Fruit of the Spirit Beads

Week 1

Purpose:

Create the beads for a prayer tale. The beads represent the Fruit of the Spirit

Main idea:
the Fruit of the Spirit are the good things that happen when we are showing love toward other people the way Jesus did.

Supplies:

• Bibles
• Sculpey clay
• Bamboo skewers
• Caribeeners
• Tray for gathering skewers which will be put in the oven
• Fruit candy such as Starbursts or fruit shaped candy from bulk candy bins.
• Poster board with the fruit of the spirit listed: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Discuss the Fruit of the Spirit:

• Provide some background about Paul and the Fruit of the Spirit. Briefly, among the Galatians there were some Jewish Christians who were trying to convince the Gentile Christians that they needed to be circumcised. The Jewish Christians believed the Gentiles could not be part of the church unless they were circumcised. Paul got very upset at this teaching. He taught the Galatians that what matters to God is not external, bodily signs, but internal, spiritual signs. We know that we are acting in harmony with the Spirit of God when our behavior results in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness (sometimes translated generosity), faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Why are these things called fruit? Because they are what our Godly behavior produces. In the gospels (see Matthew 7:17-20, Luke 6:43-44, John 15:1-8) Jesus often taught that the world will know who his followers are by the results of their actions. He illustrated his point by saying that we know what kind of tree we are looking at by the kind of fruit it bears. The youth may be familiar with the song that goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
• Read Galatians 5:22-23 aloud. Ask the kids to note the different qualities of the fruit of the Spirit. Which are harder to demonstrate than others? When do you most feel a particular quality?
• These are the behaviors we are to exhibit as members of Faith Challenge.
• Discuss ways to represent each quality. Think of some way to remember the quality:
  
  as fruit e.g. love – lime, lemon or kindness - kiwi (same letter), or joy - bananas ( a banana on its side looks like a smile). The goofier, the better they will remember the Fruit of the Spirit.
  
  as symbols: heart for love, happy face for joy, ruler for self control, etc.
  
  
• Review the purpose of the prayer chain with new youth members. Each week we end the class by gathering around the prayer chain. The chain unites us as a class and as children of God.

Create the beads for making a prayer tale.

Show the example beads. Discuss possibilities for each quality

We will create 4 beads each. More if there is time. Think of 4 qualities that you most need to work on.

Think of a way to represent that quality in a bead

Instructions:

• Take a small amount of Sculpey. The bead must fit the size guide (provided)
• Form the bead and push it onto a skewer. Wiggle it a little to make it slide easily.
• DO NOT POINT A SKEWER AT ANYONE OR YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE THE ACTIVITY. SAFETY MUST COME FIRST!
• When you are finished making beads. Place the skewer on the pan. They will be baked at 275 degrees for about 15 minutes.
• Next week, we will string the beads on macramé cord. We will have spacer and other beads to complete the tale.

Discussion Questions:

• Hand out Starburst candy. God’s spirit living in us makes us loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. When we act in ways that produce the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, we show that God lives in our hearts.
• Can we agree to behave in ways that produce these qualities in our Sunday school class? What about at school, home, in the world?

Week 2

Purpose:

Finish the prayer tales during Gathering Time.

Announce a time to create a prayer tale for anyone who was previously absent

Supplies:

• Macramé cord
• Spacer and other beads
• Carabineers
• Oven baked skewers of beads
• Prayer chain

Instructions:

• As youth come in, ask them to find their skewer, take a piece of macramé cord and sit down at the table.
• String the Fruit of the Spirit beads using spacers and other beads as desired.
• Tie a knot around the final bead. Tie the tale to a carabineer and attach to the prayer chain.

Some background on Paul:

Paul was a great missionary of the early Church, not long after Jesus lived. He traveled all around to different countries in the Roman Empire, telling people about Jesus. Because of Paul, many people came to believe in Jesus and formed churches in the places where they lived. (point out on the timeline, the time that Paul reached)

Many of the books of the New Testament are letters that Paul wrote to the churches he had helped start. One of those letters was to the Christians in the country of Galatia. (Show Galatia on a map and tell them it was part of the Roman Empire in Paul’s time; the area is now part of Turkey.) This book is called Galatians.

When Paul traveled, he preached to everyone and anyone - both Jews and Gentiles (a Gentile is anybody who is not Jewish. Christians are Gentiles). Many of the churches he helped to start had both Jews and Gentiles in them. But some people felt that Gentiles should become Jewish before they could become Christian. They thought this because Jesus was Jewish and the promise of a Messiah was to come to the Jews.

There was a church in Galatia that was arguing. It was trying to decide if someone had to be Jewish before they became a Christian. Paul did not want the people to exclude anybody from the faith. Paul told the people to live by love and faith in Jesus Christ. If you live this way people will know you are Christian because of your actions in the world.

This message was edited by Catherine

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