The Great Commandment
Movie Workshop
Summary of Lesson Activities:
Children will be looking at two videos about mission work we are involved with at Trinity Church. The first is a video of a sheep project in Ecuador through FEDICE, the same church agency we sponsor in Ecuador. The second is a video put out by Volunteer Home Care to recruit volunteers.
NOTE: Substitute a mission video from a project your own church supports.
Objectives:
- Children will see ways that Trinity is reaching out in missions at home and abroad and be able to communicate that to their families.
- Children will understand mission work in the context of the Great Commandment.
- Children will determine ways that they can exercise love of neighbor personally.
Supplies Needed:
- Videos
- “movie reel” paper,
- pens, markers, etc.
Advance Preparation:
- Find out about Trinity’s involvement in Ecuador and in VHC, or find other church members who can speak to these ministries so that children’s questions can be answered.
- Gather the materials.
- Read the scripture ahead of time.
Presentation
Opening-Welcome and Lesson Activities:
Using your Bibles, read together the Great Commandment.
Ask children what a neighbor is?
Ask the children what it means to love one’s neighbor? Can they give examples?
Dig-Main Content and Reflection:
Movie Summary:
The Sheep Project is an amateur video with some voice over and lasts about 25 minutes. We recommend viewing it ahead of time and finding a section that really speaks to you
The VHC video is what they use to recruit volunteers. Again, you don’t need to show the entire video, just enough to give a clear idea of what type of work VHC does in the community.
Watch the clips of the two videos. Don’t be afraid to stop the video in the middle and ask children to report on what they see – it will help hold their interest. Ecuador will probably hold their interest longer than VHC
After each video ask these, or other similar questions:
- What was the most important thing you noticed in these videos?
- Are these people literally our next door neighbors?
- How does the church define the word “neighbor?”
- How were the people in these videos helping their neighbor?
- How does it make you feel to know that your church is involved in these ministries?
Life Application -- "The World's Greatest Missionary Movie"
Ask children to write and present a "MOVIE PROPOSAL TO A MAJOR STUDIO" about a movie they would make about their LIFE STORY AS THE WORLD'S GREATEST MISSIONARY. Include the things they would do, dangers they would face, problems they would like to solve, and people they would help. What actor would play you? How would Jesus be part of the film?
Closing:
End with a prayer.
A lesson posted by Lisa Martin from Trinity United Church of Christ
Pottstown, PA
A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.
