Getting Started
Make sure to take time for everyone to introduce themselves. Name, school, coffee drinker or not, coke or Pepsi etc This is the time to do your best to make sure each person gets to speak.
Here area few breakers to get students talking
Choose 1…or 2…or…??
Gimme Five (favorite foods, things that make you cry, etc.)
Choose Your Top 3 (fears, restaurants, etc.)
Would You Rather…(be wealthy or well-known)
Name Your Favorite (TV show, color, hero)
If you could…(go anywhere, have a do over)
Have you ever… (been in the ocean, told a lie and got busted)
What if…(you had a million dollars, were terminally ill)
Digging In
Read John 3:16–17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
What one word or grouping of words speaks the loudest to you? Why?
Read Ephesians 2:8–10
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”What one word or grouping of words speaks the loudest to you? Why?
Discuss
Agree or disagree ( and why)
Following Jesus is about not just believing (trusting) in Jesus but about rejoicing in His finished work on the cross.
Following Jesus is not about going to church but about finding your identity in being a beloved child of God,
Following Jesus is about doing the right things and finding joy in knowing you are performing as best you can
Christianity is fundamentally about learning how to live out what is true of you on the inside as a new person in Christ.
Prayer
Have a few volunteers pray over the group after you gather prayer requests.