Kids On A Mission, Part Two: China

Last week began our “Kids On A Mission” series!  We started out by looking at some fun facts about the world as a whole, and even designed a passport to take along with us on our “travels.”  This week’s lesson will guide us to our first destination:  China!  Katie and I continue to pray that God uses this series to create in the hearts of children a desire for all nations to come to a saving knowledge of King Jesus.
Enjoy!

Kids On A Mission:  China

Lesson 2

Purpose:

By the end of this lesson, your child will be able to:

• Locate China on a map/globe
• Write his/her name in Chinese!
• Fill out and stamp the Chinese Page in his/her passport
• Comprehend what the Underground Church in China is
• Pray for and have an understanding of China: the people, the culture, the land

Materials:

• Pens, markers, crayons
• Paper
• Candle/lighter
• Map/globe
• Inkpad (optional)
• Construction paper
• Materials for a blanket fort!

Getting Ready Tips:

• Prepare the “China” pages in child’s passport.  The first China page will be a fill-in-the-blank of 5 facts, along with the stamp box.  The second page will be an area for them to write their own name in Chinese!  Use the website http://www.usdiner.com/Chinese/ to prepare for this section.
• Have supplies handy so as to make the lesson run smoothly (Markers, pens, etc)
• Write last week’s verse (Matthew 28:19-20) on a piece of paper
• Print out a picture of:  some Chinese food and some Chinese writing
• Build a blanket fort that you and your child can sit in

Lesson:

Remind the children about the special mission that He has given to all of His people.  It is the most important and adventurous mission anyone could ever take part in.  It is a mission that brings joy and salvation to the whole world!

Ask if anyone can remember the name of God’s important mission.  [Great Commission]

Holding up the paper with the verse written on it, recite together:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:19-20

Teacher says:

• Remember, these are the words of mighty King Jesus to us.  He is giving us the instructions for our mission: we are to go and we are to tell everyone we can about who King Jesus is.  Have you ever told anyone about Jesus?
• There are people all around us that we could talk to!  Where are some people that you can think of? [at the grocery store, at the playground, at school]
• All of those people are close to us; they live nearby us.  Did you know that there are also people on the other side of  the world who need to know about Jesus?  We are going to learn about some of those people today!
• [Pull out globe/map]
• Does anyone remember where we live? [point to the U.S.]
• Well, all the way on the other side of the world is a huge country called China. [Point to china.]  This huge country is very, very different than our country.  The people that live there eat different food than us [show picture of Chinese food], they talk and write a different way than us [show picture of Chinese writing], and they have different rules in their country than we do.  God loves them so much, and He wants them to know about the salvation that Jesus offers.  He wants them to be in His family!
• We are going to pretend to travel to China today!  We are going to learn more about the people who live there and we are going to learn about some special ways that we can bring the love of Jesus to them. We read the allworld.com blog to get some travel tips, and we’re excited to travel the world.
• First we must pack our passport!  Does anyone remember what our passport is? [a special booklet that allows us to travel to other countries]
• Every time we travel to another country, there is a special stamp that we will put in our passport.  There are also some special things that we must write in our passport before we can begin our travels.

Activity:  Passport

Show children the passport sample.

Help children fill out the China Page in their own passport that they made last week.

For the 5 facts, assist the children in filling in the blanks.  You can either feed the answers to the children or give a quick summary of all of the facts and then have children fill in the blanks more independently.

** Answers to the questions:

1. 4th
2. Ice cream
3. 4,000
4. Red
5. Rice

In the “stamp box,” have them stamp their thumbprint and write the word “China” across it.  (You can fill in the “stamp box” however you best see fit: stickers, words, real stamps, etc.)

On the next page, have them copy the sample of their name in Chinese!

Traveling To China:

Ok, it’s time to go to China!  [Have children follow you to the blanket fort.  Make it fun getting there…hold your arms out like an airplane, climb over furniture, etc.]

Once seated in the fort, light the candle.

Teacher says:

• You are probably wondering why we are hiding in this dark place!  It’s not because we are camping, or exploring a cave.  We are actually in this dark, secret place because it is time for church!
• The people in China who already love Jesus do not get to learn or talk about Him the way we do.  We can sing loudly about Jesus and read our Bibles wherever we want, but it is against the law in China to read a Bible or be a Christian.  So, they have to do it very quietly and very secretly.  This secret church is called the Underground Church.
• [Begin to whisper.]  When the Chinese Christians meet together to learn and sing about Jesus, they have to turn the lights out and whisper so that they don’t get arrested.  We are going to pretend like we are part of the Underground Church.  Here we are in our secret place, with only a candle lit.  We must whisper even as we sing.  But it doesn’t bother us!  Our hearts are filled with such a great love for our Savior that even though we are whisper singing, we feel as though we are proclaiming God’s glory from the rooftops!
• Let’s sing the way our Chinese brothers and sisters do!  [Whisper sing a favorite song about Jesus.]
• Now that you have seen how difficult it is to worship Jesus in China, let’s pray for all of the Chinese Christians that they would have courage and wisdom.  We also want to pray that more and more American Christians would go to China to help spread the good news of Jesus to everyone.
  “Dear Jesus, thank you for filling the Chinese Christian’s hearts with your love.  Thank you for giving them the courage to sing about you, even when it is dangerous.  We ask that you would send more people over to China to tell even more of the Chinese people who you are.  We love you, King Jesus!  Amen.”

Conclusion:

When we learn about all of the billions of people around the world, we can see just how big God’s love is.  Jesus died for all of them.  He wants all of them to go home to Heaven with Him one day.  And our mission is to help them find the way home to Jesus.

This week, as we think about all of those people in China – the Christians and the nonChristians – we are going to pray in a special way for them.  Each day, we are going to pick a special time to pray for China, and while we are praying, we are going to face in the direction of China.

Our adventure in China is over!  Everyone say “Zuihou!” [pronounced ‘zee how’]  You just said “The End” in Chinese!  Great job!

Remember, go everywhere and tell everyone the happy news that Jesus forgives sinners!

Extended Activities:

If you are interested in a few supplemental activities for your week, here are some ideas:

• Role play to allow your child to practice sharing his/her faith.  Pretend to be a new Chinese friend that has never heard of Jesus and allow your child to practice telling you who Jesus is.
• Print out and color a Chinese flag.  Attach it to a “pole” and hang it in your home to serve as a prayer reminder.
  [Link for printable:  http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/china-flag-colouring-page%5D
• Have Chinese food for dinner!  Make sure to use chopsticks!
• Color a picture of 2 Chinese children and then play a common Chinese game
  [Link for printable color sheet: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese-children-colouring-page]
  [Link for Chinese children’s game: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/knocking-the-stick]
• Watch Disney’s “Mulan”
• Make a Chinese fan!
  [Link for fan instructions: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese-fan-craft]
• Read about Chinese missionary Hudson Taylor
  [Link:  http://www.agoodtired.com/missionary-mondays-hudson-taylor/%5D

Lauren Souers

Hi, my name is Lauren. I am the wife of one fine man and the momma of four (huge) young children – three boys and one princess! I love all of them. I mostly clean up messes and feed people all day, and it’s really fun to write about it. Jesus is the rock of my family – we love and serve a mighty King! I hope you leave here full of hope that “tired” can be good.