The Story of Jonah

Video Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

This lesson compares the Jonah scene in the movie "Pinnochio" with the biblical story.

Scripture Reference:

The book of Jonah.

Memory Verse:

Jonah 4:2b “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God.”

Lesson Objectives:

• The children will learn the story of Jonah.
• They will know that God loves all of the people in the whole world and wants everyone to be saved.
• They will compare the lesson of Jonah to their own lives.

 Materials:

• Bibles
• Journals and pencils
• DVD, player and TV
• Popcorn & drinks
• Video Clips [Exchange Volunteer notes: it is assumed that the video is Walt Disney's - "Pinocchio", 2000, available in DVD.]

Leader Preparation:

• Read the Book of Jonah and the background information.
• Review Jonah’s travels on the map.
• If all the video clips can be put on one video, in the correct order, it would make the lesson flow more smoothly.
• Preview video clips.

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction: 

Greet the children and introduce yourself. 

Opening Prayer: Lord sometimes we are like Jonah and don’t do what we are told to do. Help us to learn to listen to You and to follow the path You want us to take. Amen

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Ask the children to tell you the story of Jonah. Discuss the story with them emphasizing the parts that go with the clips of the story. Have the children find Jonah in their Bibles and follow along as you read the following verses.
Ch. 1: 1-4, 11-12, 15-17
Ch. 2:1-2, 9-10
Ch. 3:3-5, 10 
Ch. 4:1-2, 10-11

Now show the clips of the movie:

Clip 1: The definition of a human and feelings (0:20:45-0:21:52)

Clip 2: Pinocchio meets Jimminy Cricket (Pepe) (0:21:52-0:23:13)

Clip 3: Geppetto tells Pinocchio that tomorrow he has to go to school. In the morning Geppetto gives Pinocchio an apple for the teacher, tells him good-bye and to hurry back. (0:31:00 – 0:33:25)

Clip 4: Pinocchio is swallowed by a whale and finds his father also in the whale. (1:21:00-1:23:17)

Clip 5: Pinocchio turns into a real boy. (1:29:20-to end)

Responding to the story:

Using a chart discuss the similarities and differences to the story of Jonah. When discussing, it would be helpful to discuss the clips in the story order of Jonah. I will list some similarities as they will be harder for the children to grasp and think of possibly. The differences are fairly obvious.

Clip 3 - Similarities: Both had been told to do something and disobeyed. It might be good to discuss the act that while Geppetto didn’t specifically tell Pinocchio to go to school when he sent him off, nevertheless that is what Geppetto meant and Pinicchio understood this. It had been said the night before.

Clip 1 - Similarities: I included this clip basically for the definition of being human. Similarities of “humanness” and Christian beliefs

Clip 3 - Similarities: Jimmy Cricket and a person’s conscience telling them the right things to do.

Clip 2 - Similarities: Both Jonah and Pinocchio ended up in a whale’s stomach when they ran from their responsibilities.

Clip 5 – Similarities: Jonah ended up following God’s advice along with Pinocchio falling in love with his father. Gepetto never gave up on Pinocchio much like God never gives up on us!!

Journal entry:
Write about a time you were like Jonah and did the opposite thing you were told to do. What happened to you?

Take home message: Today we learned that the lessons of Jonah even inspire movies and can be seen in many places in our lives.

Closing:

Prayer 
Lord, thank you for your mercy and love. Thank you for caring for us today and every day. Please help us to be obedient to you. 
Amen

A lesson originally posted by St. Mary’s Anglican Church
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

 A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.