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Contents

Martin Luther 2–5

William Tyndale 6–9

Thomas Cranmer 10–12

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Martin LutherTheme: Friendship with God comes by trusting HimYou will need:• Pretend money• Picture of Martin Luther• Monk's rule sheet• Picture of money• Aged paper – soaked in tea or coffee and dried overnight

Introduction[Have a child up front and ask if they would be your friend. Offer to do something amazing like keepy-uppies with a football or press-ups.] Would you be my friend if I could do amazing things like that?

[Offer some pretend money] Would you be my friend now?

If our friendship is based on being able to do amazing things or giving money, then it’s not a real friendship, is it? What would happen to that friendship if I was no longer able to do keepy-uppies or I ran out of money? [Let the child sit down].

Is that how it works with God too? How do we become friends with God?

Martin LutherI’m going to introduce you today to someone who lived 500 years ago in Germany. And he had some big questions about how to become God’s friend. [Have picture on the screen or printed]

Martin Luther became a monk and he kept lots of rules. [Hold up rule sheet]. Monk sounds like monkey but they’re totally opposite: monkeys behave really badly, monks behave really, really well! He would pray every day; he would say sorry for everything he could think of; he gave all his time to serve God. If being God’s friend was based on being good, then Martin Luther would have it sorted! But still Martin Luther felt guilty and worried that he had not done enough.

At the same time the church was saying, ‘If you pay money then you could become God’s friend!’ [Hold up picture of money]. Martin Luther was horrified by this: God’s friendship cannot be bought by money, just like you can’t buy your classmate’s friendship. ChurchSociety

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Martin Luther continuedAnd so, on 1st November 1517 Martin Luther nailed to his church door a list of reasons why you cannot pay money to be God’s friend. [If possible stick aged paper to a door in the room]. It was called the 95 Theses, or 95 reasons why he thought the church was wrong. That’s a lot of reasons!

This started an almighty fight with the church leaders and they told him to stop and change his mind. But Martin was still thinking about how you do become God’s friend. He found the answer in a little verse in the New Testament part of the Bible. It said, ‘the righteous will live by faith.’ Or to put it another way, those who are right with God are right by faith.

We can only be God’s friends by trusting Him and what Jesus has done for us. We cannot be God’s friends by paying money [rip up picture of money]. We cannot be God’s friends by being good boys and girls [rip up rule sheet]. We can only be friends with God by trusting Him.

The church leaders put Martin Luther on trial for saying this, but Luther was so convinced that this was what the Bible taught, that he would not back down. He carried on teaching and preaching for the rest of his life that we can only be friends with God by trusting Him.

What about you? Are you friends with God? How do you know? Are you trusting God or relying on being good to be God’s friend? [Expand this section as is appropriate to your audience].

Bullet points• Intro – Can we be friends by me doing good things or paying you

money?• Martin Luther born 500 years ago in Germany and wanted to know

how to be friends with God• Became a monk and kept lots of rules but still felt guilty• Church saying you could be God’s friends by paying money• 1st Nov 1517 Luther posted complaints about this practice• Then realised you can only be God’s friend by trusting Him• Cannot be friends by being good or paying money• Luther put on trial but convinced he was right• What about you?

Songs and Hymns• 'A mighty fortress is our God' – a hymn written by Martin Luther• 'God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name' (Carol Owens, 1972 Bud John

Songs)• 'I’m Special' (Graham Kendrick, 1986 Thankyou Music)

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Martin Luther

Monk's Rule SheetPray every daySay sorry for everythingGive all your money

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William TyndaleTheme: Anyone can read God’s Word and understand itYou will need:• A big Bible with a piece of paper in it showing the Latin phrase below

in large print• Picture of William Tyndale

Introduction• If there are audio visual facilities available, find a clip of a favourite TV

programme dubbed into another language• Play Simon Says, but give instructions in another language which you

know• Guess the language – read out an assortment of words and let the

children guess what language you are speaking: Papier Paper Boden Bottom Hund Dog Pferd Horse Buch Book Feder Quill

Ask: I wonder how you would feel living in a country where you did not understand what was being said? Would you feel scared? Worried? Confused? Imagine then if all the true stories about Jesus were in another language and you couldn't understand them. You could never be God’s friend!

William TyndaleFor many years people could not read the Bible for themselves. If someone read it in church all that people would hear was this. [have a child read from a big old Bible] ‘prima sabbati Domini est terra et plenitudo eius orbis terrarum et universi qui habitant in eo’.

Maybe you’re thinking, ‘it’s all Greek to me!’ Well, actually, it wasn’t Greek it was Latin! And if you wanted to find out about who Jesus was and how to be God’s friend, then you would have to have learnt Latin. Very few people had the money for that! You see the Bible was not originally written in English; it was written in Greek and Hebrew which are very different and not easy to understand. But we want to be able to read what is written in the Bible for ourselves. Church

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William Tyndale continuedI am going to tell you about a man called William Tyndale who lived 500 years ago. William was amazing at languages but he also wanted people to be able to read the Bible for themselves. So he started taking all the words and putting them in English so that anybody could understand it. It might sound strange but not everybody wanted that to happen. King Henry VIII and the church tried to stop him and he had to run away to Germany.

In two years he had put the whole of the New Testament part of the Bible into English and began to smuggle it into England in bundles of cloth. He had to keep moving in case he was caught but carried on translating the rest of the Bible into English. Once he was shipwrecked, losing all that work and had to begin again. He ended up in cold water.

But later he ended up in hot water! The most disastrous thing that happened to him was that he was betrayed and killed. A man named Henry Phillips pretended to be his friend and tricked him into going out for dinner with him. But it was a trick and Tyndale was arrested. He was strangled and then burnt just for putting the Bible into words that people could understand!

As he was being burnt he cried out on the fire, ‘Lord, open the King of England’s eyes! Open the King of England’s eyes.’ He was praying that King Henry would see how important it is that people could read the Bible for themselves. Two years later God answered Tyndale’s prayer: King Henry ordered a copy of Tyndale’s Bible to be put into every church in England!

I wonder if you’ve realised how wonderful it is that you can understand the Bible? You can hear the stories of Jesus in words you can understand; maybe you can even read the Bible for yourself! Why not try picking it up and reading it. Start with one of the gospels, like Mark, and read it saying thank you to God that you can understand the words. [Pray]

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William Tyndale continuedBullet Points• Introduction showing how confusing it can be hearing things in a

different language• Read from a Latin Bible• Introduce William Tyndale and his desire to translate the Bible• King and church did not like that so Tyndale fled to Germany• Smuggled NT into England in bundles of cloth• Henry Philips betrayed him and he was arrested• Strangled and burnt praying that King Henry’s eyes would be opened• Two years later Henry put an English Bible in every church in England• Have you realized how amazing it is to have a Bible you can read and

understand?

Songs and Hymns• 'The Wholeeee Holy Bible' (Colin Buchanan, The Jesus Hokey Pokey)• 'God Speaks, We Listen' (EMU, Get Ready)• 'I the Lord of Sea and Sky' (Dan Schutte)

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Thomas CranmerTheme: Thomas Cranmer wanted every church to teach the good news and died for his beliefsYou will need:• Picture of Thomas Cranmer• Copy of the Book of Common Prayer• Three pretend dog collars (strips of white paper)• Sellotape• Several items used for spreading information, e.g. megaphone,

newspaper, mobile phone, radio

Introduction• Have a number of objects used for spreading news, e.g. a megaphone,

a newspaper, a mobile phone and a radio. Ask: What do these objects all have in common?

• Have three children up front and give them pretend dog collars (white strips of paper) and ask them to read one of the following statements: – ‘The only way to be God’s friend is to be good.’ – ‘The only way to be God’s friend is to pay money.’ – ‘The only way to be God’s friend is to trust in Jesus.’ Ask the children what they would do if they heard different churches teaching different things.

Thomas Cranmer500 years ago you might go into lots of different churches and hear lots of different things about how to be God’s friend. Martin Luther had discovered the wonderful message of the Bible that we can become God’s friend by trusting Jesus. And William Tyndale had put that message into our language so we can understand it; not everyone had yet heard it in England.

King Henry VIII made a man called Thomas Cranmer his Archbishop of Canterbury, in charge of all the churches in England. Thomas Cranmer wanted everyone to hear this great message of Jesus and so he wrote a book called the Book of Common Prayer [hold up book]. This was a book to be read out at every church service. It was full of prayers and readings which really clearly explained the good news of Jesus from the Bible. Every church in England had to use this book, that way you couldn’t go to a church without hearing the wonderful news about how Jesus had died for you. Church

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Thomas Cranmer continuedThe language is quite old and hard to understand now, but it is wonderful and many churches still love using it. [Read an excerpt to the children]

It worked really well for a long time, but then King Henry died and Mary became Queen. She hated everything Cranmer had written and believed. By this time, he was 70 and very old and under pressure to say he didn’t believe these things any more. He ended up signing a piece of paper saying he no longer believed them.

But this did not stop Mary having him burnt at the stake. In 1556, in Oxford, he was put on a pile of firewood and he was meant to read out the piece of paper he had signed denying that he believed the good news about Jesus. But he refused and instead put his hand into the flame, the hand he had used to sign the denial.

Cranmer died for what he believed in. Thomas Cranmer died because he wanted everyone to hear the good news about Jesus. It’s wonderful that today we can hear the good news about Jesus too. Is that something you know and understand too? We have Thomas Cranmer to thank for that. [Expand the application as is appropriate for your audience]

Pray

Bullet Points• Introduction about getting everyone to hear the same message• Recap Martin Luther and William Tyndale• Henry VIII made Thomas Cranmer his Archbishop of Canterbury• Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer so that every church

service hears the good news of Jesus• Read some of the Book of Common Prayer• Queen Mary forces Cranmer to deny what he believed• Cranmer burnt in Oxford, 1556, putting his writing hand into the flame

first• Have we heard and understood the good news about Jesus?

Songs• 'God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name' (Carol Owens, 1972 Bud John

Songs)• 'This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine' (Traditional)

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Thomas Cranmer