Walking Away

Materials
You'll need a Bible, colored construction paper, white paper, scissors, markers, tape, and a picture of Jesus or a sheet of poster board. Before this activity, tape the picture of Jesus to a wall, door, or bulletin board. If you don't have a picture of Jesus, write his name on a sheet of poster board and hang it on the wall.

Activity
Have children form pairs, and hand each pair two sheets of colored construction paper, two sheets of white paper, a marker, and scissors. Have each child help his or her partner trace and cut out a white footprint and a colored footprint. After all the footprints have been cut out, say: It's not always easy to follow in Jesus' footsteps. Sometimes we're tempted to do or say the wrong things-then we're off on the "wrong foot."

Discussion
What are some things that keep people from following Jesus?
Have youth think of various ways people stray from Jesus; then write those ways on your colored footprints. After everyone has prepared a colored footprint, invite everyone to tape their footprints near the picture of Jesus. Position the paper footprints so they appear to be "walking" away from Christ.

Debrief
What are some of thethings that rbings us and others closer to Jesus? Some possible answers are love, honesty, forgiveness, kindness, trust, faith, and hope. Have participants write one of these words on his or her white footprint and then tape that footprint "walking" toward the picture of Jesus.

Closing
Have a time of silence during which the partcipants can think about ways they'd like to follow Jesus more closely.