Jon Jolly

This is part of an 11-session series for 11-14 year olds, teaching our mission statement and the importance of it’s values:

We exist to learn to follow Jesus, to show honour to God, to use our gifts to serve, to support each other, and to share our faith.

Session Aim: To learn about how Jesus chose his disciples and why they followed him.

Activity: “Jesus Says”
Play a game of Jesus Says (just like Simon Says), where everyone has to follow the instructions of ‘Jesus’ except when the words ‘Jesus Says’ aren’t used. Encourage them to do silly actions and activities to make the game more fun!

Read: Matthew 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the lake because they were fishermen. Jesus said, “Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.

As Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee, he saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus told them to come with him. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus.

Illustration: Heroes
Ask the group who their heroes are. If they could be anyone else, who would they be and why? After letting them share, explain that all of them recognised a skill or ability in their heroes that they wanted to possess. Everyone looks up to someone and wants to be like them. As Christians we should look up to Jesus and want to be like him.

Discuss:

• Why did these guys just drop what they were doing to follow Jesus?
• What was it about him that was special?
• Would you follow someone if they asked you to?
• Have you ever heard the word ‘Disciple’? What do you think it means?

Pray:

• Ask God if He is calling you to follow him like he called Simon, Andrew, James and John. Ask Him to speak to you clearly about it.
• Pray for any issues affecting the group this week.

Challenge:
Find out more about Jesus and what he did by reading through the book of Matthew (the 1st book in the New Testament). Why not read one chapter each day and talk to your friends about what have read

Further Reading: John 15:7-11

If you remain in me and follow my teachings, you can ask anything you want, and it will be given to you. You should produce much fruit and show that you are my followers, which brings glory to my Father. I loved you as the Father loved me. Now remain in my love. I have obeyed my Father’s commands, and I remain in his love. In the same way, if you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have and so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy.

This is part of an 11-session series for 11-14 year olds, teaching our mission statement and the importance of it’s values:

We exist to learn to follow Jesus, to show honour to God, to use our gifts to serve, to support each other, and to share our faith.

Session Aim: To introduce and explain the Ignite vision statement.

Activity: Jigsaw
In advance, write or print the vision statement onto card and cut it up into various pieces. Get the group to fit the pieces together and then read the vision statement together for the first time. This may lead to some questions.

Activity: Hide & Seek
In advance, write out the five key Values from the vision statement and hide them around the room. Get the group to go looking for them (you could draw them a treasure map if you have time) and to bring them back to the middle. Spend some time discussing what they think each one means.

Read: Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 28:19-20.

Jesus answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind (Honour)… Love your neighbour as you love yourself (Serve).’ All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.” Matt 22:37-40

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations (Share), baptizing them (Support) in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you… (Follow)” Matt 28:19-20

Illustration: Perfect Pictures
In advance, draw a detailed picture of your dream house. Make it fun and light-hearted but don’t show anyone your picture and keep it hidden. Explain that you’ve got a dream house and ask someone in the group to draw it for you. They must try and draw a picture as close to yours as possible although you are not allowed to give them any help or advice as to what it is like. When they have finished, point out the differences and explain that it would have been a lot easier if you had explained what your dream house was like. Having a vision or mission is similar. When everyone knows it, we can all work together towards the same thing.

Discuss:

• Can you spot where the values come from in the passages?
• Those verses are sometimes called ‘The Greatest Commandment’ and ‘The Great Commission’. Have you ever heard them before?
• Do you have a vision or purpose for your life?

Pray:

• Ask God to help you understand His purposes for your life.
• Pray for any issues affecting the group this week.

Challenge:
Memorize the vision statement (hand out cards for them to take home). At Ignite (Thursdays and Sundays) they will get a chance to challenge an Ignite leader to recite the it word for word. There will be forfeits for those who get challenged and can’t do it, plus stars for those who can!

Further Reading: Philippians 2:2

Does your life in Christ give you strength? Does his love comfort you? Do we share together in the spirit? Do you have mercy and kindness? If so, make me very happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and having one mind and purpose.

Last Sunday we ran a joint youth event with St Margaret’s Angmering and St Peter & St Paul’s Rustington called iWorship. The purpose was to hang out, have a meal and worship together allowing a chance for the youth to get to know young Christians from the other churches. It was a great event and we had a lot of fun together.

During the meal, we placed an image with corresponding scripture relating to some part of Jesus’ life onto each one of the eight tables. The young people were encouraged to read the passage while they ate. Later, as part of our worship together everyone was asked to reflect on that scripture and image, then to write or draw their personal thoughts about the passage onto post-it notes and stick it down.

Once everyone had a chance to finish, we laid out the eight images at the front in chronological order. Suddenly the young people could see a pictorial timeline of Jesus’ life and how their particular passage fitted into it. They were also able to read the various responses they had all written to what Jesus had done for them. At Christmas time, rather than just focusing on the birth of Jesus, we wanted to give them something of the significance of His life and why therefore we celebrate Christmas.

As an exercise in creative worship, it worked really well and might be something you can try with your groups throughout the year. I’ve prepared the images and scriptures we used as a download for you to print out and adapt. You can download it here (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader).

These are the eight points in Jesus’ life that we used:

• Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:1-20)
• Jesus as a boy (Luke 2:41-50)
• Jesus is baptised (Mark 1:4-12)
• Jesus calls his disciples (Mark 1:14-20)
• Jesus’ miracles and teachings (e.g. Matthew 14:22-33)
• Jesus is transfigured (Mark 9:2-9)
• Jesus’ death (Luke 23:32-47)
• Jesus’ resurrection (John:1, 11-17)

And these are some of the responses the young people wrote:

It’s all about Jesus coming into the world and how the saviour of the world was born from such poverty

It’s not always easy to follow Jesus. It can be a rocky road. we need to trust Him and have faith like Peter to step out of the boat.

Jesus picked normal people, NOT people who would usually be leading or have high respect in society

Thank you for calling me! Help me to be a fisher of men

We’ve recently been tackling some difficult themes at Fuel, our church youth group for 15’s+ and the most recent was the topic of Homosexuality and the Bible. The following is the notes that I prepared for the evening and they were designed as a discussion starter. As such they are in no way a comprehensive essay on the issue, nor are they supposed to put across any particular point of view.

Respect
Homosexuality and Christianity is a very emotive subject with people having wildly different views. Before we talk about our own opinions on gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transvestites, lets be clear that God loves all of these people and we should therefore love and respect them too (Jesus’ teachings on loving both our neighbours and our enemies makes this clear). Rude, offensive or homophobic comments are not acceptable under any circumstances.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:7-12

History
Since it’s beginning, the Christian church has generally condemned homosexual relationships as ‘sinful’. Certain verses in the Bible seem to back up this belief and various writings throughout history have encouraged this idea.
More recently theologians and historians have challenged traditional Christian understanding with different interpretations of scripture that suggest homosexuality can be acceptable to a Christian.
Because of these arguments about the meaning of Bible verses, Christians across the world now have a wide range of beliefs about homosexuality; on the one hand some think you can be homosexual and a Christian with no problem, on the other hand some think that being homosexual is totally sinful and can’t have anything to do with Christianity. There is of course, lots of views in between too!

What do you believe?
On the next pages are some Bible verses that are often used in the argument against homosexuality. Read them through including the verses before and after, discuss them with friends and answer the questions. It’s up to you to decide what you believe for yourself, but here are some tips:

1. Read the Bible to learn about God’s character. Don’t just go on what you think God might say.
2. Pray about it. Ask God to give you wisdom and insight so that you can make the right response.
3. Think about it. Make up your own mind and don’t let others tell you what to believe.

If you want to ask questions or talk about this subject further, then please contact one of the leaders.

Read Genesis 19:1-11
Lot has two angels staying in his house. The men of the town surround the house wanting to rape the visitors. To protect them, Lot offers the crowd his two virgin daughters instead. The crowd are not satisfied and break the door down - the angels then make the intruders blind and Sodom is eventually destroyed.

• God destroyed the town of Soddom because of the wicked people. Why do you think God decided they were wicked? Was it because of their homosexuality, the attempted rape or simply everything they did?
• Does this story prove that homosexuality is wrong? Why?

Read Leviticus 18:22
It is part of a chapter that explains God’s rules on sexuality for the Israelite people. Some Christians argue that these rules were cultural and only meant for those people at that time and do not apply today.

• Read some of God’s rules on sexuality before and after verse 22. Are these things acceptable today? Why?
• Do you think these rules still apply? Can we be selective and choose the ones we agree with?

Read Matthew 19:5
In teaching about divorce, Jesus quotes Genesis 2:24. He is clearly saying how important marriage is between a man and a woman but doesn’t mention homosexual couples.

• Is Jesus telling us that homosexual relationships are wrong or is this passage nothing to do with homosexuality?
• Do you think his views on marriage could apply to same-sex couples? Why?

Read Matthew 19:11-12
Jesus is saying that some people don’t get married and this is OK because it’s more important to look after your relationship with God.

• Some Christians think that Jesus was referring to gay people who couldn’t get married. Do you think this is what Jesus meant?
• Do you think it’s OK to be gay as long as you put God first? Why?

Read Romans 1:26-27
Paul is writing to the Romans where he talks about people who started to worship things other than God. Paul’s words are quite strong here and he seems to be saying that homosexuality is a result of disobedience to God

• Some Christians believe that Paul is talking about male prostitutes, not gay couples in ongoing relationships.
• Do you think homosexuality is a result of disobeying God? Why or why not?

Read 1 Corinthians 6:9
When writing to the Corinthian church, Paul says that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God. This includes homosexuals.

• Many people argue that Paul’s writings were only meant for that time. Do you think this verse applies today? Why?
• Do you agree with Paul that thieves or drunkards will possess the kingdom of God? Does this change your mind about homosexuals?

Does anyone have any thoughts about these discussion starters? Have you used anything similar before? What are your own personal views?