Relay Game

• Large rug, bedsheet, or blanket
  
• Philip Good News Scatter Game
  
• Twenty-four sheets of scrap paper (recycled if possible) crumpled into paper balls
  
• Five containers to hold paper balls; the fifth container must be large enough to hold all the paper balls at the same time
  
• Cellophane tape
  
• Timer, such as a stopwatch, clock, or watch with a second hand, or timer app
  
• Whiteboard and marker or chalkboard and chalk
  
• Yardstick or measuring tape
  
• Bible or the Superbook Bible App
  
  

Place the rug or sheet in the middle of the room.
Make one copy of the Philip Good News Scatter Game and cut apart the five cards.
Tape one card on each of the five containers.
Place the first four containers in the four corners of the room, with north, east, south, and west matching the layout of a compass or map. (See illustration.) Place the fifth container, marked “GOOD NEWS,” in the center of the room. It must be large enough to hold all twenty-four paper balls.

Write the SuperVerse on the board—Ephesians 3:7 (NLT):

By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving Him by spreading this Good News.

Crumple the scrap paper into twenty-four paper balls and place them in the “Good News” container in the center of the room—or have children help you do this at the beginning of the game.

Good News Scatter: Play a game to spread the Gospel.

Let’s say the SuperTruth together: The Holy Spirit gives me power to share the Gospel.

As we saw in the video, the believers in the early church needed to quickly flee from Jerusalem. Why? They were being persecuted for following Christ.

That sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But what good thing happened as a result? The believers took the Gospel to people outside Jerusalem.

Read Acts 8:4 (NLT):

Yes, the Christians took the Gospel into all the world. Have you ever heard the phrase, “The four corners of the earth”? We all know the earth is round, so it doesn’t really have corners. So “the four corners” simply means every place in the world.

Stand on the rug and hold up a paper ball. The rug I am standing on represents Jerusalem. This is where Jesus died and rose again, then the Holy Spirit came upon the believers, and the first church began. The paper balls represent the Good News. Your job as a believer is to serve God by spreading the Good News to “the four corners of the earth,” represented by the containers in the four corners of our room.

Let’s say our SuperVerse together: Ephesians 3:7:

Divide the children into teams of 4–6, depending on class size. If the class has six or fewer children, simply play as one team, note how long the round took, then play again to beat the record. If time allows, have each team choose a name that represents their mission of spreading the Good News—such as “Good News Carriers” or one of the apostles such as Philip, Peter or John. Then write the team names on the board. If time is short, simply assign each team a number.

One team will play at a time. The team playing will stand on the rug. The first player will take a paper ball and travel quickly to put it into the NORTH container, then return to the rug, take another ball and quickly put it into the EAST container, return to the rug, and so on, until the player has placed a ball in each of the four corner containers. The second player on the team may begin the journey to the NORTH container as soon as the first player begins traveling to the EAST container. Each player will take a turn and complete this process. The result will be several players on the team playing at one time. When the last player on the team returns to the rug, time is stopped and recorded on the board next to the team’s name. The team should then work quickly to dump all the balls from the four corner containers back into the Good News container. The next team then plays. Do this until all teams have played. The team with the best time wins. Play again if time allows.

Important: All teams will cheer each other on because they are all working for the same cause—to share the Gospel!

Conclusion: Good job, everyone! God has given us the privilege to share the Good News with others; let’s learn more about this now.