Tag Archive for 'youth group'

Values Session 4: Honour (Part 1)

Published
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Jon
on 11 February 2008
in Youth Group Resources, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
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This is part of an 11-session series for 11-14 year olds, teaching our mission statement and the importance of its 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 look at what it means to honour God

Activity: Barmy Bowing Bonanza
Split the group so that they stand on opposite sides of the room. Explain that all they have to do is walk around the room, BUT they must be polite and courteous to everyone else and not allow their backs to be shown to anyone! At all times they must face towards the others and bow to them while saying “How do you do”. In practice this means that they must think and move very carefully to avoid ‘offending’ anyone by showing them their back. If a leaders spots that a back has been shown to someone, that person is out. Keep going until only one or two are left in. Try this game a few times.
Explain that showing honour is about giving proper respect to something, like bowing to the Queen. God deserves all of our honour and respect.

Read: Matthew 22:35-38

One Pharisee, who was an expert on the law of Moses, asked Jesus this question to test him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?”
Jesus answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and most important command.

Illustration: The Incredibles
Show the clip from near the end of the movie (Chapter 29, 1:36:00 - 1:37:48) when the Incredibles beat the giant robot and the crowd come out to applaud them. Explain that everyone wanted to show their thanks and appreciation for what they had done. We are constantly told by the Bible to do the same thing for God!

Discuss:

  • Who do you have respect for? Why?
  • In what ways do you show respect to God at the moment? Are there ways that you could show more honour?
  • Honour and Respect is sometimes explained as Worship. Have you ever had a time when you really worshipped God and thanked Him for what he’s done?

Pray:

  • Pray that God will help you to realise ways in which you can give Him more honour.
  • Pray for any issues affecting the group this week.

Challenge:
Try to spend a few minutes each day saying thanks to God for something, even if it’s something really small. This is part of honouring Him.

Further Reading: Proverbs 15:33

Respect for the Lord will teach you wisdom.
If you want to be honoured, you must be humble.

Values Session 3: Follow (Part 2)

Published
by
Jon
on 8 February 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 its 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 understand how we should go about following Jesus.

Activity: Fitting Description
Ask a volunteer to step out of the room and listen outside the door. Then ask everyone else to describe the person who stepped out. Ask for details on their hair, clothes, eyes, make-up, shoes, scars, moles, etc (don’t get too personal). When they’ve finished, get the individual to come back in so everyone can see how accurate the description was. Some may find it easy, others may be totally wrong!
Explain that it can be difficult to know exactly what someone looks like, without spending time paying lots of attention to them. How can we follow Jesus if we don’t spend time finding out what He is like?

Read: 1 John 2:3-6

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Illustration: Blindfold Challenge
Choose someone to blindfold and then give them a task to do, e.g. draw a picture, make their way across the room. Obviously they will find this difficult, so then allow one person to help them out, e.g. guide their hand, give directions. Explain that having someone to follow makes things much easier for us. As Christians we must follow Jesus! Jesus said “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life” (John 8:12).

Discuss:

  • If we are a Christian, we should “walk as Jesus did”, what does that mean?
  • Can you think of examples of how Jesus lived his life? How might you do the same?
  • Do you think that you obey God’s word? Why or why not?
  • Is following Jesus easy? What happened to Him?

Pray:

  • Pray that you can start to follow Jesus’ example. Ask God to challenge you about how you live.
  • Pray for any issues affecting the group this week.

Challenge:
Why not try spending at least 5 minutes each day in prayer to God? Try to get into the habit of praying regularly just as Jesus did.

Further Reading: Luke 9:23-24

Jesus said to all of them, “If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing to give up their lives daily to follow me. Those who want to save their lives will give up true life. But those who give up their lives for me will have true life..

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.