The Church needs helpers

Acts 6:1-7

To help the children learn to work in the Church to serve others.

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15, NIV*).

Who do your children think of when they talk about “working in the church”? The pastor? The teachers? They may think they are not old enough to take responsibility in the church. Or maybe they think it is the church that should do something for them. Although adults have greater responsibilities, children must understand that the church grows when its members work together to solve problems and help others. During this stage, elementary children want to help in what they can. Generally, they are helpful and cooperative. Take this opportunity to assign tasks they can do, and recognize their efforts.

This is the best age to teach your children that God is pleased when we do his work, and to motivate them to serve in their local church.

Acts 6:1-7. In this biblical passage we see that the early church grew by leaps and bounds, and that caused a serious dispute. Many had stopped attending the synagogue and gathered around the houses to praise God.

One of the activities of the synagogue was to meet the needs of the poor, and Christians continued that practice in the house churches. However, the task was not easy. The leaders realized that caring for the poor was an important and full-time ministry.

Although the apostles tried to participate in everything, they needed help to make the church work well. Therefore, they asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to find suitable people to carry out this task.

The members of the early church knew that it was necessary to collaborate and preach the gospel to attract more people to salvation. And there were seven men willing to accept the call, and to fulfill the mission of taking care of their neighbor and “feeding the hungry.”

Use this lesson to teach your children that it is important to participate in the work of the church and care for one another.

Thanks for your job

Ask your children to make cards or write thank-you letters for those who work in church ministries (the pastor, teachers, ushers, deacons, etc.). It would be better for each child to write to a different person.

Ask them: What are some of the jobs that people in our church do? (Allow them to respond and you complement the information.)

Who is in charge of doing those jobs? (Allow time for them to respond; they may express that they do not know who performs the different ministries.)

When finished, make sure all cards reach their recipient.

If possible, invite a young man to dress up as a character from biblical times and tell the story. Tell your children that today’s guest represents a member of the early church and will tell them a very interesting story.

The church needs assistants

“Peter, James, Matthew, we need to talk with you. You are forgetting to take care of our widows when you distribute the daily food.”

The apostles listened attentively to what they were telling them. They were Greeks who had come to Jerusalem from a distant place. When they heard the good news about Jesus, they had become Christians. The church was growing rapidly, but now these Greek brothers had a problem.

“Your custom of giving food to widows and orphans is very good,” the Greek believers said, “but they are not fair. Most of the food is given to the Hebrew widows, but Greek widows and orphans do not receive enough.”

“If that is what is happening, it is not fair,” the apostles answered. “Let’s gather all the Christians to talk about this problem.”

“That sounds good to us,” the others replied.

In that meeting, the apostles reported on the complaint that the Greeks had presented.

“There is a problem,” said the apostles. “It would not be right for us to stop preaching, because that is the ministry that Jesus left us. But the widows and orphans need food, so we thought of a plan that we are sure will work. We are going to pray and then we will choose seven men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will give them the task of caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, and taking care of the widows and orphans. Thus we apostles can devote ourselves to prayer, teaching and preaching the Word of God.”

“It is a great idea!” expressed the others. “Who will we choose?”

“What do you think of Stephen?” someone suggested. “He is a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.”

“We recommend Philip,” said others. “He is also a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit.”

In this way, they chose Stephen, Philip and five other Christians filled with the Spirit.

Then, they were presented to the apostles for their approval.

The apostles prayed, putting their hands on the seven deacons, and told them, “The work of the Lord is being carried out.”

Thanks to that help, all the widows and orphans received the necessary food. The apostles had time to study the Word of God, preach, teach and pray. And more and more people heard the good news about Jesus and became Christians.

The church grew even more, because everyone worked together to fulfill God’s work.

Whose job is that?

Hand out Student Activity Sheet #177-A. Instruct the children to draw a line from each figure (the one of the apostles and the one of the seven deacons) with the things they did.

Ask them to circle the three jobs they consider most important.

When they are finished, explain that everything that is done in the church is valuable, however small it may seem. Remind them that this is the teaching of today’s story: any work that is done for the Lord is important.

I can do it!

Ask them to go to Student Activity Sheet #177-B, and tell them: “There are many tasks that children can do to help in the work of the church. Can you give me some examples?” (Allow them to respond, some suggestions: help keep the church clean, invite our friends, participate in services and classes, sing for a special occasion in a choir, pray, help those in need.)

Ask them to look at the illustrations and then to color the ones that show jobs they can do in the church. Then, ask them to make a drawing in the blank space about how they can use their talents and abilities to help in the church.

As they work, ask: “What do you think would happen if everyone in the church worked together to solve problems and help others?” Let them respond, and read Acts 6:7 as a conclusion.