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Sunday School: 3–5s

Contents

Martin Luther 2–7

William Tyndale 8–12

Thomas Cranmer 13–16

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Martin LutherTheme: Because of Jesus, God can be our friend.Aim: That they want to be friends with God through Jesus.

Introductions• Have the ‘aged’ paper and ask ‘What do you think this is?’• Who’s the best? – Have a series of little challenges and decide who is

best. Ask: ‘Would it be nice if I could only be friends with those of you who were the best?’

TeachingYou will need:• Large pictures of a thumbs up sign, some money, and a cross.• Picture of Martin Luther• 95 Theses sheet ‘aged’ with tea and coffee – page 7• Red marker pen

A long time ago people were not sure how to be God’s friend. People in the church said that you had to be a good boy or a good girl [hold up large picture of a thumbs up]. Have any of you been a really good boy or girl? Have you ever been told off by Mummy or Daddy? Oh, dear. That means we can’t be God’s friend then! Do you think they were right? [accept responses then put a big red cross through the thumbs up]

Some people in the church said that if you paid enough money then maybe God would be your friend. [Count out some money and/or hold up a big picture of money]. How much do you think I would need? Lots! I don’t think I have enough money to be God’s friend then. Oh dear, that’s bad news. Do you think they were right? [Accept responses, then put a big red cross through the picture of money.]

This is Martin Luther [have picture]. He was very worried that he might not be God’s friend. He worked really hard every day to be as good as he could, but he could never be good enough! So he started reading the Bible to try to find the answer.

Then he realised, you cannot become God’s friend by paying money; that’s really silly. Martin Luther became quite angry. He was so angry that he wrote down why he thought it was wrong on a piece of paper [pretend to write on the 95 Theses sheet] and nailed it to the church door! [stick paper to the nearest door]


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Martin Luther continued

That made Martin Luther think, ‘If I can’t be friends with God by being good; and I can’t be friends with God by paying money, how can I become God’s friend?’ Do any of you think you know? [accept responses]

Nobody in those days knew or could help him, but Martin Luther found a bit in the Bible which says this: ‘The person who is friends with God by trusting Jesus will live forever.’

[Hold up large picture of a cross] Suddenly Martin Luther realised – it’s because of Jesus that we can be God’s friend. There’s no other way to be friends with God! [Summarise using the three large pictures of thumbs up, money and the cross]

Games• Trust games – blindfold one child at a time and carefully lead them

through an obstacle course. Did they believe that you were their friend and would keep them safe?

Crafts• Colouring picture of Martin Luther (page 5)• ‘Friendship’ band with ‘God is my friend!’ to colour in and stick (page

6)• Make a ’95 Theses’ – get them to age paper with tea, coffee and

sponges. They could then stick on the three pictures from the talk: thumbs up and money (both crossed out) and the cross.

Songs• ‘I belong to him’ and ‘There’s a Way Back to God’ (A Very, Very Big

God, EMU)


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Martin Luther

Martin Luther1483 – 1546

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God is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friendGod is my friend

The 95 ThesesOut of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and ordinary lecturer therein at Wittenberg, intends to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in that place. Therefore he asks that those who cannot be present and dispute with him orally shall do so in their absence by letter. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

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William TyndaleTheme: We can learn about Jesus.Aim: That they want to hear Bible stories, giving thanks that they can understand them.

Introductions• Listening game – have some objects on your table or around the

room. Slowly name them. As you do the children need to find that object. After naming a few, mention one or two in different languages and see what they do. Afterwards explain that people around the world use different words for these objects and that can make it hard to understand and know what they are saying.

• Sticking activity – print out some pictures of favourite Bible stories. Ask the children to stick their favourite on a large central piece of paper and tell you about it. Ask them, ‘Can you imagine not being able to hear these stories? Would that be good?’

• ‘How far to England?’ – this is a variation on What’s the Time Mr Wolf? A leader says how many steps they can come before trying to catch them. Each child has a small Bible hidden on their person and, if they get to England without being seen, they have to give the Bible to someone waiting eagerly to read it!

TeachingYou will need:• Large Bible and a cloth big enough to wrap it in• Picture of William Tyndale – page 10

A long time ago people could not read the Bible [hold up a Bible]. They couldn’t have the story of Jesus turning water into wine at bedtime. They couldn’t have their mummy or daddy tell them about how Jesus made better a man who couldn’t walk. When they opened a Bible it was using words that they didn’t know. It made no sense to them.

I’m going to tell you about a man called William Tyndale [hold up picture]. He was a teacher who taught little boys and girls like you. But what most bothered him was that these boys and girls could not read the Bible; nor could their mummies and daddies!

William Tyndale learnt what these funny words meant that nobody could read. And he started putting them in words that people could understand.


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William Tyndale continued

So where it said, ‘Iesu Christi Filii Dei’, Tyndale knew that this meant, ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God.’ Whereas it sounds like gobbledegook to you and me! And so he wrote it down so other people could read it too.

But not everyone liked what William was doing! So he had to leave and travel to another country so that he could carry on putting the Bible into words people could read. And once he had made the Bibles he had to hide them to get them back here. He would wrap them up in bits of old cloth [wrap up the Bible in a cloth] and hope that no-one noticed or looked inside them.

If they did find a Bible [unwrap Bible] they were very angry and set fire to it and were very cross with whoever was carrying it. In the end they caught William and killed him, just because he wanted people to be able to read the Bible and find out about Jesus. So we should say thank you to God that we can hear these wonderful true stories about Jesus for ourselves. We can read them whenever we want – isn’t that amazing?

Let’s pray and say thank you that we can hear these wonderful things about Jesus. Pray

Game• Smuggling – give them a small Bible. While everyone else isn’t looking

they need to hide it somewhere about their person or in the room. The others need to then guess where it is.

Crafts• With the pictures from the sticking activity, get them to make a ‘Bible’

by colouring and sticking them into a booklet (page 11)• Find some old rags and help to wrap their ‘Bibles’ to ‘smuggle’ them

home!• Colouring picture of William Tyndale (page 12)• Ears – print out some ear shapes on pink card, then have the children

attach them to a headband. They can listen to stories about Jesus because of William Tyndale.

Songs• 'Jesus Loves Me' (EMU, A Very, Very Big God)• 'The Bible Alphabet' (EMU, J is for Jesus)• 'The Best Book to Read' (Colin Buchanan, Follow the Saviour)• 'The Wholeeee Holy Bible' (Colin Buchanan, The Jesus Hokey Pokey)


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William Tyndale

My Bible

Name ....................................

William Tyndale1494 – 1536

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Thomas CranmerTheme: To understand how Thomas Cranmer wanted everyone to know the good news about Jesus.Aim: That they would be thankful and want others to hear the good news too.

Introductions• Church Building craft – collect some small tetrapak bottles (e.g. juice

cartons) and paint white or grey before the session. The children then decorate with doors and windows cut from coloured paper. They could also stick a cross at the top of the ‘roof’.

• Alternatively have a selection of boxes which they can paint and decorate to be church buildings.

TeachingYou will need:• Three model churches, if you haven't made these in the introduction• Small books – use BCP or other service books if you have them at

church• Picture of Thomas Cranmer – page 15

A long time ago lots of people hadn’t heard that they can be God’s friends just by trusting in Jesus. So if you went to [name of child]’s church then you might hear that you had to pay lots of money to be God’s friend. Is that right? No.

If you went to [another name]’s church you might hear that to be God’s friend you had to keep lots of important rules and be a really good boy or girl [point to their model]. Is that right? No, that’s not right either.

It may be that if you went to [another name]’s church you might hear the wonderful good news about how Jesus had died to forgive you. How brilliant! But what about these other churches, how were they going to hear?

A man called Thomas Cranmer was given a very important job by the King [hold up picture of Thomas Cranmer]. He was in charge of the church in the whole of this country. He decided that he wanted all the people in these churches to hear the wonderful news about Jesus, and how he makes us God’s friends. Church

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Thomas Cranmer continued

So Thomas wrote a little book which told everyone this good news really clearly [put a little book by each ‘church’]. Every church in the country had to use Thomas’ little book when they came to church. That way they would all hear how amazing it is that Jesus forgives us.

The great news is that we can hear about Jesus when we go to church. We can hear about how wonderful he is and how he died for us. But lots of other people don’t know these amazing things and we would love them to hear and be God’s friends too. And sometimes you might go to another church and hear something about Jesus which isn’t true. We can pray for those churches and for those people. Pray

Game• Reformation Musical Chairs – Have some chairs which are churches

which teach the good news. When the music stops they need to sit on a chair. Gradually remove the chairs until there is one left.

Crafts• ‘Book of Common Prayer’ – make a book by folding oblong pieces of

paper and sticking or stapling. The children then draw what they want other people to know about Jesus or stick in pictures.

• Thomas Cranmer colouring sheet (page 16)

Songs• 'He died upon the cross' (Remember the Lord, Colin Buchanan)• 'Jesus died for all the children' (EMU, A Very, Very Big God)


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Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer1489 – 1556

Documents

Reformation - Church Societychurchsociety.org/docs/ref_500_resources/cs_ref_500_sunday_school_3-5s.pdfcouldn’t have their mummy or daddy tell them about how Jesus made better a man