Lesson: Images of God
Level: Key Stage 3
Lesson Objective

For students to have the opportunity to explore the different images people have of God and learn what the
Christian idea of God really is
Learning Outcomes


Students will gain an understanding of who God is according to the Bible
They will be able to unpack some of their own ideas about God, hear the opinions of others, and explore
where they get those ideas from
Required Resources

Dry wipe board
Additional Materials



‘Who Am I?’ laminates
‘God Is...’ sheets / ‘God Is…’ wordsearch
Scrap paper
Plan

Introduction
0:00 - 0:05 mins

‘Who Am I?’ laminates and explanation
0:05 - 0:15 mins

‘Characteristics of God’ thought shower
0:15 - 0:20 mins

‘God Is…’ sheets / ’God Is…’ wordsearch and discussion
0:20 - 0:35 mins

‘False Images’ drama and explanation
0:35 - 0:45 mins

‘Dots’ puzzle and explanation
0:45 - 0:55 mins

Plenary
0:55 - 1:00 mins
Lesson Plan: Images of God 09/10/2008
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Lesson: Images of God
Lesson:

Introduction (5 minutes)
Introduce the team and explain the topic to be covered during the lesson. Let the
students know that the lesson is fun and interactive but will only work if they
participate well and enjoy themselves.

„Who Am I?‟ laminates and explanation (10 minutes)
Hand out the laminates with some scrap paper and ask the students to go through
the quiz and write down the names of all the celebrities on there. Once they have
finished, go through the answers and then see how well the class did. Explain that
some of the celebrities on the sheet were easier than others to guess as they have a
particular image they put across that helps you to recognise them. Others, perhaps
photos taken of a celebrity in a different setting than usual, were harder as the
image you recognise them by wasn't necessarily present. Give a few examples and
then introduce the lessons topic again explaining that the class are going to be
exploring some of the different images people have of God.

„Characteristics of God‟ thought shower (5 minutes)
Ask the class to come up with their images of God, what comes to mind when they
think of God, and write their ideas on the board. Emphasise that image isn’t always
appearance and see if they come up with any other, non-appearance related, ideas
about God. When they have finished go through their suggestions and unpack them
a little bit. Try and find out where their ideas have come from and suggest that the
appearance ideas may have come from films or TV programmes. Finally, reiterate
the fact that image isn’t just appearance and with God, because we can’t see Him,
we need to focus on His characteristics as His image instead.

„God Is...‟ sheets and discussion (15 minutes)
Give each student a ‘God Is…’ worksheet and get them to read the statements and
decide whether they agree with them or not. Get feedback by selecting some
statements and seeing what people have put and their reasons. For each one, once
everyone has given their opinion, tell the class what a Christian might say in
response to each statement. Allow time for questions at this point.
For lower ability groups hand out the ‘God Is…’ wordsearch instead and after
they have found the words, go through what each means and how that relates to
God.

„False Images‟ drama and explanation (10 minutes)
Introduce the drama by explaining they individual sketches are three very common
ideas about who God is. Once the drama has been performed summarise each one,
Lesson Plan: Images of God
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Lesson: Images of God
Lesson:
asking if the class would like God to be like that. Unpack the idea and give examples
of each before describing what the Bible says God is like:
God 1 - “Santa Clause God”: People believe God is like Santa Clause; that He will
give people anything they want, whenever they ask for it without any questions.
But, the Bible disagrees with that saying that if we ask God for something, He will
give it to us but only if He thinks it’s right for us to have it. God is all knowing so
knows whether something will benefit us or cause us harm therefore He will decide,
based on that, whether we should have something.
God 2 - “Ogre God”: A lot of people believe God is angry all the time and sits in
heaven, watching everything we do, waiting for us to do something wrong and as
soon as we do He pounces, shouting and arguing and getting more and more
annoyed with us. Again, the Bible doesn’t describe God like that. It says that when
we do things wrong God gets angry and upset but He is a forgiving God and so if we
say sorry for the things we do wrong He will forgive us and help us if we need help
dealing with something.
God 3 - “Too busy to be bothered God”: Often people think that if God is so
powerful that means He will be far too busy doing much more important things that
He won’t be bothered about us individually and what’s going on in our lives.
However, the Bible says that God knows us so well He even knows how many hairs
are on our head (perhaps use Psalm 139 as a description of how well God knows
us). If God knows us better than we know ourselves then He must love us and must
care about us and so will be there for us whenever we need Him.

Dots Puzzle and explanation (10 minutes)
Draw 9 dots on the board in the layout below (figure 1). Tell the students that they
need to join all 9 dots together using only 4 straight lines and without taking the pen
off the board or going over the same line twice. Have a few volunteers come up to
the front to try it out and after a while ask if they think it’s impossible. Draw the
solution on the board as in figure 2 ensuring you start at point A and following the
lines as directed by the letters.
D
B
Figure 1
Figure 2
A
Lesson Plan: Images of God
C
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Lesson: Images of God
Lesson:
Once you have revealed the answer, ask the class if they thought you had cheated
and if they say yes, ask why. They should hopefully say that you went outside the
box. Point out that there was no box to stay within and that the only rules were that
they couldn’t go over the same line twice or take their pen off the board. They
imagined the dots formed a box and so felt they had to stay within that shape thus
restricting what they could do. Explain that it is the same when we think of God.
People often box Him in to what they know themselves, they assume God is like
humans and so can’t do the miraculous things the Bible talks about. However, if they
are to look outside of the box, ie. outside what they take for granted or beyond
what they understand, it is possible God can do what the Bible says He does.

Plenary (5 minutes)
End the lesson by going over the main points from the lesson again, bringing
together all the ideas people have of who God is and ensuring the class understand
who the Bible says God is.
Lesson Plan: Images of God
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