This lesson teaches children that God loves and welcomes every kind of person, and that nobody is too different for Him to include. Acts 11 is a story about Peter learning this lesson himself. It suits children aged about 5 to 11 and takes 20 to 30 minutes to teach.
Big Idea
God loves everyone, so we should never think a person is too different to be our friend or to hear about Jesus.
Memory Verse
Acts 11:17
If then God gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?”
(WEB)
Have children cup both hands together in front of their chest, then slowly open them wide as if welcoming a friend. Say “God gave them the same gift” as you open your arms, and have everyone copy you three times.
The Story: Acts 11 for Kids
Peter was a leader among Jesus’ friends, and he was a Jewish man who followed the rules his people had always kept. One day, while Peter was praying on the roof of a house in the city of Joppa, he became hungry. As he waited for his lunch, he fell into a kind of dream and saw a big sheet coming down from heaven. The sheet was full of animals that Jewish people were not supposed to eat.
A voice said, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” Peter answered, “No, Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean!” The voice spoke again, saying, “What God has made clean, do not call unclean.” This happened three times, and then the sheet went back up into heaven.
Just then, three men arrived at the house, sent by a Roman officer named Cornelius. God told Peter to go with them without worrying about who they were. Peter traveled to Cornelius’s house, where he found many people gathered and eager to hear about Jesus.
While Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit came down on all of them, just as He had come on Jesus’ friends at the beginning. Peter understood that God was giving these people the same gift. He asked, “Who was I to stand in God’s way?”
When the other believers in Jerusalem heard this story, they were amazed and praised God. They realized that God was welcoming people from every nation. Later, the followers of Jesus in the city of Antioch were called Christians for the first time, and they helped friends far away when a hunger came.
Read It Together
Acts 11:5-6
5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me. 6 When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky.
(WEB)
Point out how Peter was praying when the vision came, and how he looked closely at the animals in the sheet. Ask children to notice that God sent Peter a message while he was quietly talking to Him.
Acts 11:15-16
15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning. 16 I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’
(WEB)
Show children how the Holy Spirit came on the new believers just as He had come on the first friends of Jesus. Explain that Peter remembered what Jesus had said, which helped him understand what God was doing.
Acts 11:21
The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
(WEB)
Highlight that God’s hand was with the believers and that many people came to trust Jesus. Remind children that God is the One who helps people grow closer to Him.
Talk About It
- What did Peter think when he heard the voice telling him to eat the animals?
- Why do you think God wanted Peter to visit someone he might have avoided before?
- Who is someone at school or church who might feel left out, and how could you include them?
- What did Peter learn about God’s love for people from different places?
- How can you tell someone about Jesus this week?
Activity Ideas
Sheet of Animals Craft
You will need a large paper or old bedsheet, crayons or markers, and some paper animal cutouts. Let children draw or glue animals onto the sheet, then hang it from a string tied between two chairs. Talk about how God made every animal and every person, and how His love reaches all of them.
Four Corners Welcome Game
Mark four corners of a room with masking tape or paper signs labeled with different places, like Joppa, Caesarea, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Call out a place, and children run to that corner and cheer, “God welcomes everyone!” Play a few rounds so children move, listen, and celebrate together.
Welcome Card to Take Home
Give each child an index card or a folded sheet of paper and some stickers or markers. Ask them to write or draw one person they want to welcome this week, like a new neighbor or a classmate. Encourage them to bring the card home and give it to that person, or keep it as a reminder to be friendly.
Teacher Notes
For adults, Acts 11 shows that the gospel is not limited to one group of people. Peter’s vision and the events at Cornelius’s house reveal God’s plan to include Gentiles among His people, a shift that surprised even the earliest believers. Adults can take this as a call to examine their own assumptions about who belongs.
Avoid suggesting to children that the sheet and animals were a message about food rules today, since the passage focuses on God’s welcome of people, not on what we eat. Keep the emphasis on God’s love and inclusion instead of getting lost in the details of the vision.
A Prayer to Close
Dear God, thank You for loving every person in the whole world. Help us to be friendly and kind to everyone, even when they seem different from us. Help us to share about Jesus with our friends and families. Thank You for welcoming us too. Amen.
