Beginning of the Church, Preschool Lesson

Friday:	Beginning of the Church
Story Passage:	Acts 16:9-15
Other Passages:	Acts 16:40, Philippians 1:1
Objective:	The church is made up of people.

Introduction: The Early Church

After Jesus left the world to go back up to Heaven, his followers went all around to many other places to tell people the good news about Jesus. They told how Jesus is God and how he came to earth to die for our sins so we could be forgiven.

One of Jesus' followers was Paul. He went on many trips. Sometimes he walked. Sometimes he went on a boat. But however he traveled and wherever he went, he told lots of people about Jesus.

Story: Philippi

One day Paul was in a city called Philippi. He went down by the river. There he found Lydia. She was a woman who sold purple cloth. She was by the river with some other people. The Bible says she worshiped God. But she had never heard of Jesus.

So Paul told Lydia and the others about Jesus, and God helped them to know it was true, and they believed. Lydia and other people in her family believed in Jesus and were baptized. Lydia and her family and friends told other people about Jesus too. After a while there were many people in their city who believed. They met at Lydia's house to learn more about God and to pray. They choose leaders to help. And so, they became one of the first churches.

Application: What Is the Church?

Did you know that a church is not a building? It's not. Our church has a building, where we can meet together, but a church is a group of people who believe in Jesus and get together to read the Bible and pray. They tell others about Jesus too. Lydia's church got together in her house. We have too many people in our church to go to someone's house, so we have a building; but the building is just a building. We are the church. God wants us to learn about him and tell others about him too.

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