NT Week 19 - The Early Church

Here are a series of story-telling flaps that we made for a Stephen lapbook.  Here's the first page: Here's the second page: Fold the top of each flap back and glue it to the back of the second pane. Then, glue the back of the bottom pane to the lapbook.

I used these resources for some fun reiteration of the memory verse for our little ones in Sunday school for this week... enjoy!

Here's the story we used for this week's interactive story. http://growingkidsingrace.blogspot.com/2011/03/jesus-calls-fishermen-to-be-his.html One day, Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee. People crowded around Him and listened to the word of God. There were two fishing boats at the shore, one belonging to a fisherman named Simon. Jesus got into Simon’s boat and asked him to put the boat a bit further from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the people from the boat. After he taught the people, he told Simon, “Go to the deep water and put down the nets for a catch.” Simon wasn’t so sure. After all, he was the fisherman. “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” Simon was tired from being out all night. He didn’t want to try to catch fish again. Yet, somehow, Jesus seemed to know something he didn’t. So Peter said, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” So Peter and his friends cast the net into the water. And guess what happened?! Suddenly the whole net was full of fishes! There were so many, that the nets began to break! So they called their partners, James and John, to help them! And both boats were soooo full that they began to sink! Suddenly Simon fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Jesus told Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on, you will fish for people.” So Simon, James and John pulled their boats up on the shore, left everything and followed Jesus. (We wrote the rest, modified from the WEB.) Jesus went from there and he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, fixing their nets. Jesus called them and they followed him! Later, Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. Jesus told him to follow him, and Matthew got up and followed Jesus. But, as Jesus sat in Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. Some Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a doctor, but sick people do. Learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous to repentance. I came to call sinners to repentance.”