The adventures of Paul: Session 4

MEETING AIM: To explore the challenge and excitement of going on God adventures. 

BIBLE PASSAGE: Acts 27 

BACKGROUND: In this passage we read about Paul’s voyage and shipwreck. We can learn that Paul’s faith takes him to risky places, but that God is still with him, even when things are looking very dicey! Here we explore the challenge and excitement of going on God adventures, but also the promise and security that knowing God will always be with us. 

 

 

STARTING OUT 

5 MINS 

Start your time together with some simple refreshments and chat about what your children have found exciting today (or yesterday, if you’re doing this in the morning). Ask your family to think about adventures that they would like to go on, and if they were doing something risky, who would they want with them? 

 

PLAY 

10 MINS 

Your children may already know this classic game and have their own version of actions, but if not, it goes like this. There are several actions that everyone has to remember when you shout out a command. Each time you shout one, it is a race to finish first. Each time, the last person to perform the action goes ‘out’ and the last one left is a winner. Or, it might work better (and fairer) if the last person to finish the action becomes the next ‘Captain’, shouting commands to everyone else. 

The commands and actions are: 

Bow: run to the front of your space 

Stern: run to the back 

Port: run to the left side 

Starboard: run to the right side 

Get in the boats: sit down on the ground and start rowing 

Captain’s coming: stand to attention and salute 

Climb the rigging: mime climbing a ladder 

Man overboard: get in pairs where someone has a piggyback 

Jumping Jack Sparrow: do a jumping jack 

 

BIBLE STORY 

15 MINS 

You will need: atlas; Bible 

This story tells us more about Paul’s mission, and what a pioneer he was! Ask your children to think about the technology we have that makes travelling now very different to travel in the times of the New Testament, 2,000 years ago. 

Find the right page in your atlas so that you can follow the journey together as you tell the story. You can find the details of the route if you look online for maps. You could even have a small boat figurine to show the route! 

Read the passage. It might be easier to use The Message version, as the language is easier to follow. 

 

CHATTING TOGETHER 

5 MINS 

Chat about the story using these questions: 

•How does Paul show his faith in this story? What do you think gave him that faith? 

•What was Paul’s mission on the journey? 

•Why was the journey worth the risk to Paul? 

•Where can you see God at work in the story? 

•What would it look like if we had Paul’s courage today? What are the risks that God might ask us to take? 

 

CREATIVE TIME 

10 MINS 

You will need: pens; paper 

Ask your family if you were going on a big adventure, what are the kind of things you’d need?  

Now ask them: if you were going on a big adventure of faith, what things might you especially need? Together, write a list of the things that would be important to have with you if you were all going on a God adventure. Ask your children to especially think about what they might want to have to remind them that God is with them. 

 

PRAYER 

5 MINS 

You will need: coloured paper; instructions to make origami boats (easily found online – try YouTube for an instructional video); ‘How far I’ll go’ from Moana and the means to play it 

Explain that Paul’s faith took him on great adventures, like the one you’ve read about today. There were risks, but the work God had given him to do, to tell people all over the world about Jesus, was worth the risk to him. Most importantly, though, he knew that God was with him wherever he went. God still asks us to go on adventures of faith today. It might be going to other countries to tell people about God, but it might also be all kinds of things that we need to be brave to do where we are. 

Ask everyone to choose a piece of paper and write their own prayer for the adventures that God might ask them to do. They could pray for bravery, fora sense of God calling them to specific work, or simply that God would be with them as they go. As they write these prayers, play ‘How far I’ll go’, a song reminiscent of bravery and adventures at sea! Then show them how to fold their prayers into boats. They could stick the boats up around your house as a reminder of the adventures God might take them on, if they’re willing to go. As you finish say a closing prayer, thanking God for faith adventures, but also for his companionship.