Lydia--Ocean

Scripture: Acts 16:13-15

Memory Verse for this rotation: “Be good soil. Good soil represents honest, good-hearted people. They listen to God’s words and cling to them and spread them to others who will soon believe.” Luke 8:15

Concepts to be learned by children:
* Baptism is a key component to our relationship with Christ.
* We are to be like Lydia; listening, learning, and applying all we can about Jesus.
* We are all important in God’s family; regardless of our gender or background.
* Lydia is good model of Godly behavior.

Materials:
• Doughnuts, Water, Glasses, & Napkins (found in the kitchen)
• Journals (with Shepherd)
• Pencils (with Shepherd)
• Memory Verse Prompts
• Books and information about Bible Times
• Dry erase marker
• Dry erase board
• Dry eraser

Objectives:
* Students will consider the role of women in Bible times and how Lydia followed God’s call anyhow.
* Students will make a T graph of what was expected of women and what Lydia did instead to follow God.
* Students will also consider how they might serve God in their lives, even as children.
* Students will participate in a reflection/closing prayer time.

Presenter Preparation:
Prior to Sunday Morning:
1. Read the scripture passage and do the Leader’s Bible Study
2. Read through the lesson plan provided and ask Stacy about any questions you have.
3. Plan your opening and closing prayers, if you decide not to use those provided.
4. Consider the age group you’ll be working with each week and any adjustments you’d like to make to the lesson.

Sunday Morning:
1. Get cups, doughnuts, and pitcher(s) of water from the kitchen.
2. Be sure the room is set up as you desire.
3. Look through supply box to familiarize yourself with its contents
4. Do any other preparations you feel necessary.
5. Know that we are thankful you are teaching!

Procedure:
A. Welcome & Introductions at approximately 9:50 a.m.
1. Have the appropriate number of snacks available for each of the participants prepared before they arrive.
2. Greet the children and introduce yourself, wear a name tag if possible. Shepherds have name tags for the children in their bags. If necessary, ask the shepherd to supply children without tags with a temporary badge.
3. Explain that today they’ll be listening, learning, and teaching others while playing a game.
4. Open with a brief prayer. An example might be: God, we want to follow you, and listen closely to what you teach. Please help us to be like Lydia; having an open heart to learn. Amen.
5. Give the students their snack

B. Story Review/Telling at approximately 9:55 a.m.:
1. Prep for Learning
How many of you have been baptized? When? Do you remember it? Have you ever seen someone get baptized? Today we’re going to read about Lydia who was baptized because she loved Jesus so much.

2. Read the story
a. Read from the Bible.
b. A Few Notes—For the first week or two of the rotation, at least, you will need to read the story to them. As the rotation continues and the children have heard the story in other workshops, you may skip the scripture reading and simply review the story by asking several questions.

Some questions you might use are:
A. When did they go out by the gate by the river? On the Sabbath day.
B. Why did they go there? They supposed there was a place to pray.
C. When they got there, who was there? A group of women. Lydia.
D. What did they do when they got there? Started talking about Jesus.
E. What do we know about Lydia? She was already a worshipper of God. She was from Thyatira. She sold purple cloth.
F. What did the Lord to do Lydia? Opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.
G. What did she and her household do because of what she had learned? They were all baptized.
H. What did Lydia encourage the men to do? Come and stay with her at her house.

C. Application:
1. Lydia was an amazing lady….she helped others be baptized, she loved God and showed it, she welcome people to her house, she was a successful merchant. That is really something , considering most women during Bible times simply stayed at their homes, taking care of their families. At one point in history, a woman’s husband could divorce her just for burning his supper! We’re going to make a list of things we know about Lydia, and then we’re going to look at some books and find out about other women and write information about them.
2. Work with the children to list things they know about Lydia. You may read them the “Lydia” handout that was included to help them get more ideas.
3. Next, we’re going to look in a few books that we have, as well as look at some Bible verses to find out how Lydia was different from other women during this time in history. Use the books provided (they are marked) to help the children find out about women’s roles at the time. You can also look up the following verses with the older students (grades 3-6):
PLEASE USE THESE VERSES SIMPLY TO ILLUSTRATE THE RESTRICTIONS PUT ON WOMEN IN BIBLE TIMES; DO NOT GET INTO A DISCUSSION OF WHETHER OR NOT WOMEN TODAY SHOULD/SHOULDN’T BE FOLLOWING THESE GUIDELINES. THE FOCUS IS ON LYDIA AND THE WOMEN OF HER TIME, NOT THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE MODERN CHURCH. IF THE CHILDREN ASK, ASSURE THEM THAT THERE ARE PLENTY OF VERSES THAT PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE BIBLE, AS WELL. (Some examples are John 1:12, Acts 9:36 (Dorcas as a Disciple), Romans 16:3 (Priscilla is recognized as Paul’s “synergoi” meaning “colleague”.)
1 Corinthians 14:34-35: “…women should remain silent in churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says, If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.” (NIV). It appears to prohibit all talking by women during services, but contradicts verse 11:5, which states that women can actively pray and prophesy. It shows, however, that women were treated differently from men, at least on some level.
1 Timothy 2:11-15: “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” (NIV).
1 Timothy 3:8 “Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere…” meaning that women were not to be deacons or a role of leadership.
Titus 1:6 “An elder must be blameless, a husband of but one wife.” Women are excluded form the position of elder or bishop…of having power at all in the church.
Use the information learned to complete the list on the other side.

4. There sure is a difference between what was expected of Lydia and what she did, isn’t there?! As children, what do you think is expected of you? Start another graph for them. On one side write what they feel is expected of them. Some ideas might include: being quiet in church, listening to adults, not asking too many questions, etc. Some of those expectations are to help you be respectful and to keep order and peace in our church, but some of them are hindering you from sharing God’s Word and finding out more about what you want to know. On the other side of the graph, let’s write down ways that you can be more like Lydia; how can you learn more about God? Complete the other side of the graph with their ideas…asking lots of questions, listening closely in church, talking to adults about what they believe, asking parents to read the Bible to them, watching videos to learn God’s stories, praying.
5. It is wonderful to know that, like Lydia, we can do things a little different than those around us and learn all we can about God so that we can share it with others, isn’t?

D. Reflection:

1. Let’s spend some time thinking about what we’ve learned today. 1. Pass out the journals and ask shepherds to pass out pencils.
i. Younger Students: Draw a picture of you sharing God’s love with someone you care about.
ii. Older Students: Look at the list of ideas of how you can share God’s love…which one do you think you’ll try this week? How will you do it?

D. Closing:
1. Ask the students to close their journals and sit quietly.
2. Recite the Bible memory verse: “Be good soil. Good soil represents honest, good-hearted people. They listen to God’s words and cling to them and spread them to others who will soon believe.” Luke 8:15
3. Close with a prayer. Encourage children to offer petitions. An example might be: God, we are thankful for the many stories your Bible holds that help us to learn the right way to live. Please help us to be obedient children. Amen.

E. Tidy and Dismissal:
Ask children to help clean up before they go. Be sure that they find a responsible person and that everyone has found one such person before you depart. Please take all supplies and put them in the cardboard box and return the box to the white cart.

THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR FAITH WITH OUR YOUNG PEOPLE!