Before class
Go through pp. 94–97 in this order the evening before: the pins first, then the story and the map of Europe about A.D. 800 on p. 96. Stretch 13 from the Big-Print Pack goes up as four sheets taped edge to edge, low enough for small hands to reach. On it, lightly and in pencil, mark three places for yourself: the 476 at the far left, the camel of 622, and Charlemagne’s block near the top right. Have a Bible open at Daniel 2.
Opening · 5 minutes
Build a tower of blocks on the table and let one of the children pull out a block near the bottom. While the pieces are still rolling, say: “For a long time one empire held the western world together, and the chart showed it as one wide stream. Today we find the place where that stream stops. Nobody on the chart knocks it over. Adams just lets it run out, and he writes one short line above the spot. Who can find the number 476?” Then step back and give them a full minute at the Big-Print strip before you say anything else.
At the chart · 15 minutes
1Where the West runs out. Once someone has found 476 low on the left of p. 94, read aloud what stands above it: “The Middle Ages begin 476 A.D.” Ask whose block comes next. It is “Odoacer, King,” and a new block of color means a new ruler, which is Key 3 · A new color is a new ruler. Then point a little higher to Attila, “the Scourge of God.” Adams notes that at Chalons in 451 nearly 300,000 fell, and calls it “the last great battle fought by the Romans.” Twenty-five years later the stream is gone.
2Count the new streams. Have the class read the spread from top to bottom, one kingdom at a time, while one child keeps a tally on the board. They should reach the Franks with Clovis, Visigothic Spain, the Lombards and Papal-Rome in Italy, and the Eastern Empire at the bottom edge; the map note on p. 96 names eight western peoples in all. Then open Daniel 2:41 and read “the kingdom shall be divided.” Tell them honestly that Adams lists no ten names here (p. 96). He shows the dividing, and the class has just counted it.
3A camel and a green arm. Send them looking for the camel on p. 94. Beside it Adams writes “Mecca to Medina. Thursday night July 15th 622,” and the book explains that Muslims count their years from this flight. Now find the green arm reaching up past “Gibraltar”: in 714 the Saracens cross into Spain, and the block above it reads “Mahometan Spain.” Ask what is left of Christian Spain. Only a thin stream, Asturias and Leon. Finish at Tours on p. 95, where Charles Martel, “the Hammer,” stops the advance in 732.
4Who crowns whom. Put one finger on Charlemagne’s block, “Crowned by Leo” in 800, and another on Leo III in the Papal-Rome stream below (pins 8 and 9, p. 95). Ask them who crowns whom. Then tell them how the pope came to hold land: in 755 Pepin gave him Ravenna, “who thus obtained civil power.” Read the Watch Out on p. 95 together, so nobody leaves thinking that stream is the whole church. It is the popes’ rule over lands in Italy, and the small number over a block counts popes.
Talk it over · 15 minutes
Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day with three thousand of his subjects. What is the difference between a nation being baptized and one person being born again?
Listen for: Listen for the idea that Jesus speaks to one person at a time in John 3:3. If the talk turns into judging Clovis, bring it back to what the new birth is, and to the honest note that a king’s choice could bring a people to church without bringing every heart to Christ.
Many people at the time thought the end of Rome meant the end of the world. Find where the Western stream stops. What does the chart show happened to the church instead?
Listen for: Good answers notice that the church goes on and grows: new nations baptized, councils meeting, bells and dials in the churches. Read Psalm 46:1–2 if the class needs help seeing why a believer need not fear when an empire falls.
The pope gained “civil power” in 755 and crowned an emperor in 800. Is it good for the church to hold an earthly kingdom?
Listen for: Let both sides speak, then read 2 Timothy 2:4 about the soldier who does not tangle himself in the affairs of this life. You are not asking for a verdict on any church, only for a careful look at what land and crowns can do to those who hold them.
To close
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”Psalm 46:1 · KJV
Empires rise and run out, and you remain; keep us steady, Lord, in our own uncertain days.
With younger children (6–10)
Stickers keep small hands busy on this spread. First let them find the camel on the Big-Print strip, then the green arm reaching past “Gibraltar,” and tell them in one sentence what each one means. Next, give each child a small sticker to put on a new stream as you read the kingdoms from top to bottom, and count the stickers together at the end. Finish at the red circle on p. 95 and ask how many bishops came: Adams writes 350.