Paul's Travels

Art Station - Malta

Workshop-specific Goals

• Hear how God cared for and comforted Paul in many dangerous situations.
• Realize that God cares for them in their daily lives.

For scripture and background - see above.

Preparation

1. Review Background notes.
2. Gather the materials.
3. Refer to schedule and decide how you will make adjustments for the different ages.
4. Each of the students has their own passport, which is kept in the teaching box for the summer. At the end of class, you or the guide should hand out the passports. The students will have the opportunity to write/draw on the passport page. There is also a space for you to put their passport stamp. Check the supply list for the proper stamp (the stamp applies to the lesson).
5. Look at the passport page for your “city” for the background information and question of the day that the students will be getting (copy at end of lesson).
6. Tape the map onto the wall and locate the city/region you are teaching about today so you are ready for the first part of the lesson. so you are ready for the first part of the lesson
7. Label each piece of construction paper (one per student) with: “God cares for Paul in the middle of danger”

Materials List:

• Bibles (supplied in teaching box)
• Large map of Paul’s journeys (tape to the wall)
• Construction paper star to place on the map
• Tape
• Passport stamp of ship
• Inkpad
• Pencils, markers, crayons
• Student passports (kept in teaching box for the summer)
• TV/DVD player
• “The Visual Bible: Acts” DVD—this story is on Disk 2
• Pictures of sailing ships (see end of lesson)
• Art Project supplies: 12” x 18” light gray construction paper, wavy cuts of blue, green, grey and black construction paper, straight 2” x ¼” cuts of brown construction paper, Zig-zags of yellow construction paper, squares of black and gray construction paper, small straws or round stirring sticks, white paper cut in 4” x 4” squares, scissors, glue sticks, pencils, paper punch

Lesson Plan

Opening:

Make sure you have your nametag on. Introduce yourself to the students.

Open with a prayer .
We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please start the class by having everyone make the sign of the cross and say: “We make our beginning in the name of God the Father—and God the Son—and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dig:

Introduction & Bible Story:
Please make sure that the students hear and “get” the Bible story as well as the application of that story to their lives. The Bible story is the MOST important part of the lesson—it is much more important than the activity associated with this station!

Say: This summer for Sunday School we are going on a Mediterranean cruise with the Apostle Paul. Every week we will visit a different port and learn something about Paul’s life or his teachings. This week we are visiting Malta. Locate this city/region on the large map and put the construction paper star with the appropriate name on the map. After the first week, you could ask the students some of the other places that they have “visited” and what they did and learned.

Say: First, I want to give you a little background to today’s story. Paul’s 3rd missionary journey ended in the city of Jerusalem. While in Jerusalem, Paul is falsely arrested by the Jews. Roman officials then arrest him to keep the crowd from killing him. Then the Roman officials learn of a murder plot against Paul and transfer him to the town of Caesarea under heavy guard. He appears before Felix, the governor. Even though he knows Paul is not guilty, he does not want to antagonize the Jews so he postpones making a decision—for two years. Things were no better under the next leader—Festus—so Paul appeals his case to Caesar. This means he need to go to Rome, because this is where Caesar kept court. He must travel by ship to get there.

Have the students open their Bibles to Acts 27. We are going to watch a video that tells the story from the Bible word for word—if you like, you can follow along. There are a couple of things in the video that might seem a little scary: there is a big storm and a shipwreck, but everyone is OK. Also, Paul is bitten by a poisonous snake, but he is OK.

While you are watching the video, I want you to notice how God takes care of Paul—both in what God does and in what He says. We’ll talk about it after the Bible story.

Show the DVD—start at the beginning of Chapter 27 (you can access this from the disk menu). The bottom right corner shows you which verse they are on. Show the video through Acts 28:10 and then turn the video off (this will take about 10 minutes).

Ask: What are some of the problems that Paul had in this story? (he was a prisoner; terrible storm, ship wrecked; soldiers were going to kill the prisoners to keep them from escaping; bitten by a poisonous snake).

How did God take care of Paul by what He said? (27:23—an angel of the Lord appeared to Paul and said “Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you”.)—so God told him that he would survive the storm.

How did God take care of Paul by what He did? (didn’t die in the storm or when the ship wrecked; kept the soldiers from killing all the prisoners; kept Paul from dying from the snake bite).

Activities:
Art Project—Mosaic
Explain that the children will make a mosaic picture of a large Roman sailing ship similar to the one on which Paul was shipwrecked on his trip to Rome. Show them several pictures of this style sailing ship (see end of lesson). The ships were pointed on both ends and had one large, square sail. The stern (back end) of the ship was taller and thinner than the bow (front end). They were steered by two large paddles on either side of the stern. The ship could have been as large as 140 feet long and 36 feet wide, and we know from Acts 27:37 that there were 276 people aboard. The main power for these ships was the wind. The sailors arranged the angle of the sail to catch the wind; that’s all they could do to obtain power. Then they steered the ship according to the captain’s orders.

Let the sail in the picture be the central focus. The kids can make it three-dimensional if you punch a hole at the top and the bottom of the square paper sail and pass the straw through the holes so the sail is bowed out. They can glue or tape the top and bottom of the sail to the ship picture. The kids should try to make the ship the main feature of their mosaic picture. They can outline it in pencil, then fill it in with the brown “planks” and sail. They can add the curvy cut waves to show the storm surrounding the ship. They can also show the storm with the yellow ziz-zags of lightning. They can also take the squares of grey and black paper and rip the edges to make them look like storm clouds. Teach them how God wants to fill us and empower us with the Holy Spirit to enable us to glorify Him even in the storms of life, just as the wind filled the ship’s sail and caused it to travel across the sea.

Reflection:

Pass out the passports to the students. Have each student write their name on the cover. Read the key point and the question for the day. Give them a few moments to write/draw in their passport. While they are doing this, go around and stamp in to each passport.

Closing Prayer:

We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please end the class with this benediction from Numbers 6: 24-26 (CEV). Make the sign of the cross and say:
I pray that the LORD will bless and protect you, and that He will show you mercy and kindness. May the LORD be good to you and give you peace. Amen.

Age Adaptations
Younger students: (For younger children in grades 1 & 2, you could provide pre-cut ship’s hull shapes from brown paper and just have them glue the ship on to the paper, add the bowed sail with the straw mast, and then add the curvy cut waves.)

Resources/Bibliography
“Listening to God: The Holy Spirit and Paul’s Trip to Rome” by Silverdale United Methodist Church 

A lesson by Cathy Walz from: St. John Lutheran Church

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