During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide, Student Page, Family Connection Card, and other resources can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
Let the words you speak always be full of grace. Learn how to make your words what people want to hear. Then you will know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6
We communicate all the time with the people around us. We talk with family members, shopkeepers, leaders, neighbours, and friends. What are our words like? Too often, our words are filled with complaining, bitterness, or anger instead of grace, kindness, and gratefulness. This verse tells us to speak words people want to hear. What words do you like to hear? Perhaps you enjoy being told “good job” for doing something well. Maybe you like to hear people tell you what a kind person you are.
Whatever it is you like to hear, chances are good that the people around you like to hear the same words. Think about your conversations this past week. Did your words make those you care about feel good? Did they speak purifying truth to someone’s heart? Did they show your love of God to someone else? Pause and ask God to let His love and forgiveness soak deeply into your own heart so that your words will be filled with grace. Pray that the words you use as you teach will show the children how to communicate well.
Let the families know that this week begins a unit on communication. Tell them what their children learned today—that good communication uses kind and graceful words. Encourage families to talk about ways to speak words others want to hear.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Greet your children by name as they come to class. This will communicate that you appreciate them as individuals.
Ask the children to sit in a circle. Be sure you are part of the circle too!
Let’s play a game! This game is called “Telephone.” I will whisper in the ear of the person to my right. The message I say will only be said once. When this person hears the message he will whisper the message to the person to his right. The message will be passed from person to person until it comes all the way back to me.
Use 1 of the messages below or come up with your own short message.
When the message is whispered into your ear, stop. Tell the children the message you said at the beginning of the game. Then tell the children the message you heard at the end of the game.
They are different! How can this be? Sometimes when we speak, people do not hear exactly what we have to say. The act of speaking and listening to people is called communication. Communication takes a speaker and a listener. The speaker must say things in a way that allows the listener to understand the meaning. The listener must try to understand what is being said. If he does not understand, he may ask questions.
If you have time, play the game again, but allow a child to be the first to say a simple message. After the game is finished, ask the children to sit in their regular places for the teaching.
When we communicate we share ideas, thoughts, and feelings with others. Communication can help us to know others, and it can help them to know us. In our game, we saw how easy it is for communication to become confusing! Today we will learn more about communication.
As we learned in our game, it takes 2 people to communicate—a speaker and a listener. If one person talks and the other person does not listen, that is not good communication. If the person listening does not respond to the person talking, that is not good communication either. Both people must communicate well. Remember that communication is sharing ideas, thoughts, and feelings with someone else.
Listen to this true story about Jesus and a man named Bartimaeus. Listen carefully for things that helped them to communicate with each other.
When Jesus lived on earth as a man, He would walk from town to town to teach people about God. One day, Jesus and His followers were leaving a town, and a large crowd of people was with them.
A blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting on the side of the road. He heard that Jesus was walking by. He began to shout, “Jesus! Please help me!” Many of the people in the crowd told him to be quiet. But Bartimaeus only shouted louder, “Jesus! Please help me!”
Jesus heard him and stopped. Jesus asked the people to bring Bartimaeus to Him. The people who had been telling Bartimaeus to be quiet now told him to cheer up because Jesus wanted to meet him. Bartimaeus was so excited that he jumped up and went to Jesus.
Listen to the communication between Jesus and Bartimaeus.
Read the following verses directly from your Bible.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to be able to see.”
“Go,” said Jesus. “Your faith has healed you.” Right away he could see. And he followed Jesus along the road.
Mark 10:51–52
Jesus did a miracle and healed the man’s eyes. Now Bartimaeus could see! Let’s talk about the good communication that happened in this story.
He shouted out to get Jesus’ attention.
Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted Jesus to do. He listened to Bartimaeus.
He told Jesus what he wanted.
Jesus called for Bartimaeus to come to Him. He asked what Bartimaeus wanted, and Jesus healed him.
In this story, we see that both Bartimaeus and Jesus used good communication. One person talked while the other listened. Then the listener responded to the speaker. Bartimaeus clearly stated what he wanted. Jesus’ answer was clear too.
The Bible tells us about good communication. Listen to this verse:
Let the words you speak always be full of grace. Learn how to make your words what people want to hear. Then you will know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6, NIrV
This verse tells us that we should communicate in ways that make people want to hear what we say. Also, we should listen so we know how to reply to them. When it says that your words should be full of grace, it means they should be kind and loving. Kindness and love make our words more enjoyable to hear!
Place the 4 cups away from the children at the front of your teaching space.
Let’s play a game to practice good communication. Let’s all stand at the back of the teaching space.
Have the children make 4 lines. Give the first child in each line a pebble and have these children put on blindfolds. If you do not have cloth for blindfolds, tell them to keep their eyes closed. In each line, pair up the first child with the second child. The second child in each line will give directions to the blindfolded child in his line.
The seeing partner will give directions to the blindfolded partner to help her get to these cups (point to the cups at the front of the teaching space). The partners cannot touch. They can only talk to each other. For each pair, the seeing partner will walk next to the blindfolded partner to make sure nobody is hurt.
The blindfolded partner can ask questions to help get to the front of the room. When you reach the front of the space, the blindfolded partner will try to drop the pebble in a cup.
Have 4 pairs of children go at the same time. When they are done, have the next 4 pairs go. If you have time, the partners can switch roles and play again. After 7 minutes, have the children stop playing. After the game, ask the children to sit down to talk about it.
If you were blindfolded during the activity, answer the following questions.
Allow 2–3 children to respond to each question.
In this game, good communication was important. You had to give clear directions, listen carefully, and ask good questions. Only the pairs who did these things were able to put their pebbles into the cups.
Allow children to offer their ideas.
This week, think about how you can communicate clearly with words that those you talk with want to listen to.
Optional: If you are using the Student Pages, allow the children to draw their answers to the question above on their pages.
If possible, show the Memory Verse poster. Read the verse from your Bible and then review the memory verse with the children.
Let the words you speak always be full of grace. Learn how to make your words what people want to hear. Then you will know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6, NIrV
Help the children remember the verse by teaching them actions to go with the following words. Lead children in repeating each sentence with its actions 3 times.
Speak—Put both hands by your mouth and pretend to pull something from it.
Full—Raise your hands in front of you like you are filling something up.
Make—Cup your hands as though an imaginary ball is between them. Rotate the imaginary ball in your hands.
Hear—Pull on 1 ear.
Know—Tap a finger to the side of your forehead.
Everyone—Sweep your arm from side to side to point to everyone.
End class by speaking this blessing, based on Colossians 4:6, over the children.
Blessing: May your words be kind and make people want to listen to you. May you know how to listen and respond well to others when they talk to you. God loves talking with you and listening to you!
If you have time, share this song with your children to celebrate how great God is!
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
