The Death of Stephen

The child will be able to identify how God empowered Stephen to stand up against the religious leaders.

Bible Story Reference: Acts 6:8-15; 7:1-60

Memory Verse: 

Colossians 3:13 (NIV)

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Introduction

  • In the last lesson, we learned about the disabled man whom God healed through Peter and John. Does God still perform miracles today? ( Yes!)
  • Today, we will learn about Stephen, a man who stood up to the religious leaders with God’s help.

Bible Story

Stephen was a follower of Jesus, and God gave him the power to perform miracles. But some people did not like what Stephen was doing. They falsely accused him of saying terrible things about God; they told lies and took him to the religious leaders.
“Is what these people are saying about you true?” the high priest asked. Stephen answered him by clearly explaining God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ that can be seen throughout the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit helped Stephen know exactly what to say.
“You are stubborn and hard-headed people!” he said. “You are always fighting against the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors did. You have killed the one that God sent, Jesus!”
When the religious leaders heard this, they were very angry. But Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked toward heaven, and he saw God and Jesus standing at his right side.
“I see heaven open!” Stephen said. “The Son of Man is standing at the right side of God!”
When the religious leaders heard this, they became furious. Then, they attacked Stephen and started throwing stones at him.
As he was being stoned, Stephen knelt down and shouted, “Lord, do not blame them for what they have done.” Then, he died.

Review

The Holy Spirit enabled Stephen to perform great miracles. He also gave Stephen the confidence to speak and the words to say to the religious leaders. No matter what happened, Stephen kept speaking the truth. He never denied Jesus. Instead, he spoke boldly. The Holy Spirit empowers us in the same way today.

  1. How did Stephen stand up against the religious leaders? (He clearly explained God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, even though this made them very angry.)
  2. How did God empower Stephen to do this? (The Holy Spirit gave Stephen the confidence to stand up to the leaders and the words to say to them.)
  3.  The Holy Spirit helped Stephen stand up to the religious leaders, even though it was probably very hard and scary to do so. How can the Holy Spirit help us to do things that are difficult, too? (Answers will vary but might include giving us the ability to forgive others, helping us share Jesus with others, and giving us the strength to do the right thing even when it is difficult.)

Prayer

Dear God,
Thank you for the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit inside of me. Amen

Songs

Craft

The Stoning of Stephen

What You Need

  • Yellow, light brown and dark brown paper
  • Scraps of dark brown or gray, light brown, white, and various bright colors of paper
  • Cotton wool
  • Marker
  • Crayons
  • Scissors
  • Glue

Steps 

  1. Glue brown paper to the bottom of the yellow paper. This is the road outside the city.
  2. Draw Stephen to fit in the bottom left corner of the yellow paper.
  3. Cut small triangles out of colored paper and two smaller long rectangles. These are the robes and arms of the Jews.
  4. Cut small brown or gray circles for the stones.
  5. Cut a few larger stones.
  6. Cut tiny light brown circles for the Jewish faces
  7. Color Stephen and glue him on top of the road and yellow paper, in a corner. Make sure Stephen is not looking at the Jews, but up in the clouds.
  8. Glue arms on all robes. It is nice if the arms are glued in an upward position, showing the Jews’ anger.
  9. Glue small light brown circles on the robes. These are the Jew’s faces. Draw angry faces on the Jews.
  10. Glue Jews on brown paper.
  11. Glue a stone in each of the Jews’ hands.
  12. Glue larger stones closer to Stephen than the Jews.
  13. Fold up one arm of the people to their ears to resemble the Jews stopping up their ears.
  14. Glue cotton a little lower than the corner of the yellow paper opposite of Stephen. Make sure there is room for Jews and God above the clouds.
  15. Draw “the glory of God” and Jesus standing on the right side of God above the clouds. Label is necessary or desired.
  16. On white scrap paper, write “I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Cut into a speech bubble, pointing to Stephen’s mouth.
  17. On white scrap paper, write “They cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him…” Cut out and glue close to the angry Jews.
  18. On white scrap paper, write, “…and they stoned Stephen…” Cut out and glue to the bottom of the brown paper.
  19. Write “The Stoning of Stephen” and “Acts 7” on the top of the yellow paper.
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