Elementary Level, Block 10—Apostles / Paul
Week 99
Aquila and Priscilla—Having an Open Home
Point to Emphasize: We can help our parents have an open home.
Reference Reading: Acts 18:2; Romans 16:3, 5; 1 Corinthians 16:19
Memory Verse: …Always pursue what is good both for one another and for all.
(1 Thessalonians 5:15b)
Story Sample
Who here has had a meeting in their home? [Talk with the children about this meeting.] Do you know of others that have had meetings in their homes? [Talk with the children about the people they know that have meetings—prayer meetings, children’s meetings, etc.]
There was a couple in the New Testament who had meetings in their home, too. They were Aquila and Priscilla. They often would travel to a city sharing the good news about Jesus with the people there. They would live in the city for a while. Sometimes they stayed in a city for a few years. Of course, all the ones who received the good news about Jesus from them wanted to come together. Aquila and Priscilla would open their home so that all the ones they shared with could gather together. This couple did not have any children, so they had to get the house ready all by themselves in order to have others over.
What kinds of things do you think they had to do to get their house ready? [Let the children come up with things—cleaning up, doing dishes, putting everything away, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the floor, putting the chairs in place.] Are these the same kinds of things that need to happen at your house when others come to meet there? Yes! And I am sure that when you help, getting the house ready takes less time than if mom and dad had to do it all. What things do you help with? [Let the children discuss together.] I am sure that you all are happy helpers!
There is a family that has a lot of meetings in their apartment. Since the father gets home just as guests are arriving, it is the mom and the two children who take care of preparing for the meeting. The three of them work together to pick up everything in the living room and put it away. Then mom sweeps and mops the tile floor. As it dries, they all go into the kitchen to prepare the snack. Then the five-year-old daughter starts arranging the chairs in the living room. The eleven-year-old son gets the songbooks, Bibles, and prints out the portion they will read that evening. Now, everything is ready! The children always like helping get things ready since this is one of the best evenings of the week! They enjoy having people come to their home. [Storyteller, include your own story.]
I know that these children are like Aquila and Priscilla in that they really enjoy preparing their place so that people can come to the meeting in their home. We all can help, so that our home is open for others to come! Then when you are grown up and have a place of your own, you will want to open it too, just like Aquila and Priscilla.