Lesson sequence
Colossians 1: Greetings from Paul and Timothy
Colossians 1:1–2; Colossians 1:3–14; Colossians 1:15–23; Colossians 1:24–29
This four-session sequence helps children follow Colossians 1 step by step: the greeting, the thanksgiving and prayer, the great description of the Son, and Paul’s hard work for the assembly.
Before you teach
Colossians 1 begins with Paul and Timothy greeting the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. The chapter then gives thanks for faith, love and hope, prays for growth, describes the Son’s first place, and explains Paul’s service in proclaiming him.
Students will identify who speaks in Colossians 1 and explain how the chapter moves from greeting, to prayer, to praise of the Son, to Paul’s ministry.
Your lesson sequence
Use the teaching outline below for each session, with these reading and activity choices.
Grace and peace in the greeting
Colossians 1:1–2
Identify the senders, the readers and the blessing.
Try together: Circle Paul and Timothy, underline the words for the readers, and make a mini-card with 'Grace to you and peace'.
Thanks for faith, love and hope
Colossians 1:3–14
Trace the movement from thanksgiving to prayer for growth.
Try together: Make two lists: 'We thank God for' and 'We ask God for', using only words from the passage.
The Son over creation and the assembly
Colossians 1:15–23
Notice the images and statements that give the Son first place.
Try together: Sort short phrases under three headings: creation, the assembly, and peace.
Paul proclaims Christ
Colossians 1:24–29
See Paul’s suffering, service, message and aim.
Try together: Write the phrases 'the mystery', 'Christ in you, the hope of glory', and 'we proclaim him', then add Paul’s aim from the passage.
Opening names and blessing
4 minStart each session by hearing the passage aloud and spotting names, repeated words and key phrases. In Colossians 1, children will hear Paul and Timothy, grace and peace, thanks and prayer, and the repeated focus on Christ and the assembly.
Colossians 1:1, Colossians 1:2, Colossians 1:3, Colossians 1:18
Tracing the prayer and praise
8 minRead the day’s verses in small parts and keep the order clear. Show how the chapter moves from thanks for faith, love and hope, to requests for knowledge and fruitful living, then to the Son’s greatness and Paul’s labour.
Colossians 1:4, Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:10, Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:24, Colossians 1:28
Seeing the Son’s key images
6 minExplain important phrases simply. The Son is called the image of the invisible God, the one through whom all things were created, and the head of the body, the assembly. Help children point to the exact phrases they are explaining.
Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:16, Colossians 1:18
Making a four-part response card
8 minChildren respond by making one folded card with four panels: Greeting, Prayer, The Son, and Paul’s Work. In each panel they copy one short phrase from the reading and add a simple drawing that matches the words.
Colossians 1:2, Colossians 1:10, Colossians 1:17, Colossians 1:27
Retelling the chapter’s movement
4 minFinish by asking children to retell the day’s passage in order using short phrases from the text. In the final session, end with Paul’s aim: “We proclaim him” so people may be presented complete in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:12, Colossians 1:23, Colossians 1:28, Colossians 1:29
Questions to explore
Who sends the greeting, and who receives it?
Find the names at the start, then look for the words that describe the believers at Colossae and the blessing spoken to them.
Colossians 1:1, Colossians 1:2
What do Paul and Timothy thank God for, and what do they ask God to give?
Compare the thanksgiving for faith, love and hope with the prayer for knowledge, fruitful living, strength, endurance, joy and thanksgiving.
Colossians 1:4, Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:10, Colossians 1:11, Colossians 1:12
Which words show the Son’s greatness, and what is Paul working to do?
Look for phrases about creation and the assembly, then connect them with Paul’s goal of presenting people complete in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:16, Colossians 1:18, Colossians 1:28, Colossians 1:29
Make, think or respond
Colossians 1 Four-Part Phrase Card
What you’ll need
- paper
- pencils or crayons
- scissors
- Bible
Try it together
- Fold one sheet into four panels.
- Label them Greeting, Prayer, The Son, and Paul’s Work.
- Choose and copy one short phrase from each session’s verses.
- Draw a simple picture for each phrase and share the order with a partner.
The card helps children keep the chapter’s own movement and images together in the order Colossians 1 gives them.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, offer two short phrase choices for each panel to copy.
- For stronger readers, ask them to explain one phrase such as 'image of the invisible God' or 'head of the body, the assembly' in their own words.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: "Father, thank you for grace and peace. Help us know your will, bear fruit, and keep trusting in Christ. Amen."
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Colossians 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints,
5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News
6 which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth,
7 even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf,
8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
9 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,
11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy,
12 giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love,
14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
18 He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
19 For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
21 You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,
22 yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him,
23 if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a servant.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly,
25 of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,
27 to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;
29 for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.