Lesson Note on Christian Religious Studies (CRS) JSS3 Second Term
SCHEME OF WORK
Week One: The Spread of the Gospel outside Palestine
Week Two: The Christian Missionary Journey
Week Three: The journey from Antioch to Derbe
Week Four: Controversy in the early church
Week Five: Controversy in the Corinth Church
Week Six: The Jerusalem Council
Week Seven: Conflict in the society
Week Eight: Further spread of the church
Week Nine: Paul’s imprisonment at Philippi
Week Ten: Revision
Week Eleven: Examination
Lesson Note on Christian Religious Studies (CRS) JSS3 Second term
Below are the 2022 complete JSS3 Second Term Christian Religious StudiesLesson Note
Week One: The Spread of the Gospel outside Palestine
INTRODUCTION:
Before Jesus left disciples, his commissioned them and instructed them to spread the
gospel. He specifically told them to “Go and make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Since then, the disciples have
been spreading the word of God in and outside Jerusalem to the even the deepest part of
the world. To learn more, click here.
Week Two: The Christian Missionary Journey
INTRODUCTION:
By the direction of the Holy Spirit, Paul and Barnabas were sent to preach to the Gentiles at
Paphos, the capital of Cyprus. And while at Paphos, they met a Jewish sorcerer
[magician] called Bar-jesus also known as Elymas. The sorcerer attached himself to the
governor, a very intelligent man calld Sergius Paulus. Meanwhile, Sergius Paulus had invited
Paul and Barnabas to come and preach to him. And while preached to the governor, the
magician tried to discourage the governor from listening to the sermon. To learn more, click here.
Week Three: The journey from Antioch to Derbe
INTRODUCTION:
For his first missionary journey, Paul visited Derbe, a town in Turkey. There, he preached and
got many disciples one of whom was Gaius who later accompanied Paul to his missionary
journey to Greece. Do note that Paul’s journey to Derbe happened after he was stoned in
Iconium. To learn more, click here.
Week Four: Controversy in the early church
INTRODUCTION:
Every human community faces controversies ever so often. It is just an inevitable
phenomenon; conflict. And so it proved to be in the early church when the main source of
controversy was the discrimination of Jewish Christians against the Gentiles.
The Jews thought that those who were not circumcised were not permitted to be Christians.
As the Bible recorded, some of the Jewish Christians who held this opinion came from Judea
to Antioch preaching to the people that unless they were circumcised according to the
custom taught by Moses, they could not be saved. To learn more, click here.
Week Five: Controversy in the Corinth Church
INTRODUCTION:
Paul rebukes the Corinthians because there are divisions and quarrels in the church. This is
the result of a religious snobbery associated by cliques that produced pride and conflict.
Religious snobs want to be a part of a small group who think of themselves as the spiritual
elite. They are proud and smug because of their associations, especially with their leader,
and they look down upon those who are not in their group. The elitism evident in Corinth was
based upon two things: (1) who they followed – who their leader was; and, (2) the message
and method of their leader. To learn more, click here.
Week Six: The Jerusalem Council
INTRODUCTION:
In the earliest days of the Christian church, the church was comprised predominately of
Jews. In Acts chapter 8 the gospel spread to the Samaritans (who were ethnically mixed
Jews-Gentiles), and many Samaritans received Jesus Christ as Savior. In Acts chapter 10, the
apostle Peter was the first to take the gospel specifically to the Gentiles, and many received
Christ as Savior. In Acts chapters 13—14, Paul and Barnabas had a very fruitful ministry among
the Gentiles.
All of these Gentiles turning to faith in Christ caused concern among the Jewish believers,
first expressed in Acts 11:1–18, and the issues that caused concern were ultimately decided
upon at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). The issues centred on two questions: Do Gentiles
first have to become Jews before they can become Christians? Do Gentiles have to observe
the Mosaic Law after they become Christians? To learn more, click here.
Week Seven: Conflict in the society
INTRODUCTION:
Conflict is a disagreement resulting from actual or perceived differences or incompatibilities.
Every conflict is accompanied by misunderstanding which often which usually escalates the
conflict. Therefore, inasmuch as we all should do our best to avoid conflict, it should be
known that as long as we live on earth, conflict is part of our existence and as such,
inevitable. To learn more, click here.
Week Eight: Further spread of the church
INTRODUCTION:
Philippi was a Roman colony and Paul went there for his second missionary journey. While
there, he went out one day to look for a place of worship, and once he found one, he
began preaching to some women who were gathered. One of them was a woman from
Thyatira named Lydia. She was a worshiper of God, and so God had opened her heart to
respond to Paul’s message. She and her household were then baptized. After the baptism
she invited Paul to come stay with them for some time. To learn more, click here.
Week Nine: Paul’s imprisonment at Philippi
INTRODUCTION:
In Philippi a slave girl is being used by her owners as a seer or fortune teller. The young
woman is possessed by a demon who quite accurately identifies Paul and Silas as “slaves of
the Most High God” who have come to reveal “a way of salvation.” She follows them, crying
out “These men are servants of the Highest God, who proclaim to you the way of
salvation”. After a few days of this, Paul is fed up, rebukes the spirit, and casts it out of her in
the name of Jesus. As a result, she also lost the ability to foretell the future which created no
little anger on the part of her owners. To learn more, click here.
Week Ten: Revision
This week, we would be doing a revision of all that we learned during the term.
Week Eleven: Examination
Afterward, we would write an examination, which would test our knowledge of what has
been taught so far.
