Kids & Youth

In the NIV bible, in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, verses 2 to 4, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, saying to them, "When you pray, say:

The traditional version of the Lord's Prayer, as used in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer reads:

The following translation was used from 1978 through to 1996.

Today, we use the following translation:

"Why have they changed the Lord's Prayer?"

Jesus spoke in the language of Aramaic which was translated into Greek by the writers of the New Testament. Well over a millennium later, the Greek was translated into English with the writing of the King James Bible, and in places, the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England.

It is the aim of all translators to make the original text accurate both in word and meaning in the translated version. All translators throughout history have found this challenging for two reasons: firstly many languages simply do not have a word which is an exact translation of the word in the original language, and secondly because words and expressions in any language vary over time. (Did you know the word "stink" in English, used to mean "to smell sweet"?)

Original translations of the Lord's Prayer into English were valuable to the people hundreds of years ago, but many of those words have completely different meanings in the 21st century. Modern translators have returned to the original Greek texts available and tried to make these accurate and meaningful for our modern society.

The first few lines of the traditional version read: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. As mentioned above, the variations in translation occur because the words in the original Greek text do not flow easily into standard English sentences. These first few lines literally translate from the Greek as: Father of us, but one in the heavens, Let be held in reverence the name of you.

As a point of interest, in 1380AD, Wyclif wrote the Lord's Prayer down in the language and spelling of the time.

The Lord's Prayer has been set to music a couple of times in the past, but perhaps the most well known of these is Sir Cliff Richard's Millennium Prayer, which was released in 1999.

The Lord's Prayer has also been translated into nearly every language in the world. To read it in a different language, visit www.prayer.su where there are over 370 different translations available.

If you have an iPad, you might be interested in this Free Application - Bible Colouring Stories, The Lord's Prayer - available through the iTunes store. You can colour the pages on your iPad, email them to family and friends, or download them to your computer to print out. You can also listen to a child reading The Lord's Prayer.

Read the parts of the Gospel of Luke in this file.
In here, you will find the stories of The First Christmas, The Good Samaritan,
Calming the Storm, The Lost Sheep, and The First Easter day, as well as others.

God's House

Drag and Drop the pictures to their correct places with your mouse.
Then check your answer.

When We Are In Church

Drag and Drop the words to their correct places with your mouse.
Then check your answer.

Holy Communion

You share many meals with your earthly family at home, and the Holy Communion is a very special meal we share as God's family.
More than 1,000 years before Jesus was born, God's special people the Jews were slaves in Egypt. On the night God set the people free, he told them to have a meal of flat bread and roasted lamb, and to call this meal the Passover.

Here is an activity you can do with a grown up.
Cook some flat bread similar to what the Jews ate on the Passover like this:

1. Mix half a cup of flour with a big spoon of oil, a little spoon of salt and some water.
2. Knead it into a circle.
3. Cook it on both sides in a fry pan with a little oil - be careful.
4. Eat it while it's still warm. Yummy!

Going Home

Click on the meals below, see what you can find.
(Please make sure you have JavaScript enabled)

There are more activities to do offline.
You can download the Complete Booklet to print out and complete offline.
PDF file - less than 100KB

• Questions About
  God

  Who is God?
  God is the greatest, most powerful being ever, who made the whole universe.

  Who made God?
  Nobody ever made God. God has always been and will always be, for ever and ever, like counting numbers, which just go on and on.

  Where does God live?
  We call it "heaven" but we don't know where it is, except we can't get there in a rocket, and we don't know what it looks like, except that it's filled with God's love.

  Did God really make the world?
  Absolutely. God made everything we call "nature" in this world and the whole universe.

  But what about evolution?
  God designed that, too. He gave all life the ability to reproduce and develop, and he keeps on guiding it as it does.

  Why is God called God?
  The word "God" means "one who brings into being by speaking", and this is how he made the world.

  Is God male or female?
  Neither. God is a spirit, and doesn't have a human body like ours. Maybe he is a bit like a super special Casper the Friendly Ghost.

• Questions About
  Jesus

  Who is Jesus?
  Jesus is God's very special only Son, so special that he is even part of God himself.

  When did Jesus live on earth?
  Because Jesus was so special, we count our years from the year he was born. That means he was born 2010 years ago this year.

  Is Christmas really Jesus birthday?
  Probably not. It wasn't until after Jesus had gone back to heaven that people realised it would be important to celebrate his birthday, and by that time nobody remembered what the day actually was. So they just picked 25 December, because it was already a festival day.

  Where did Jesus get his power?
  From God. Jesus was a real human being, like us, but he is also God's Son, and has the power of God, and is exactly like God.

  How old was Jesus when he died?
  Jesus was 30 years old when he was baptised by John and 33 years old when he died.

  Why is the day Jesus died called Good Friday?
  In Old English, the name of this day was "God's Friday", but back then, "God" was spelled "Goode". After the English language had been banned for over 300 years at the end of the first millennium, people got things a bit mixed up, so we've ended up with Good Friday.

  What did Jesus look like?
  Jesus was a Jew, so he would have had dark hair (maybe curly), olive skin, dark brown eyes and a fairly big nose. People back in those days were usually slim and weren't very tall, either.

• Questions About
  The Bible

  How old is the Bible?
  The 66 books of the Bible were written at different times from 1,000 years before Jesus was born up to about 100 years after. They were put together for the first time as one whole book in about the year 400.

  Who wrote the Bible?
  About 40-45 different people, many whose names we know like Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and Isaiah.

  Why is the Bible called the Bible?
  The word "Bible" means "books", so its name reminds us that they are the books of God.

  Why was the Bible written?
  To tell the story of God and his people.

  Is the Bible true?
  The stories in the Bible are either true or were made up to clearly show us an important truth that God wants us to know.

  Can we believe the Bible?
  Absolutely. Every part of the Bible was guided by God to help us know him better.

  Why are there different Bibles?
  The Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek, and has to be translated to other languages for people to read it. Translating is tricky to do, and sometimes people find different words and sentences tell the original idea more clearly.

• Questions About
  Prayer

  What is prayer all about?
  Prayer is the way we communicate with God, by talking and listening.

  How does God listen to us?
  We don't really know. It must be a bit like telepathy because God doesn't have ears or hear sounds like we do, but he knows our thoughts and prayers.

  How does God talk to us?
  God talks to us and guides us by putting good thoughts into our minds and helping us make good choices.

  Does God answer all our prayers?
  Yes, but the answer might not be what we are hoping for. God's answers can be "yes" or "no" or "wait a while" or "I've got another plan".

  Why do we pray?
  To share our life with God and listen for his direction. If we didn't pray, it would be like not talking to mum or dad all week.

  Why can't I hear God talking to me?
  Listening to God takes practice. Some people can't send text messages on their phones, even though they've been shown how, because they haven't done it much. Listening to God takes practice, too.

  Why is the Lord's Prayer special?
  Because it's the prayer Jesus told the disciples to say. It begins by praising God and then asks for his help with our daily life, so we should say it every day.

• Questions About
  The Church

  Who made the first church?
  Jesus told Peter and the other disciples to be his church, so, after Jesus went back to heaven, they started meeting for prayer on Sundays, in each other's homes. This was the first church.

  Why do people go to church?
  To praise God and hear his messages for our lives and be together with other Christians.

  Who can go to church?
  Anyone and everyone. All the people who go to church actually are the church, because an empty building by itself wouldn't be a proper church at all.

  Do we have to go to church?
  Going to church is really, really important to keep our lives with God balanced, and to share support and encouragement with other Christians.

  Why do we go to church on Sundays and not on the sabbath day?
  The word "sabbath" actually means "rest". For people of the Old Testament, the day of rest was the 7th day of the week, but for Christians it is Sunday, the day Jesus came alive again.

  Why do people get Baptised?
  Getting baptised is like putting up your hand to say that you want to be a child of God, part of his big world-wide family of the church.

  What's the bread and wine at church all about?
  Jesus gave us the bread and wine as symbols of his Body and Blood. We share them at church because Jesus told us to, and to share his strength and his life.

• Questions About
  Good and Evil

  How do we know if something is good or bad?
  If Jesus or the Bible say a thing is good or bad, then that's what we should go by.

  What happens if my friends say different?
  Christians go by what Jesus says. Many times this matches what other people say, but when it doesn't, we have to stick to God's rules.

  Is evil real?
  Sure is. We know that when we feel like doing bad things.

  Are people evil?
  God made all people good, but with the freedom to make their own choices. We all make bad choices sometimes, but some people continue to make bad choices time and time again.

  Is it wrong to be tempted?
  Temptation is when we think about doing or saying a bad thing, but have not actually done it. But it's not a sin unless we actually do it.

  How does God forgive us?
  Forgiveness begins by saying sorry for wrong things we have done, and meaning it. God forgives us by accepting our apology.

  Why do bad things happen to good people?
  God give us all freedom to make choices in life. Sometimes the poor choice made by one person or a law, has sad or terrible consequences for another person.

• Questions About
  Heaven and Hell

  Is heaven real?
  Sure is. Jesus talked about heaven, and told us it's the pace where God lives, and where Jesus was going to go.

  Will I go to heaven?
  If you love and trust God and keep on trying to help others, there's a good chance.

  What is heaven like?
  We don't know the details, but it would be a beautiful place full of God's love.

  Is hell real?
  Yes. Jesus talked about hell too. All we know about hell is that it must be without God or any love.

  Does hell have fire?
  We don't know what hell is like, except that it's a place without God and his love.

  Will bad people go to hell?
  God is the only one who can decide that, because only God knows our hearts.

  Are there angels in heaven?
  Yes. Angels are God's messengers and the Bible tells us they are in heaven with God and other special heavenly beings.