Producing good fruit
Children's Activity
Object:
Teachers or Parents: In the Biblical sense, producing fruit means
doing the things that God wants us to do, in other words, "good
works." The challenge we often face with children and adults,
too, is to show them that Christians do good works because they
are saved, not in order to be saved. Good works are the fruit
produced by those God has saved through faith. We should be using
this gospel reading to reinforce our teaching that God wants and
expects His people to do good works.
*Read John 15:1-8 and ask the children how many of them feel
that they produced any "fruit" this last week. If they are not
sure what you mean, explain that what Jesus is talking about here
is the good works that we do. Let them discuss anything that they
have done in the last week that they consider a good work and
make sure they realize that these things are done because we are
saved Christians and not to buy our way into Heaven.
*Bring a bowl of several different kinds of fruit and pass
the fruit out to the children. Then ask the children to show
their fruit and tell what kind of fruit it is and what kind of
tree or plant produced it. Ask them if the tree or plant would
have produced the fruit if it were not connected to the rest of
the tree. When they agree that none can be produced without being
connected, explain our need to be connected to Jesus if we are
going to produce the good works that he calls good fruit.
*Prepare pictures of fruit trees and pictures of various
kinds of fruit. Have the children paste the pictures of the fruit
onto the trees. Then hand out pictures of people doing various
kinds of good works. Have the children paste these pictures on a
big tree in the front of the room. You could use a picture or an
actual small tree or branch of a tree. Have a discussion about
these good works being the "fruit" that Jesus wants all of us to
produce.
doing the things that God wants us to do, in other words, "good
works." The challenge we often face with children and adults,
too, is to show them that Christians do good works because they
are saved, not in order to be saved. Good works are the fruit
produced by those God has saved through faith. We should be using
this gospel reading to reinforce our teaching that God wants and
expects His people to do good works.
*Read John 15:1-8 and ask the children how many of them feel
that they produced any "fruit" this last week. If they are not
sure what you mean, explain that what Jesus is talking about here
is the good works that we do. Let them discuss anything that they
have done in the last week that they consider a good work and
make sure they realize that these things are done because we are
saved Christians and not to buy our way into Heaven.
*Bring a bowl of several different kinds of fruit and pass
the fruit out to the children. Then ask the children to show
their fruit and tell what kind of fruit it is and what kind of
tree or plant produced it. Ask them if the tree or plant would
have produced the fruit if it were not connected to the rest of
the tree. When they agree that none can be produced without being
connected, explain our need to be connected to Jesus if we are
going to produce the good works that he calls good fruit.
*Prepare pictures of fruit trees and pictures of various
kinds of fruit. Have the children paste the pictures of the fruit
onto the trees. Then hand out pictures of people doing various
kinds of good works. Have the children paste these pictures on a
big tree in the front of the room. You could use a picture or an
actual small tree or branch of a tree. Have a discussion about
these good works being the "fruit" that Jesus wants all of us to
produce.
