We are the Church Craft

Continuing my series on crafts related to the Creed...
(for the rest, check out the "I Believe" activities under the Sharing the Faith tab above)

Highlighting the Four Marks of the Church found at the end of the Nicene Creed, I made this craft as a vehicle for dicussing how the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

Here are some topics I would teach as I made this with kids:
-One= Christ founded one Church.  It was never his plan for us to break into smaller groups with differing beliefs.  When He comes again, we will all be united as one.
-Holy= The Church is the spotless Bride of Christ, good and holy, even though it is made up of broken and fallen people. When He comes again, the Church will enter Heaven as His Holy Bride.
-Catholic= The Church is universal.  Our faith is for all people of all cultures of all times.  When He comes again, we will see how all encompassing the Church really is.
-Apostolic= The Church is founded on the teachings of the Apostles, and continues to follow their authority today through their successors the Bishops.  We are blessed to have leadership in our time by those given authority from Christ.
-The Church is not a building, but is the people.  We are the Church, and we make up the Body of Christ.
-We believe all of these things as we say the Nicene Creed- "I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."

So, for the craft, you will need a copy of the printable (link at the bottom of the post) and one piece of black construction paper for each kid, as well as various colored scraps of paper, glue, scissors, and a circle punch if you have one.

First mission: color the pieces on the printable.  I chose to leave the church and "Our Church Is..." white to represent it being the spotless Bride of Christ.  Then cut them out.

Second mission: cut open the doors on the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines.  A little trick for kids having trouble-fold the church in half length ways and clip on the line.  Then open it back up and cut the rest. 

 Here is what it looks like after that step-

Third mission: lay the church in the center of the black paper and trace the opening with a white crayon.  (I love finding a purpose for the neglected white crayon in my Crayola box :) )

Fourth mission: Cut or punch out circle of various colors.  This is step you could do ahead of time to speed things up if you are crafting with a large group.  Glue the circles inside the white rectangle.

Glue the church on over the circles without gluing down the doors.  Then glue on the rest of the words like this:

Fifth mission: glue the "We are the Church!" and the Ephesians verse on the inside of the doors.  This is to remind the kids that we, all of the people of God, are the Church, and we are one body.

 Sixth mission: Go share it with somebody!

 Here is the link to the printable: