Jesus Chooses His Disciples: Sunday School Lesson Plan for Kids

After prayer for those on the list at church, read Matthew 4:18-22 and 10:2-4. These passages cover the story of Jesus choosing his disciples. Matthew 4:18-22 is the actual story with Matthew 10:2-4 comprising the full list of disciples. Matthew 10:2-4 is very important for the craft but the bulk of the lesson is from Matthew 4:18-22.

After reading the lesson, ask the class the following questions. Tailor the questions to the needs of the children. This is the most challenging part of being a Sunday school teacher-in my opinion. Most children in the class are 4-8 years old and have very short attention spans. Usually the other lady present in the class is better able to help me tailor the questions to where the kids can understand.

1) Jesus asked four men to join him. These men were two sets of brothers. What were the men doing when Jesus asked them to join him? Answer: The men were fishing.

2) Do you remember the names of the men he called? Answer: He called Simon Peter and Andrew who were brothers then he called James and John who were also brothers.

3) The men were fishing for actual fish but Jesus said he would make them fishermen of a different kind. Do you remember what word he used? Answer: Jesus said he would make them fishers of men. This may sound funny as men are not caught by net or rod and reel but it is symbolic. Jesus meant he would make these men gather others for his sake-they would help other people become Christians. We can all be fishers of men.

4) Did the men choose to follow Jesus? Answer: Yes, they definitely did. They had a choice and made the right one.

5) How many men did Jesus call to help be fishers of men (another word for this is disciples)? Answer: 12.

6) After reading Matthew 10:2-4 see if the children can remember any of the disciples' names. Answer list: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. It may be necessary to provide a prompt with Judas because he was a traitor to Christ and kids tend to forget him for that reason.

Memory verse for the lesson is Mark 3:14: Jesus chose helpers.

Craft ideas: I found a wonderful resource at http://kidsclubs4jesus.com/SAJ1-60/Lesson%2014.pdf One idea I had was to print the pages and create a booklet of activities for the kids to do. The problem is several of the activities are above the level of children in the class. So, we will likely be doing a craft I thought of instead. I use foam sticky-backed sheets for everything nowadays. I plan to buy a large poster board or banner paper at Wal-Mart and use the sticky sheets to decorate whichever I pick. I will draw the Christian fish symbol and explain to them how it related to Christ calling his disciples to be fishers of men (I will also mention his miracle of feeding the multitude with two fish and five barley loads and it symbolizing God's provision as well). Inside the fish symbol, I will write the name of an apostle with the help of the kids who can write. I love this idea because the sticky sheets are in a lot of bright colors and we can make the room cheerier with this decoration. We will cut out the fish and I will have each child stick one or two on either the board or the banner paper and then tape it to the wall after writing the memory verse: Jesus Chose Helpers in the middle of the paper.

As usual, I used Lifeway for kids and the KJV version of the bible for inspiration for this lesson.