Thomas and Nora are standing at the seashore with their teacher.
TEACHER: Hello, you two!
NORA/THOMAS: Hi! What are we going to learn today?
TEACHER: Today, we are learning about the disciples of Jesus Christ. The Christian Bible teaches that Jesus had twelve disciples, also known as apostles. That means they were his closest followers.
We see Jesus approaching two men standing on a sandy beach near a small boat.
TEACHER: In the Bible, it says that Jesus’ first two disciples were brothers and fishermen called Simon Peter and Andrew. Jesus told them, "Follow me, and I will teach you how to fish for people." They left everything behind to follow Jesus because they felt that he was someone who could make a difference to people's lives. As they travelled, Jesus recruited ten more disciples.
THOMAS: That's Simon Peter and Andrew, what about the rest of the squad?
As the teacher speaks, we we see the disciples appear one by one.
TEACHER: After that there was James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, another James, Thaddaeus, Simon and Judas Iscariot.
THOMAS:My name is Thomas, does that make me a disciple too?
As the teacher speaks, we see the disciples doing good deeds.
TEACHER: Not quite Thomas. The disciples had three jobs. They travelled in pairs to towns and villages all around to preach the word of God, heal the sick and cast out evil spirits.
Who were the 12 disciples?
Jesus wanted to teach other people about God.
He picked a group of followers to help him.
They were ordinary men who he knew loved God.
These people were known as disciples.

What did the 12 disciples do?
The disciples helped Jesus to teach about love, forgiveness, and God’s will for us.
They travelled with Jesus and witnessed him healing people. They became his closest friends.
Reading Bible stories from the New Testament can help us to learn about Jesus’ relationships with his friends.

Play BBC Bitesize games! game
Fun, interactive games for children aged 4-11, with maths, English, science, history and many more subjects.

More on The life of Jesus
Find out more by working through a topic
- count1 of 3

- count2 of 3
