Jesus Without Language

The story of Lydia, a woman who sold purple cloth and was the first European convert, is a small passage signifying great meaning and a huge step forward for the church. These games play with ideas in the passage, Lydia’s actions and character traits.

Sailing Destination

Grab a parachute. The aim is to get all the boats through the hole in the parachute, apart from the one Paul is on. For boats, use table tennis balls or tennis balls. Make sure one ball is a different colour or mark it with tape.
Link: Paul sailed to get to Macedonia and Lydia.

Purple  

This is a simple hide and seek game using dot stickers or coloured tape. Hide a large number of dot stickers in your space and have the kids search for them. You can either have kids remove the stickers to stick to their t-shirts or count how many there are of each colour. At the end, tally up how many kids find and remember the purple counts double.
Link: Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth, like many from her home town.

Back Rhythm

Sit in a circle and pass a rhythm around by tapping it on the back of the person in front of you.
Link: God’s church grew by passing the word from person to person.

Baptism role play

Use dolls of teddies and blue shredded paper for water to act out how your church baptises. This is a great activity for the very young and a good conversation starter.
Link: Lydia showed she was a new believer by being baptised.
 

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These are the Character resources provided for: Lydia (Acts 16).

For each passage, there is a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page. All other graphics are extra’s!

Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).

These images are NOT copyright free.

These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only.
Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decor, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group.
You may not use them in products you are going to sell – both printed and digital, or to upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos.
Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.

I wonder if you know someone who is a little bit bossy? Someone who knows exactly what they want? That’s a bit like the woman Paul meets in today’s passage, but first let’s chat about Paul!

Paul was once called Saul, and he spent his time chasing all those who followed the way of Jesus the Messiah so he could put them in prison. But then his life changed dramatically when Jesus appeared to him on a road and told him to change his ways and his name! Soon Paul was the church’s early missionary, travelling around from town to town telling people about Jesus.

One night, Paul had a dream of a man begging him to come visit them next. The man was dressed like a Macedonian (southern Europeans), and so Paul got in a boat and sailed North. He travelled many days until he reached the trading city of Philippi. When the Sabbath came, he went outside the city walls, near the river, where the Jewish community used to pray because they did not have a synagogue. Paul sat down with a group of women and told them all about Jesus.

One of the women was called Lydia. Lydia had grown up in a town called Thyatira where purple cloth was made. But Lydia didn’t want to make cloth; so she moved to Philippi to trade the expensive purple cloth there. She was very good at trading and had become wealthy. She had a big house in Philippi with many rooms and many servants. However, the most important thing about Lydia was that she knew God.

While the other women were unsure about what Paul told them, God had opened Lydia’s heart and she believed the message Paul was sharing. She believed Jesus was the Messiah! Lydia believed so fully she asked Paul to baptise her and her whole household, even the servants. They all went into the river and did just that! Paul was delighted. Lydia was the first European believer in Jesus.

Lydia told Paul that he and his friends should come and stay at her house. Paul wasn’t so sure. He didn’t want people to say he had targeted the rich women of the city so he would get free accommodation. But Lydia was not going to take no for an answer. Paul had told her the believers cared for each other; saying no would be saying she wasn’t a real believer! Paul threw up his hands and laughed; Lydia was not someone to be argued with. Plus, she really did have room for them all to stay.

Lydia helped to grow not only the Church in Philippi but also in her home town of Thyatira. The teachings of Jesus spread through Europe and out to the rest of the world.