Materials
Props for acting out the parables. These can extensive or minimalist depending on the creativity ad age of your participants. You might include biblical costumes, props mentioned in the parables, and objects that are focal to each parable. Alternatively, let youth find their own props for creative variations.
Activity
1. Assign groups of youth/ children / adults one of the parables.
2. Instruct the groups to find their parable in the Bible and read it. If the parable occurs in more than one Gospel, have the group read each version, noting the differences.
3. After reading the parable, have members of the group volunteer for parts in a skit about the parable. Give them time to plan and rehearse.
4. As a variation, have the groups rewrite the parable in a modern context.
Parables
The Prodigal son (Luke 15:11)
The Lost Coin (Luke 15:8)
The Lost Sheep (Matt 18:10)
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25)
The Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18:21-34)
The Mustard Seed (Matt 13:31-32 and Mark 4:31-32 and Luke 13:18-19)
The Sower (Matt 13:3-9 and Mark 4:3-9 and Luke 8:5-8)
The Two House Builders (Matt. 7:24)
The Three Servants (Matt 25:14)
The Lamp under a Bowl (Mark 4:21-25 and Luke 8:16-18)
The Pharisees and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9)
The Yeast (Matt 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21)
The Hidden Treasure (Matt 13:44)
The Pearl (Matt 13:45)
Discussion
1. What are the key characters in this parable?
2. What did it feel like to be the person you acted out?
3. What is the key point of this parable?
4. How is this key point important to the Christian life?
5. What real life situations remind you of this parable?
6. What difference will knowing this parable make in a person’s life?
7. How can you personally apply the lesson of this parable in your life this week?
Application
Mark 4:34 seems to indicate that Jesus usually used parables in his teaching. Jesus’ parables were meant for ordinary people so he talked about things that ordinary people knew about, like farming and shepherding.
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.