• These Christians are suffering because they are not doing the things that they used to do as non-Christians. What would you say to them?
• Have a Christian who Peter is writing to. They will have these words stuck on them.
• Peter tells these Christians that they have a new ‘identity’, new words saying who they are. They were Christians who were having a tough time because they had stopped doing the bad things their friends were doing. They were thinking, ‘Should I join in with my friends again. But Peter says, ‘No, that’s not who you are anymore’. So who are they now?
• Chosen – read v1-2 and ask what it means – stick it on. Before God even made the world He had chosen … to be His. Before you were even born God had chosen you.
• ‘Away from home’ – explain what this means. They belong in heaven not this world – stick it on. Also see v4-5: being kept safe
• New life – v3 – stick it on. The old life of living the way their friends did has gone. Jesus has given them a new life inside them, now they are to live for Him.
• V10-12 – This is amazing! The prophets of the OT and the angels would love to be like you! You get to follow Jesus and know who He is, they just looked forward to Him coming.
• Children of God – read v 14 and 17 and stick on. We can be that because he has ‘bought us’ – read v18-19. God has chosen us to be His children. That means we should live as God’s children (read v15-16)

Summary: We don’t belong in this world – we are aliens here! We belong to Jesus because He has bought us, that means we should live differently, but it may mean we get a hard time from our friends because of it.

Pray

Table time:

Knowledge

Who wrote this letter?

Who was he writing to?

What was happening to these people?

Understanding

What did Peter want them to know?

How would this help them?

Application

Have you realised that you’re an ‘alien’, you belong to God?

Can other people see that you’re different because you belong to God?

Funsheet

Pray for suffering Christians