Materials You Will Need: A bunch of pipe cleaners, and a shoebox.
When you think of the church, what do you think of? If you think of a brick building with pillars in the front, you would be like a lot of us. Remember the old rhyme that we said with those ³folding hand² motions ³Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the door, and see all the people.² If you can remember it, do it now.
Really, according to the Bible, that rhyme would be more accurate if it went like this ³Here is a building, it might have a steeple, open the door the church is the people!² Try it this new way. According to the Bible, the church is all of the people who know Christ, and your local church is a group of those believers.
The church holds a very special place in the kingdom of God, and God uses two very important word pictures to describe us:
³The Body of Christ² imagine a group of people who work so well together toward one cause that they act like the parts of your body when they are working toward something. Your body might have a lot of parts, but they were meant to work together.
³The Bride of Christ² When you go to a wedding, you know that the central figure there is the Bride. She is the one who is the most dressed up, and the one who everyone stands up to see when she walks down the aisle. She is the most important guest especially to the groom! When God uses this picture to describe His church, imagine how much He loves us!
Activity: While telling the above devotion, have family members bend the pipe cleaners into the shape of people. Place them in the shoebox, and color the shoebox enough to make it look like a church building. Ask your children to point out the church. Be sure that they donıt point out the building, but the people inside the building. After they do so, everyone can say together, ³The Church is the People!² Ask them, ³The Bible says that Jesus is coming back some day for His church. What is He going to take with Him?² Once again, be sure they donıt pick the building. After they do so, everyone can say together, ³The Church is the People!² Close in a prayer of thanks for God allowing your family to be a part of the church.
Application:
· As a member of Jesusı church, we hold a special position. This is a very important part of being a Christian! Do you make an effort to be a part of what God is doing at church on a regular basis?
· When you are there, what are you doing to serve others?