John Wesley

Computer Lesson

All Elementary Ages

Summary: Using Kid Pix 4 (or 3-D) each child draws a scene from the story (alternative suggestion: type his famous line into Cal & Marty's Scripture Memory Game, see end of lesson).

Memory Verse:
Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
Mark 16:15

Objectives:

• John Wesley was the founder of Methodism.
• John Wesley was called by God.
• John Wesley spread the good news of Jesus to all people.
• Methodism spread to the United States around the time of the American Revolution.

Supplies:

• Computers
• Kid Pix 4 (3-D) Software

Lesson Plan:

Outline:

• Preparation
• Arrival Activity
• Opening
• Memory Verse
• The Story
• Activity
• Closing

Preparation
Turn on all the computers, monitors, and speakers.

Arrival Activity
As people enter the room, welcome them.
Ask them to start KidPix. Ask them to use any tools in the program (stamps, backgrounds, drawing, etc.) to draw a picture of a heart.

Once they’re done with that, if there’s time, they may draw anything they like.

Opening:

First, have everyone shut KidPix.

Move away from the computers, so you will have everyone’s attention.

Open class by saying the Lord’s Prayer together.

Have the kids introduce themselves. Introduce yourself to them!

Memory Verse
After the first week, ask if anyone knows the memory verse.

Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
Mark 16:15

Say the memory verse and have them echo you.

Sitting in a circle, try to say one word of the memory verse per person (“Go”, “Into”, “All”, “The”, “World”….) and see how far you can get. Try several times around.

Say the memory verse together one more time.

Dig:

The Story
(1st week) Tell the students that we are studying the life of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.

(other weeks) Ask the students who are we studying? What do you know about him? [They should know that he was the founder of Methodism. They may know he was born in England, that he was one of 19 children, that he was saved from a fire at age 5, that he was the leader of the Holy Club, that he preached outside on his father’s grave, etc.]

John Wesley’s parents were Samuel and Susanna Wesley. Samuel was a preacher in the Church of England. The family lived in England. Samuel and Susanna had 19 children, but only 10 lived. John was the 15th one of those 19.

When John was only 5 years old, their house burned down. John was trapped inside. He was rescued by two men who formed a human ladder and grabbed him from his second story room.

Later, John went away to school and college. He formed a Holy Club at college, where friends met together daily to encourage each other to read the Bible, pray, and do good things.

John became a minister like his father. In his heart, though, he wasn’t sure that he knew what God wanted.

He went to the American colony of Georgia, but didn’t get along with the others in his town and didn’t convert any Native Americans to Christianity, either. John came home a failure.

After he came home, John attended a Bible study on Aldersgate Street in London. At this Bible study, John felt his heart “strangely warmed.” At that moment, he knew God loved him.

John felt called to spread the Good News of Jesus to everyone. Many ministers didn’t want him to preach in the churches, so he preached outside under the trees, in the fields, near the mines, anywhere people were. He even preached standing on top of his father’s grave once.

John formed people into classes that met regularly for study and prayer. This was the beginning of Sunday School.

John’s ideas spread across the ocean back to America, where he had been such a failure before. The first Methodist church wasn’t in England with John, but in America.

Today, you are in a United Methodist church and a Sunday School classroom thanks to John Wesley!

Activity
Have them open up Kid Pix 4 (3-D).

Assign each computer (whether that’s 1 person or 2 people sharing) a part of the story (John’s family, saved from the fire, sad John when things don’t work, John learns God loves him, John preaching, etc.). If you have lots of kids, you can give the same part of the story to multiple computers.

Have them draw that part of the story.

As people get finished, have them walk around the room to see the different parts of John Wesley (J.W.’s) life.

Closing:

You or the shepherd need to lead the kids in Joys and Concerns. Go around the room, asking each kid to share a Joy (happy thing). Then, go back around the room and ask if they have a Concern (sad thing) they’d like to share.

Someone needs to offer a closing prayer. If that is you, then you can pray something like this:

Dear God, thank you for this chance to learn about you. Help us share your good news with others by our words and our actions. Amen.

Cleanup
Shutdown all the computers. Turn off all the monitors and speakers.

Volunteer Editor's Note:
As an alternative Computer Workshop lesson, use Cal and Marty's Scripture Memory Game (Sunday Software) [This software is FREE to supporting members! Check it out.] to have the kids edit-in and unscramble this FAMOUS QUOTE FROM JOHN WESLEY:

“Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can”

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