The Idea
Use pre-made cookie dough and some cookie cutters to create a sweet object lesson about being the body of Christ.
Spiritual Idea
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 Paul explains that we are all uniquely gifted. If all Christians were exactly the same they wouldn’t be the body of Christ, they would just be the body “part” of Christ. Many teenagers think to live for Christ means to look like everyone else (and many adults think that the teenagers should look just like them) but God has a much more wonderfully diverse plan in st0re for us.
Materials Needed
- Sugar cookie dough (I used the Pillsbury refrigerated sheets, but apparently they are discontinued. You can make up your own dough and roll out a square for each participant or you can apparently, according to their website, work 1/4 cup of floor into the slice and bake roll and then roll it out for cookies)
- Several cookie cutters
- Wax paper
- Cookie sheet
- Oven
- Icing (optional)
The Lesson
Arrange students in groups of 3-5. Give each student a square of cookie dough (and something non-stick to shape it on like wax paper). Give each group a cookie cutter. Instruct students to use the cutter to cut a cookie out of their dough.
Ask:
- What does your cookie look like?
- How is it different from the other cookies in your group?
- How do you think this applies to living as a Christian?
- Do you think that Christians are supposed to be cookie cutter copies of each other? Why or why not?
Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.
- What does Paul say about the body of Christ?
- What would happen if everyone in the church was exactly the same?