Sunday school students build 'Empty Tomb" with LEGOS

The Morning Sun ^ | Apr 23, 2011 | NIKKI PATRICK

[Alex Murphy]

PITTSBURG — Children love playing with LEGO blocks, and Dorcia Johnson, Sunday school teacher at the First United Methodist Church, has developed a way to combine their enjoyment with Biblical concepts.

She calls this her Building on the Word of God curriculum, and her students’ latest creation, the culmination of a series on the life of Jesus, is “The Empty Tomb.” It will be featured in Easter services at 10 a.m. Sunday, and was also featured in services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Johnson, who teaches the program for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, said she gave the children the choice of building small individual tombs or one big one.

“One of the children has a little brother, and I said we could build one big enough for him to get into,” Johnson said. “They asked, ‘Can we make one that big?’ and I said that we could.”

“The Empty Tomb” is constructed of more than 25,000 LEGO blocks.

“Around 25 children worked three Sundays and two Wednesdays on it,” Johnson said. “On the last two Sundays I had 18 children in class. The regular class members started bringing their friends.”

She developed the Building on the Word of God curriculum while teaching Sunday school at a small country church. “I had 18 students aged from 18 months to around 18 years in one room,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t find a curriculum to fit that age range, so I did my own.”

Then she, her husband Michael and their four children moved to Pittsburg and began attending the First United Methodist Church. Johnson wanted to try out her curriculum there, and the church was receptive.

“We’ve tried several programs, and this has been the most effective,” said Shayne Anderson, director of children’s ministries at the church.

“It has touched my children,” said Heather Winzer, who has three children in the class, including son Jack, who is 12.

“Technically, he could go on to the youth class, but he chooses to stay here as a helper and builder,” Winzer said.

The children have built 14 stories from the life of Jesus, starting with the Nativity.

“We are going to do one more, on the story of Doubting Thomas, who said he wouldn’t believe that Jesus had risen until he could see his hands with the nail holes,” Johnson said. “The children will build a hand, with a hole in it that they can put their fingers into.”

In the past they have built a LEGO well for the story about Jesus meeting the woman at the well, Jesus at 12 in the temple, his first miracle of turning water into wine and the Last Supper.

“One of the coolest things they done was for ‘This Little Light of Mine’, when they made lamps,” Johnson said. “I had the lights lowered in the sanctuary when the children came in carrying their lamps.”

Randy Winzer, whose children are in the class, used LEGO RCX parts to create lights for the lamps.

Johnson studies scriptures for stories that can be built, and prays for guidance. When she decides on a project, she creates printed instructions for the children on how to build it.

“My husband, Michael, does the images for this,” she said. “I have four children, and they all work on the prototypes. We pre-kit the blocks the children will need, and I read scriptures to them while they build.”

She only uses the Bible for her source material and reading.

“But I do use different translations, because I don’t know what versions the children have in their homes,” Johnson said.

She also tries to inject some science, technology, engineering and mathematics into her instruction, as well as other educational information.

This summer she will have the children building the life of Moses.

“We can use those LEGO RCX parts for Moses and the burning bush,” Johnson said. So far the class has built the first half of Genesis and the four gospels from the New Testament.

“There’s still a lot of the Bible to build,” Johnson said.

All LEGO projects are shown to the congregation, and the teacher photographs them all.

However, the students do not get to take them home. Instead, the projects are taken apart and used for future stories.

“I hope these children never touch another LEGO again without realizing how much God loves them,” Johnson said. “I believe what the children learn here will be with them for the rest of their lives, and I hope that my children will teach my grandchildren how to build these stories.”

[Alex Murphy]

Sunday school children at the First United Methodist Church constructed their own version of the “Empty Tomb” vacated by Jesus after the Resurrection. Made from more than 25,000 LEGO blocks, it will be on view in the church sanctuary during Easter services at 10 a.m. Sunday.

The children have built 14 stories from the life of Jesus, starting with the Nativity. “We are going to do one more, on the story of Doubting Thomas, who said he wouldn’t believe that Jesus had risen until he could see his hands with the nail holes,” Johnson said. “The children will build a hand, with a hole in it that they can put their fingers into.” In the past they have built a LEGO well for the story about Jesus meeting the woman at the well, Jesus at 12 in the temple, his first miracle of turning water into wine and the Last Supper....

....“I hope these children never touch another LEGO again without realizing how much God loves them,” Johnson said. “I believe what the children learn here will be with them for the rest of their lives, and I hope that my children will teach my grandchildren how to build these stories.”

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