Children’s Message: Jesus’s Perspective on Fighting

Don’t fight it…A Bible activity that will show children Jesus’ perspective on fighting.

Say: Jesus once prayed to his father that his followers would all be one. That meant Jesus wanted his followers to stick together and not fight. Let’s listen to Jesus. Read John 17:11b.

Pray: Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name (the name you gave me), so that they will be one, the same as you and I are one (John 17:11b).

Preparation: Clear an 8- to 10-foot space in front of the sanctuary.

Children’s Message: Jesus’s Perspective on Fighting

Say: I know one thing that keeps people from being together — it’s something like the game Red Rover.

Ask:

Who knows how to play Red Rover? Let children respond.

Say: Let’s show the congregation how to play Red Rover. I need eight children. Who would like to play?

Choose four children to play on each team. Have the children form two lines facing each other. Have the children in each line hold hands.

Say: Now we need one line to call a child from the other line like this: “Red Rover, Red Rover, send [name a child] right over.” And [name of the child] will run as fast as he or she can to try to break through the line. Okay? Motion to one team. Call someone over.

If the person you call breaks through the line, that person gets to choose someone to take back to his or her line. But if the person you call doesn’t break through the line, he or she has to join that team. Let children play Red Rover for two or three turns.

Say: The goal of Red Rover is to break up teams. And that can be a fun game. Let’s stop the game and sit down.

It’s not so fun when breakups happen in real life. When families fight and get broken up, it makes Jesus sad. When friends get mad and fight, Jesus is sad. Jesus wants us to stick together. He doesn’t want us to fight and then break up.

Just like in Red Rover, we’ve got to stick together so we can stay together. We’ve got to hold tightly to one another and to Jesus. Then we won’t break apart.

For more fun-filled games, check out The Giant Book of Games – it’s filled with over 200 games for every occasion!