Today we were pleased to welcome Alfie to our Sunday Club. Alfie enjoys RE at school and was already knowledgeable with parts of our teaching today.
We started off the session saying that we were going to talk about a man who became one of Jesus disciples. His name was Matthew. Our story would show how Matthew changed his life and how he walked away from what he thought was important; to follow Jesus. Alfie and the leaders assembled a puzzle to help gues what Mattews occupation was - a tax collector. We talked about the type of tools he may have used to count his money and of later devices used.
The following story from Scripture Union was read : Matthew was collecting money from the people in his town. He was counting the money on his desk. " Next please"! Called Matthew. He liked his job because he could get rich by asking for more money than he really should. "Next please," he called again. When he looked up, he saw Jesus.
"Come with me," Jesus said.
Matthew knew he would have to change his life if he went with Jesus. He remembered all the money he had cheated out of people - even poor people. He thought about the big house he had and all the treats he could have.
Jesus smiled and Matthew knew he wanted to change the way he lived. Matthew wanted to learn to be more like Jesus. Matthew left the table and the money. He went with his new friend, Jesus, to learn to live His way.
After the story we played a counter game to demonstrate how the tax collector always wins and this proved it to be true.
On returning to the body of the church Alfie coloured a scene from the story.
Prayer: Lord, help us to follow Jesus as Matthew did and to be a disciple n Your name. Amen