Tag Archive for 'Teaching'

Values Session 2: Follow (Part 1)

Published
by
Jon
on 28 January 2008
in Youth Group Resources, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

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.

Values Session 1: Our Vision

Published
by
Jon
on 24 January 2008
in Youth Group Resources, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

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.

Mission Statement & Values

Published
by
Jon
on 21 January 2008
in Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 10 Comments


Sorry for the lack of posts over the past week, I’ve been caught up in a lot of writing and planning for the year ahead. Part of my task has been to roll out the new mission statement for all of our children’s and youth work, and to develop the teaching materials for our 11-14’s youth group ‘Ignite’. I’ve now written an 11-session series on the mission statement and the biblical values it upholds which we’ll be teaching in small groups up until Easter. The mission statement is this:

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.

The five values are; Follow, Honour, Serve, Support and Share, and we will spend a couple of weeks on each one. Below is an introduction to the teaching sessions which I’ll post individually as we go along over the next few months.

Leader’s Introduction:
The following are basic session outlines on the 5 values in the Ignite Vision statement for you to adapt and tailor to your small group. There are 11 sessions in total: an introduction to the Vision Statement, and 2 sessions on each value. Because each small group functions very differently, it is up to you to decide what will work best for your group so be as creative as you want using movies, music and craft! Each session follows the same outline and has these headings:

  • Aim:
    This is the focus of the session and what you are trying to achieve.
  • Activity:
    Something for the group to do that gets them thinking about the topic.
  • Read:
    A chance to read key Bible verses related to the theme.
  • Illustration:
    A visual or practical tool to help explain the theme.
  • Discuss:
    An opportunity to ask questions and talk about what you’ve been reading.
  • Pray:
    Key points to use in conversation with God. Use the model of The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) when teaching the young people to pray.
  • Challenge:
    Set a task for the group to complete as homework to encourage them in their Christian growth. Remember that whatever you ask them to do, you will be expected to do the same!

N.B. All Bible verses are quoted from the New Century Version as most of the young people have Youth Bibles in that translation.

Arun Community Church Podcast: 2 Kings 5

Published
by
Jon
on 8 October 2007
in Christianity and Personal
. 0 Comments


I had the privilege of preaching to the church yesterday on the topic of Naaman’s healing in 2 Kings 5. There’s so much in that passage, I had to really condense it to make it suitable for a family service. If you want to have a listen, click here. You can subscribe to the weekly podcast from there too.

I choose to stay

Published
by
Jon
on 25 September 2007
in Media and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

A friend recently lent me a book by Donald Miller called To Own a Dragon: Reflections on Growing Up Without a Father which I have been making my way through. It’s a good book that’s informally written and as you would expect focuses on finding purpose and identity without a father figure. In one part of the book, Miller talks of a man called Salome Thomas-El, a teacher in Philadelphia who received acclaim as a teacher and chess coach whose students have gone on to win world recognition as Eight-Time National Chess Champions. Miller tells what he learnt of Thomas-EL:

[Salome] would walk up to kids hanging around outside a convenience store and ask them if they wanted to learn to play chess. Of course the kids said no, chess not being the most fashionable sport on the playground. So Salome would tell them that telling him no was a bad decision, that if someone offers to teach you something, you should give that person respect, and ask more questions to find out if you might need this information in the future. That was a bad decision, Salome said to the kids, to dismiss me in that way. The kids didn’t really know what to say, so they got tough threatening him. Ah, Salome would say, another bad decision. I can see that, if you and I were playing chess right now, you would be losing, because in chess, you cannot make bad decisions and win. You have to make good decisions.

“Have any of you ever played chess?” Salome asked.

“I know how to play chess”, one of the kids answered.

“What is the legal move for a Rook?” Salome asked the boy. The boy stood there silently until finally Salome spoke into his shifting eyes, “You are telling a lie aren’t you? You do not know how to play chess. A lie is another bad decision. If you knew how to play chess, you would not make so many bad decisions. You would know, intrinsically, the way to get ahead in life is to make good decisions. And so I will ask you again, and I want you to think about it for five seconds before you answer me. Don’t answer right away, because this isn’t wise. I want you to think about what I am going to ask you…

“Do you want me to teach you how to play chess?”

The children stood there, confused but interested, until one of them blurted out nervously, “Yes, I want to learn chess.”

“Fine then. You have made a good decision. This is the first rule of chess. Make good decisions. The only possible way you can lose in chess, and for that matter in life itself, is to make bad decisions. If you do not make bad decisions, you will not lose in chess, or in life. And the more good decisions you make, the better your life will be.”

I’m fascinated by this idea of good and bad decisions. Is this what youth workers are essentially trying to do, enable young people to make informed choices? Is it really that simple? Can young people learn key life skills from playing chess?

When I read this part of the book, I looked up Salome Thomas-El on Google and found his website I Choose To Stay.com. It seems that after gaining recognition for his work, Salome was offered a promotion with greater authority but turned it down to stay with his students.

“I can’t leave my students,” he said. “What happens if they come in on Monday and I’m not here? They’ll say ‘He left because of the money,’ and I don’t want them to think that way. I’m the only male role model these kids have. I want them to know at least one black male who is committed to staying.”

I expect much of Salome’s success is due to his character and his faith in the potential of others. I now plan to get hold of one of his books and find out more about his ideas.

Free Spiderman 3 Illustrations at SermonSpice

Published
by
Jon
on 9 May 2007
in Christianity, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 2 Comments

Spidey
I went to see Spiderman 3 at the weekend. Being a long-term Spidey fan (since I was around 5) and having enjoyed the last two movies, I was very disappointed. It was long, drawn out, shallow and pretty cringe-worthy in places, but there was some good stuff in there too. In fact one of the main themes of the movie was forgiveness - a worthy subject to follow up on with your young people once they’ve seen the movie.

sermonspice1.jpg
Thankfully, someone’s done the hard work for you! Head over to sermonspice.com for clips from the movie, sermon outlines and relevant illustrations all ready to download for free!

Jesus wants to save Christians

Published
by
Jon
on 14 February 2007
in Christianity
. 0 Comments

superman.jpg
Today while working hard in the kitchen, I finally started listening to Rob Bell’s teaching series on ‘Jesus wants to save Christians’. For those of you who regularly listen to the Mars Hill Podcasts, you’ll know that I’m waaaaaay behind (actually these were the first ones I’ve listened too), but I was recommended this series in particular.

The basic thrust of the whole series of talks is that throughout history God’s own people were called to live lives that glorified Him and demonstrated to others who He is. Of course the people rebelled and God sent them to exile. When Jesus came on the scene, he spoke and taught almost exclusively to the Jews (thoroughly religious people) telling them to spiritually come out of exile (stories like the prodigal Son illustrate this) and reminding them of the lives God had called them to leave (light of the world, salt of the earth).

Of course what this means for us today is the same! As followers of Christ we are to show others His glory by living our lives in ways that glorify Him. We are NOT called to be “the moral compass” of the world, criticising or condemning others as so many Christians seem to (or are seen to) do.

There’s a lot more that could be said on this, so I recommend that you subscribe to the podcast and have a listen for yourself.

I’m so excited…

Published
by
Jon
on 5 October 2006
in Christianity, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

I’ve just come back from Slam, our youth group for 11-14’s and I’m so pleased at how well the programme is working! After the summer we changed a few things around to try and provide a better environment for the young people who attend. Specifically, we extended the small group time to give more weight to the subjects we’re studying. We also made the topic fully grounded in the bible (a chapter of Ephesians each week) so that the young people can do ‘homework’ and follow up in their own time.

The added advantage to this has been that the leaders have had to take more responsibility for leading the small groups and actually ensure they’ve studied the passage themselves! This is what I’m so excited about, that the leaders are getting as much out of the group as the young people are! They’re coming up with creative ideas for teaching, putting appropriate boundaries in place for the small groups and gaining a greater understanding of the bible too!

There are still things that can be improved upon (each half-term is a good opportunity to tinker), but at the moment the leaders and the young people are learning loads!