Sunday School Lessons on the Gifts of the Spirit

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Gifts of the Spirit are special abilities given to Christians by the Holy Spirit so they may help to build up the body of Christ. The spiritual gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. They include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. These Gifts of the Spirit are also listed in Ephesians 4:7-13 and Romans 12: 3-8. Teach kids all about the Gifts of the Spirit, using these Sunday School lessons and activities.

Gifts of the Spirit Mission

Write each Gift of the Spirit on the board. Have kids sit in a circle, then tell them how we all have a special mission to proclaim the good news of salvation offered through Jesus. Explain how the Gifts of the Spirit help to fulfill this special mission. Then have volunteers go to the board and write the definitions of the Gifts of the Spirit. Encourage each child to think of someone they would like to bring with them to help them on this mission. Explain to the group which gift of the Holy Spirit this person represents. For example: “I am going on a mission and I am bringing my cousin James, who has the gift of fortitude.” After everyone has had a chance to speak, challenge the kids to remember who the others in the group were bringing on the mission and what gift that person has.

Unwrap a Gift Activity

Use a blank envelope to write the verse, “The Greatest of these is Love.” This verse is from 1 Corinthians 12: 28. Write one word on each piece of paper such as patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered. Then, place these pieces of paper in the envelope and seal it. Put the envelope inside a box, then seal the box and wrap it using 10 layers of wrapping paper. On each layer of wrapping paper, write one Gift of the Spirit (e.g., wisdom, knowledge, faith). Then play music in the background and have children pass the wrapped box around similarly to how you would play musical chairs. When the music stops, the child holding the box gets to unwrap one layer and read the word written. Continue to play until someone gets to open the box. That child opens the envelope and passes out the words listed on the paper from the envelope. Then the child who opened the box reads aloud what is written on the envelope.

Fruit of the Spirit Coloring Craft

Write the Galations 5: 22-23 verses of the board: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.” Then have children color a fruit-themed page to go along with one of the “Fruits of the Spirit.” For example, kids can color an apple (Garden of Eden) to go along with temperance (self control) or a peach (soft) for gentleness. To go along with this coloring craft, you can serve the same fruit as a snack.

What's My Talent Game

Have children name different talents that others may have and list them on the board (e.g, drawing, singing, writing). Then list the various Spiritual Gifts (e.g., having faith, healing, teaching, serving others. etc.). The Spiritual Gifts can be found in versus 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, Ephesians 4: 11-12, 1 Peter 4:10-11 and Romans 12: 4-8. Divide the students into two teams. Have a child volunteer to be a special guest and then choose a talent or Spiritual Gift for the volunteer and tell her to pretend she has that talent or gift by answering questions from each team. Each team begins with 1,000 points. The object is to guess what talent or Spiritual Gift the special guest has by asking only "yes" or "no" questions. Each time the team gets a “no” answer, deduct 100 points from the total. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.