Theme: Paul in Jail!

Sunday 29th June 2025

Just like Jesus, sometimes when Paul acted for God, other people got angry. And so it was here with the woman freed from the control of an evil spirit. The men making money of her were suddenly deprived of their income and weren’t happy. And so, Paul and Silas ended up unfairly in prison. However, they didn’t stop working for God. Instead of raging against the unfairness, they worshipped God and told other prisoners about Jesus.

Paul and Silas show here that God can still make difficult situations turn out for the best. Their choice to work for God, even in jail and even after God rescued them, meant that many more people heard the good news of Jesus!

Sunday Kids Work Video

Storytelling Video

Things You May Need

  • a large padlock cut out of paper or a 3D cardboard version (large enough for everyone to write on)

  • sheets of A4 card

  • felt-tip pens

Questions & Thoughts

Share out some refreshments and enjoy eating and drinking together. Start to talk about the Bible story using these questions:

  • Which is your favourite part of the story? Why?

  • What is important about this story? Why?

  • Why did Paul and Silas end up in prison? Was it fair?

  • What were the different things that Paul and Silas did in prison that were not how the other prisoners or the jailer expected them to do? Why did they behave like this?

  • Why did the jailer start believing in Jesus?

  • What do you think the jailer did next

  • What do this story mean to you?

  • How can this story give us hope for today?

Chat & create

Extend the discussion about the Bible passage by thinking about how the story of Paul and Silas can give hope for us today about the things that feel too big, bad or powerful to overcome. Sometimes we feel like we’ve got to the end of the story, but we forget that we have a big, good, and powerful God!

Consider the things that might feel like today’s version of the prison that Paul and Silas were unfairly put in. Generate discussion around different ideas, and write your thoughts write onto the padlock. What would it look like to carry on working for God, even in those situations?

Worship

These are the worship songs being played in our kids groups this morning, if you wish to listen to the same

Under 5s

  • Good Good Father

  • Great Great Brill Brill

  • Hokey Kokey

Over 5s

  • Great Things

  • Great, Great, Brill, Brill

Encounter

You all will need a key shape and some pens. Write or draw some thoughts that you have from today’s session on and around the key. Perhaps it was the way that Paul and Silas worshipped God in difficult circumstances, perhaps it was the way that they were set free by the Holy Spirit, perhaps it was the idea that we can tell others about Jesus, even if we’re in a difficult situation. After a few minutes, go around the room and share ideas if you would like to.

Growing faith at home

We continue to explore the story of Paul, today discovering how he and his friend Silas were thrown in jail but still worked for God. They worshipped him and told everyone there about Jesus. They were even freed by the Holy Spirit!

For All Children

  • Read the story again from Acts 16:16–40 (using a child-friendly translation of the Bible, such as the Contemporary English Version or the Good news Translation). You could read it too from a Bible storybook or watch a retelling of it on YouTube (we watched this one as part of the session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t_3BuseTS0).

  • Set out some building blocks (eg wooden blocks or Lego) and challenge your child(ren) to build a jail so that they can retell the story. What would it look like after the earthquake hits?

  • Discover the stories of other people who had ended up in prison and what they did about it. Try Joseph in Genesis 39–40, Jeremiah down a well in Jeremiah 38:1–13 and Peter in Acts 12:1–19.

  • Over the past two weeks, we’ve suggested that, when you’re out and about this week, each time you pass a church, pray together for the work that this church does, telling people about Jesus. Keep on doing this! But this week, pray for the church when it finds itself in a difficult situation – pray that God will rescue them and that they will still keep telling people about Jesus, despite the situation.

Other resources