(10–15 minutes, easy set-up)
Students will attempt to assemble puzzles without the proper directions.
(10-15 minutes, easy set-up)
Provide two 100-piece puzzles. Do not let students see their puzzle boxes, but instead give each group a box top that does not match their puzzle. Put the pieces of each puzzle in separate piles so students stationed at one puzzle cannot see the other puzzle pieces.
Divide students into two teams. Assign each team one of the piles of puzzle pieces. Tell students to work with team members to complete their puzzles. (This will be difficult because the pictures on the boxes do not match the pieces they have.) After several minutes, ask why the activity was difficult. Say: It was difficult to assemble the puzzles without examples to follow; the same was true for the disciples in of the first New Testament Church. They had no previous church to go by, but they did have the example of Jesus Christ to follow. Remind students that this is the first lesson in a yearlong study of the New Testament Church. Explain that this year they will learn the history of the Church, what it means to be a member of both the local and the global Church, and how they can learn to apply truths from the early Church to their lives today.