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VISION GENERATION #7 (JULY): Sharing the Master’s Happiness

Big Idea:

God gives us TIME as a resource to be used for the benefit of others.

You’ll Need:

  • Whiteboard or large sheets of paper
  • 3×5 cards (one for each person in the group)
  • Writing utensils
  • Several calculators

Focusing Text:

Matthew 25:14-30

Diving In:

Begin by asking your students: What are your favorite television shows? What television shows do you watch every day or every week? List all of their responses on the whiteboard.

Then, pass out 3×5 note cards and have each student list on the card the television shows they personally watch. Next, have them each calculate the total number of hours per week they spend watching television, and have them write that number on the note card. Collect all of the note cards.

Ask: Would anyone like to share his or her number?

Q: Who has a higher number? Who thinks they have the lowest number?

Q: How do you feel knowing we spend that much time watching TV?

Q: How much time would you guess the average American spends watching television

Explain: In a recent study conducted by Nielsen Media Research, the average person in America watches 4:35 (that’s four hours and thirty-five minutes) of television every day. Altogether, that means the average person watches over 65 days of television per year.

Discussion Questions:
Q: Do you think this is a number we should be okay with? Why or why not? If not, what number would you find acceptable?

Q: How dramatically would our numbers increase if we began to add the time we spend on watching movies, gaming, Instant Messenger, social networking sites, downloading music, etc.?

Following this discussion (or perhaps during it, if you have someone to help), determine the number of hours your group collectively spends watching television by taking all of the 3×5 cards, heading back to the whiteboard and totaling the number of hours listed on each card. Then, multiply that number by 52 to determine the number of hours your student ministry spends watching television per year (this won’t be precise data).

Q: How do you feel knowing our ministry spends [Fill in the blank] hours per year watching television?

Q: Who benefits from the amount of time our ministry watches TV?

Q: Could we make better use of our time? Why or why not?

Explain: Maybe today is the day we begin to examine how and where we spend our time. Many of us might be tempted to think that “time” is something we don’t have enough of. However, like all things, time is a resource that God has given us. And like all of the resources He allows us to use, He desires that we would use our time to build His kingdom and to bless other people.

Q: When does our TV watching bless other people?
(You might need to give some examples here since students will likely expect you to condemn all TV all the time. Examples include watching a TV show with your little brother so he won’t be watching TV alone, or watching TV to be informed about world issues.)

Q: When does our TV watching NOT bless other people?

Next, break your students into groups and have them read Matthew 25:14-30. Have them discuss their initial responses to the story through the following questions:

  • What is your reaction to the servants and the master?
  • Do you think the master is harsh with any of them?
  • Is the master “just” in his decisions?
  • How do you feel about someone being punished for NOT doing the wrong thing
    The servant didn’t lose the talent, after all; he just didn’t do anything with it.

Continue: We can often miss the point of this passage entirely. We get focused on how much talent, time, or resources we have been given. We start to ask questions like: Have I been given as much as others? Who has more than I do? Who has less? Or we can become focused on the reward, thinking, “If I just do this, then God will give me that.”

However, the point of the passage seems to be about sharing the master’s happiness. It’s about joy. Regardless of what God has given us, His intention is to share His happiness with us.

The servants in this story did one of two things with the talents they had been given: they either invested or buried them. While “talents” in the story refer directly to amounts of money, the larger implications apply to all the resources we’re given—time, treasure, and talents of different kinds. The harsh reality of this story is that it is possible to bury the resources God has given us to invest.

This is what building the kingdom of God is all about—investing all of the resources God has entrusted to us (time, talents, and treasure) in such a way that our decisions benefit others and allow us to experience the Master’s happiness.

Close your time together in a period of solitude. You might want to play some music, light candles, or have students journal or draw responses to these kinds of questions:

  • Based on how Jesus spent His time, how might we want to spend ours?
  • How could your TV and other media-using habits be transformed into something that is pleasing to God?
  • As you reflect on what you know about the Bible and its teachings about the kingdom, how do you think that the way we spend our time is related to our level of joy?
  • What would happen if Christians all over the world invested just one additional hour per week in service to the poor? Would that change anything?
  • What would happen if our group invested a little more time toward a justice-oriented cause? Would that make a difference? What if we invested a different amount of time in praying together?

Have More Time?

  • By yourself or working with some of your students, create a time log sheet of some sort and have students track where they spend their time for an entire week. Then, encourage them to debrief the log and the experience with a mentor or small group leader. Perhaps have your small groups practice this discipline together, and then discuss and pray about their time use as a group.

Get Active!

  • Invite your students to find a “time accountability partner” so they can call each other once per day for the next week—at all different times during the day. When they chat, they should talk about how they are spending their time AT THAT MOMENT. They should ask each other whether there is something they could do at that moment to bless others even more effectively and make God’s kingdom more visible.
  • Invite your students to blog about their use of time through your ministry’s web site, or whatever social networking sites are popular with your students. Where do they find God present in the different ways they use time?

Other Potential Scriptures:

You may also want to discuss these scriptures, use them to create a Bible study, or involve them in small-group discussions about time through the week.

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VISION GENERATION #8 (AUGUST): Becoming an Advocate

BIG IDEA:

Advocating for justice on behalf of the poor and the oppressed is not just for adults, celebrities, or radicals. Scripture invites every one of us to get involved with our entire beings: our minds, hands, feet, and voices in matters of injustice.

YOU’LL NEED:

  • Enough full water bottles for everyone present to have one
  • Copies of World Vision’s advocacy letter to congressional leaders, or blank pieces of paper, and enough pens for each person
  • Copies of Amos 5:21-24 for everyone in your group, OR the text projected onto a wall so everyone can read in unison
  • Images of rushing water—perhaps through pictures on the walls, creative arts expressions of water, PowerPoint with pictures, videos that depict rivers, or waterfalls, etc., AND/OR
  • Some way to interact with running water. This experience will be amplified if you can tie it into an on-location encounter with water (a river, creek, pool, or even a water hose). Whatever you do, just remember to conserve water. See the “Have More Time?” section below for ideas about how to maximize the water metaphor used in the scripture text and discussion. It’s the end of summer—be creative and get out of the youth room!

FOCUSING TEXT:

Amos 5:21-24

DIVING IN:

Hand out water bottles to everyone in your group before you start, instructing them not to open the bottles until later.

Explain: Speaking out about poverty has become hip these days. Many of you have probably heard about the ONE Campaign, initiated by Bono, lead singer of U2. ONE has created a worldwide advocacy movement in an attempt to end extreme poverty across the world. (Note to leader: If you are not familiar with the ONE campaign, be sure to visit www.one.org beforehand for more information). Bono has teamed up with other celebrities to encourage millions of people around the world to use their voices and to speak as “one.” Like many others throughout history, Bono believes that our voices can be used as instruments of change.

We usually think we have to be movie stars or political figures to speak out. Even “American Idol” is giving back these days, and it has a voice that can be heard by our culture. But everyone has a voice—and ‘everyone’ includes you!

In the Old Testament, prophets were people who used their voices to create social change. Prophets were called by God to speak up for what was right and speak out against what was wrong. One such prophet was Amos. Amos wasn’t exactly who we might consider an inspiring motivational speaker. He was a Hebrew prophet, called to deliver a gloom-and-doom message to the Israelites: God was sending Israel into exile.

Amos’ ministry was during the period of Israel’s greatest prosperity. The excessive wealth of some created a class division like never before, in which the wealthy were extremely wealthy, at the expense of the extremely poor.

Next, have your students read Amos 5:21-24 out loud as a group (you might want to have copies of the text to hand out or project it in some way for everyone to read from the same version).

Read the passage again to the students, and then discuss these questions together:

Q: Are you surprised by any of the language used in this passage? How so?

Q: How do you feel knowing that the God of love “hates” certain things? Looking at the passage, what specifically is it that God hates?

Explain: God gave Amos the job of calling out the hypocrisy of God’s people, who were worshiping God in all the “right” ways while simultaneously oppressing the poor.

The wealthy believed that all they needed to do was multiply their sacrifices to God, so the more they sinned, the more sacrifices they brought. Amos cried out that, rather than an abundance of sacrifices, God wants an abundance of justice. So he declared, “Let justice roll down like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos was calling on a familiar image to the people—that of a desert stream that is a dry bed much of the year, but then becomes a torrential flood in the rainy season.

Q: What would you say are some of the similarities between our generation and the generation of Amos’ day? What are the differences?

Q: What, if anything, does this mean for us as the church in North America today?

Q: How might God feel about our worship in light of our care—or lack thereof—for the poor and oppressed? How do you feel about the way we worship as a youth ministry or as a church when you think about the way we care for the poor?

Q: In our worship, we reflect the love we have for God, which is intimately connected to the love we have for our neighbor. With that in mind, what do you think our worship should look like?

Explain: When Amos delivered this message to Israel, he used the imagery of water. We’re going to read through the passage together again. Picture him speaking before you as you listen to his words.

Read the passage again, either as a group or simply with one person reading it. After you have read the passage again, tell students that they can now open their water bottles and take a drink. Give them a moment to do this. Then ask:

Q: What are some of the qualities of water?

Q: What makes water so welcome on a hot summer day?

Q: What are some examples of when water is NOT welcome?

Q: What are some examples of when water is dangerous, or even deadly?

Q: Imagine you are in a country with little to no water. What would your view of water be?

Q: In the passage we just read, what qualities of water do you think Amos was most leaning on? What do you think Amos was trying to say about justice and righteousness by using water images to talk about them?

(NOTE: If you’d like, you can skip this next section on advocacy and close in prayer, using the water imagery as a theme for your prayer time.)

Next, introduce your students to the idea of advocacy. Advocacy is simply speaking on behalf of another.

Explain that while we often think of responding to certain needs through prayer, or giving our time or our money, we may not think as often to offer our voice as part of the solution. The good news is that God desires to use our voices to help confront injustice and to create social change. God invites us to participate in this prophetic tradition of advocacy!

With your students, brainstorm other social revolutionaries (besides Bono) who have used their voices to advocate for others. (Some examples might include Mother Theresa, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, or more familiar examples like kids’ parents or someone in the community they know or have heard about). Then ask:

Q: Why do you think history remembers (or will remember) these particular voices? Why was their message heard?

Q: What were they able to accomplish by their advocacy?

Q: Do you believe that history would listen to your voice if you spoke up for the people who could not speak for themselves? Why or why not?

Q: If you could use your voice to advocate for any issue or any person, who or what would it be?

Q: How can advocacy be one way that we “let justice roll down like a river?”

Continue: We can get involved in advocacy right away. Two issues we focus on in our ministry, of course, are HIV and AIDS in Africa. Advocacy can be one of the most important ways we participate in bringing hope to those affected by these crises. We can urge the leaders who hold power in our country to use that power on behalf of children affected by HIV or AIDS right now. Like Amos who used his voice, let’s use our voices to advocate for others.

You will need to think through this next part beforehand in order to determine the best way to engage students in letter writing. Check out World Vision’s advocacy response system. It only takes about five minutes to write personal notes to the president and your congressional leaders using the template and search feature. (World Vision will actually track down the appropriate leader and email address based on your zip code.)

Have your students write a letter to your congressional leaders and to the president. You could also do this by printing out letters ahead of time, by giving students sample text that they use to start handwritten letters, or by having one letter that the entire group has the opportunity to pass around and sign. If you have a small group, you might just have them use your computer and do it online. Whatever method you choose, be sure students understand that they have the option to choose NOT to participate as well.

Close by saying something like: Raising our hands to God is directly linked to stretching out our hands to the poor, to our neighbors, and to one another. (Love for God and love for people are inseparable). These actions cannot be understood apart from each other. Our worship in the church must urge—and model—both. Part of your role as students in our congregation might be to help us learn how to worship with our actions by helping those in need. As you do, we might just begin to see justice roll down like mighty waters all around us!

Enter into a time of prayer together, again using the passage from Amos 5:21-24. Depending on where you choose to do this (the youth room, church kitchen, out in the church yard with a water hose, at someone’s pool, or at a riverside), think about ways to incorporate water into this time of prayer. The main thrust is to embody the words of Amos 5 and feel the implications of justice rolling like the powerful waters of a river. Here are some ideas for leading this experiential prayer:

  • Find a way for everyone to get his or her hands under running water. Have students individually take their copies of the passage and read it silently or aloud while they feel the water rushing over their hands. Then, encourage them to spend time alone or in small groups in prayer, asking God for direction and courage to use their voices on behalf of others.
  • If you are in the youth room for this activity, now is the time to incorporate your water imagery: play the slideshow or video, or let students somehow interact with images of water during their prayers for God’s justice. Students could also take their water bottles and pour water over their own hands into a big tub or bucket as part of this prayer time. (As we already mentioned, please try to conserve resources by watering plants or the grass with leftover water).

Close your time with prayer as a whole group, and then conclude: God’s desire is that justice and righteousness become streams that never stop flowing, bringing life and health to the desert in which God’s people find themselves. We become the catalysts for life in a barren land.

HAVE MORE TIME?

  • This experience will work best OFF-SITE. It’s summer, so be creative! Find someone who can host a pool party for your kids, or get to a river or lake if you have one nearby. You could even go where there is a fountain, provided kids can actually reach the water in the fountain to touch it. This can be a great experience to blend into an already-scheduled pool party or rafting trip this summer.
  • Brainstorm other ideas of how to be a kingdom voice against injustice, either locally or globally. Discuss how your student ministry might use its voice to help “get the message out” to your surrounding community about the AIDS crisis in Africa or other issues. Could students start a letter-writing campaign in the church or at their schools? What other creative ideas can they come up with for advocacy?
  • Invite a local political leader to visit your youth ministry to discuss these issues. What kind of difference can the voice of students really make? How do government leaders receive, review, and reply to concerns by constituents? You may want to let parents know ahead of time in order to reduce any concerns that a leader’s presence might indicate an endorsement or political position by you or the youth ministry! To make this even more interesting, you could invite two candidates running for a local office, and ask them to share their thoughts on your community’s role in reducing poverty, caring for victims of AIDS, and advocating for youth issues. It might lead to a great discussion and an opportunity to empower kids to use their voices. (Note: One way to set up these meetings with candidates or city officials is to contact the city council representative from your church’s district well in advance. Explain what you are doing, and ask them to be part of your event. You could also use this as an opportunity to thank them for their service—even if you don’t agree with their position on every issue. They are serving the community in some capacity and rarely receive encouragement).

GET ACTIVE!

  • Have the entire congregation write letters to your congressional leaders as part of your next worship service.
  • Work with local teachers and school districts to help make AIDS awareness and advocacy part of their teaching curriculum.
  • Contact your local newspaper to see whether it will publish a story covering some of your efforts.
  • Get a group of students together with the leaders of your church’s worship and missions leaders to discuss the implications of Amos 5:21-24 in your church community. How well do our worship and our care for the poor and oppressed match up? What can we do about it as a congregation? Encourage students to be catalysts for authentic worship both in and beyond your youth ministry!
  • Encourage students to begin a new daily practice. Invite them to pray Amos 5:24 whenever they take a shower, praying that justice would flow like a river through them into the world.

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VISION GENERATION #9 (SEPTEMBER): Buying Beyond Me: What Justifies a Purchase?

BIG IDEA:

Every time we spend money to make a purchase, we make a difference in the lives of people around the globe. The question is: what kind of difference are we making? Living in light of God’s kingdom means that we look beyond products to their sources before we buy them, and make choices in light of what we see.

YOU’LL NEED:

  • Markers for everyone
  • Brown paper bags
  • A white board or large sheets of paper to post on the wall
  • Pens
  • A blank check or dollar bill (optional)

FOCUSING TEXT:

Proverbs 22:16 and Proverbs 21:13,15

DIVING IN:

Welcome students and then give each student an empty brown paper bag and a marker. Then read the following quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Before you’ve finished your breakfast this morning, you’ll have relied on half the world. —Martin Luther King, Jr. (1)

Ask: What does this quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. communicate to you?

Give students a chance to respond, then give these instructions: On one side of your paper bag write down every single thing you have consumed, put on, used or purchased today. Be as specific as possible, thinking about every detail of your day.

When the group has finished creating their lists, re-read the quote from above.

Next, invite one student to write his/her list on the white board or large paper. Invite the rest of your group to share items that were on their lists that weren’t mentioned by this first student.

Explain: We go through a lot of products! Do you ever wonder how many sets of hands have touched the things you consume or use every day? Let’s choose one item from this list and do just that.

On the board, create a list together of all the people who could have been involved in creating or delivering one specific product. For example:

My T-shirt:

  • Land was plowed and prepared
  • Cotton planted
  • Cotton plants tended
  • Cotton plants harvested and processed
  • Cotton made into thread
  • Dye created from various products
  • Cotton dyed
  • Cotton spun into thread
  • Thread woven into fabric
  • Fabric made into T-shirts
  • Machines created that make the fabric into T-shirts
  • Parts for the machines created to make the T-shirts
  • Metals refined to create the parts for the machine to make the T-shirts
  • Workers mining for metals
  • T-shirts mass produced
  • T-shirts silk screened with patterns and logos
  • T-shirts boxed and shipped
  • T-shirts packed and shipped from the manufacturer to wholesalers/distributors
  • T-shirts shipped to stores
  • T-shirts unpacked and displayed at stores
  • I pick out a T-shirt, buy it, and wear it

Say: That’s quite a list! Let’s look at it together. Every hand that has touched the item we’ve consumed or used belongs to a person with a story, like you and I have a story. Think of the people and the stories represented above. That’s a lot of stories and a lot of lives… Note what might be missing or what you didn’t have time to write. For instance, in the list above, some things that were not accounted for include the bag that the product was placed in to send it home, the products needed to operate the store in which the product was purchased, or the mode of transportation used to get to the store.

Say: Often the products that we enjoy are very costly to another person. Products are created every day by exploiting the poor through forced labor, sweat shops, unfair wages and horrid working conditions. Then these products are sold so that someone else can make a profit.

Note: you may want to include the following statistics on forced labor and sweat shops in your discussion:

  • Over 12.1 million individuals are in forced labor today, meaning that a laborer is kept through violence or threat of violence, shackles, or other illegal means.
  • More than half of the world’s 22,000 sewing shops violate minimum wage and overtime laws. Seventy-five percent violate safety and health laws. (2)

Ask: What do you think forced labor and sweat shops might have to do with hunger? What about the AIDS crisis? How do you think these problems might interact with one another? Note: the point here is to get students to think about how world issues are interconnected. Try to help them see the connection between fighting hunger, poverty and AIDS and how they spend their money at the mall.

Next, read Proverbs 22:16 and Proverbs 21:13,15.

Q: What do you think the writer of these proverbs was trying to communicate?

At this point, re-read Proverbs 22:16 and explain: Some people think that it’s not just those who actually supervise forced labor who “oppress the poor to increase their wealth.” Oppressors could be those of us who benefit from the inexpensive goods that forced laborers produce, whether we supervise them or not. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Re-read Proverbs 21:13 and ask: In what ways could we be shutting our ears to the cry of the poor? What do you think it means that we will “also cry out and not be answered”?

Re-read Proverbs 21:15 and ask: When it comes to forced labor, what do you think “justice” looks like? Note: if your students need help understanding the concept of justice, you might try describing justice as “righting wrongs.”

Explain: There ARE choices we can make that will bring some justice to unjust situations. Through our day-to-day spending, we can live as men and women who belong to the kingdom of God. There is a global movement called Fair Trade that is playing a role in addressing some of these injustices.

Ask: Has anyone heard of Fair Trade before? Who can describe it to us?

Depending on students’ knowledge, you could further explain Fair Trade by reading the description below:

“Fair Trade is a growing international movement which ensures that producers in poor countries get a fair deal. This means a fair price for their goods (one that covers the cost of production and guarantees a living income), long-term contracts which provide real security; and for many, support to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to develop their businesses and increase sales.” (3)

Q: How does the concept of Fair Trade represent a value of the kingdom of God?

Next ask students to flip over their paper bags, giving them these instructions: On the other side of your bag, write a list of products that you purchased for going back to school earlier this fall. Jot down everything from clothes to school supplies, and maybe even the coffee you consume to help you stay awake for your early morning classes.

Give students time to do this and then ask:

Q: What does it look like to live lives that represent the kingdom in our shopping?

Q: Does anyone have ideas for how we can learn whether products we buy come from companies that enforce Fair Trade practices? Below are some websites where you can find lists of Fair Trade resources. You can find stores that sell Fair Trade Certified items. You may want to show students the Fair Trade Certified label as well. www.fairtraderesource.org (information, resources and fair trade retailer lists) www.transfairusa.org www.fairindigo.com (sweatshop free clothing) www.maketradefair.com (movement, advocacy and information)

World Vision also has information about how Fair Trade and other practices can build a better world for children, and what to do to help end child labor. Find out more and have your students sign the One Declaration.

Using the lists you’ve created on your bags, pray for the people whose stories each product represents. Pray that workers will be treated fairly and that we will become aware of our own spending to bring about justice.

HAVE MORE TIME?

  • Hand the students a different color marker and use that marker to write one of the proverbs listed above on their bags. Then encourage the students to take this bag with them when they go shopping as a reminder and a voice for Fair Trade.
  • Pull out a blank check or dollar bill. Write on the bill or check the name of Jesus. Talk about how He provides every dollar we have and He calls us to use each dollar in a way that represents His kingdom and values. Discuss together how your youth group can represent the kingdom by learning the stories of the people who make the products you use.
  • You can also visit www.maketradefair.com and you’ll find all kinds of information, statistics, videos and help for educating others about Fair Trade. There are also several videos on Oxfam’s Web site. There is a seven-minute video with short vignettes on various fair trade issues that can be used as a guided prayer time (they can also be downloaded separately as six video files). Watch the video, pausing after each section to give students an opportunity to pray over the issues addressed in the video. Or, read the Proverbs 22:16 passage after each vignette, then offer prayers of confession, following each time of confession with prayers for those in unjust working situations and for those in positions of leadership to work toward justice.

GET ACTIVE!

  • Take time to write letters to your local senator asking him or her to encourage Fair Trade in your area. You could also write letters to your local grocery or all-purpose stores (like K-mart, Wal-mart and Target) asking them to carry products that are Fair Trade Certified.
  • Go to www.transfairusa.org and click on the “where to buy” section. You’ll find all kinds of products to purchase with the Fair Trade Certified logo.
  • Have students research local stores that carry Fair Trade Certified products and send out teams to visit those stores and ask to speak with their managers. Ahead of time, have students come up with a list of questions to ask the managers, such as “What motivated you to offer Fair Trade products in your store?” and “What kind of response have you had from customers?”
  • Create a list of discussion questions for families and send them home with students or email them to their parents. Encourage families to wrestle together with the impact of their spending choices. If you know of a family who is intentionally changing the way they purchase because of a conviction to treat producers fairly, invite that family to come share with the entire group about their experience.

1 Oxfam International, 2007 http://www.maketradefair.com/en/index.php?file=25032002111113.htm&cat=4&subcat=1&select=1. 2 These statistics were taken from Linda A. Mooney, David Knox and Caroline Schacht, Understanding Social Problems (2007, Thomson Wadsworth), 228-231. 3 Oxfam International, 2007 http://www.maketradefair.com/en/index.php?file=25032002111113.htm&cat=4&subcat=1&select=1.

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VISION GENERATION #10 (OCTOBER): A New Center

BIG IDEA:

Jesus is both the center of all creation and desires to be the center of our lives, and the kingdom of God is at the center of Jesus’ identity. When we live out God’s heart for the poor and oppressed, we become kingdom-centered (and therefore Jesus-centered) people.

YOU’LL NEED:

  • Markers for everyone
  • A box or bag of chocolate candies with various fruit/fillings at the center, or really any candy that has a mushy center will work—just have enough for every student to eat one
  • A white board or large sheets of paper to post on the wall and markers
  • Bibles, copies, or projected words for the focusing text (Colossians 1:15-20) so every student can read it
  • Paper and pens for each student
  • Tape

FOCUSING TEXT:

Colossians 1:15-20

DIVING IN:

Open by saying: We’ll probably all be consuming a larger amount of candy than usual this month. While we don’t want to overload your sugar intake, we’re going to pass out candy to everyone today. So as we pass around this box/bag, everyone please choose one piece and go ahead and eat it.

Pass around the box or bag and give students a chance to choose their candy. Ask:

Q: What’s at the center of your chocolates? What are your favorite candy fillings? After a few students have a chance to respond, ask: How much does what’s at the center matter in how much you enjoy the chocolate?

Q: What do you think people mean when they say something or someone is at the “center” of their lives? How do you recognize what is at the center of someone’s life?

Q: Think about other students you know-your peers, your friends, and your classmates. If you had to define what is at the center of their lives, what would you say? List some of their responses on the whiteboard or poster paper.

Q: What if someone were to define what’s at the center of your life? What would they likely say? What in your life would cause them to say that?

Q: Let’s look a little bit deeper into a few of the ‘centers’ mentioned, whether for you or for someone you know. When we get to each center ask yourself, “When that’s at the center of my life, how is that likely to affect my behavior? What am I more likely to do or not do? How am I most likely to act?” Ask the same questions for some of the other centers mentioned. Share your thoughts with the group as we go down the list. Pick several centers from the list and take a few moments to do this exercise together.

Q: How well do these centers tend to hold “all things” together for people you know? Let’s talk about that together.

Next read Colossians 1:15-20, making sure each student has a copy of the text. You could break into small groups for this next part of the exercise, making sure each group leader has a copy of the questions below.

Note: these are a dense few verses, packed with some of the most intense theology of the New Testament! If you have time and intend to expand this idea into a full Bible study, we’d recommend you help students dig into the depths of this passage and what it has to say about Jesus’ identity. This particular exercise focuses on just one aspect, primarily found in verse 17, that in Christ “all things hold together.”

Explain: This passage from Colossians declares that Jesus is in fact the center of all creation-and not a mushy center, but a center in which “all things hold together.” What do you think that means?

Q: If “all things hold together” in Jesus, does that mean we are “off the hook” in caring for other people or for other parts of the creation, since Jesus is taking care of it all anyway? In other words, if Jesus’ part is so important, what part do we play?

Q: We often talk as Christians about Jesus being the “center of our lives,” and sometimes sing songs that suggest that Jesus is our true center. What do you think it means for Jesus to be central to who we are?

Q: How does your understanding of that concept change when you think about Jesus being the center of all creation, holding all things together?

Continue: The Gospel writers give us some strong hints about what was central for Jesus himself. Mark 1:15 records Jesus’ first words in ministry as “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Luke shares that Jesus’ opening words in his hometown synagogue at the start of his ministry were to quote from Isaiah, chapters 61 and 58:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). After reading this passage, Jesus declared, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

Q: If the kingdom of God was Jesus’ center, and that meant bringing good news to the poor and broken, what might it mean for us to have Jesus as our center?

Explain: This concept sounds great, and in theory everyone who is following Christ can claim Christ as their center (or according to Paul, everything in all creation can claim Christ as their center!). But how does this play out practically? One way is to start with the things that the Bible indicates are central to God. When we read scripture, we learn that caring for people who are trapped in poverty and oppression is one of the things close to the heart of God.

So now let’s imagine that we as individuals and a group put God’s Kingdom work among those impacted by AIDS and hunger in Africa at the center of our lives for the next month.

Q: How would that change what we are like and what we do? What would we probably NOT be like and NOT do?

Distribute papers and writing utensils. Ask students to draw a large circle on the paper, then a smaller circle in the center of the large one. Then have them write “Jesus” in the center circle and “God’s Kingdom Work in Africa” inside the larger circle (you will probably want to draw this on your whiteboard or poster paper for them!). Explain: Of course, God’s kingdom is far bigger than simply God’s work in Africa, but we’re going to focus there today.

Then give them a few minutes to draw spokes coming out of the center circle (like a wheel). These spokes represent their life flowing out of the center, Jesus, through the context of God’s kingdom work among those impacted by AIDS and hunger in Africa. Ask them to label those spokes with ideas that they have for new thoughts, actions or attitudes that flow out of that new center. Outside of the circle they can write or draw old attitudes and actions that have been part of their lives, but are now inconsistent with this new center.

Invite students to come forward and tape their diagrams to a wall. Give them a few minutes to see what ideas others have for ways to live the next month differently. (Note: if you’d like this to be more anonymous, you could collect students’ diagrams and then tape them quickly yourself to a wall so no one knows who drew which diagram). Then ask the group:

Q: Which ideas seem most common on these diagrams?

Q: What action steps seem most appropriate for us to take in light of those ideas?

Q: How can we as a group help each other make and keep these commitments?

Now would be a good time to talk about any 30 Hour Famine commitments or goals your group would like to make. Be sure you point out that even baby steps are significant when they match up with the center of God’s kingdom plan for us and for the world.

Close in prayer, asking God to help you keep Jesus and the work of the kingdom-in Africa and across the street-at the center of our lives.

HAVE MORE TIME?

  • Find some magnets, small nails or lead shards, and sand to use as an illustration to get the “center” point across. Ideally, you would mix the sand and lead together and find a way to show students (or have students discover themselves) that a strong magnet will cause the lead to separate from the sand. In the same way magnets pull lead out from the sand, Jesus pulls all things to Himself. Another way to use magnets is to show how they either attract each other or force one another away based on which way they are positioned. Our alignment toward or away from Jesus influences how we might experience His “pull” at the center of all things.
  • Leave up the diagrams for the entire month as a constant reminder of your commitments. Or instead, take them down every week and re-tape them to a different place before your meeting so that kids don’t get numb to them but notice them every time they enter your space. Schedule times to check in with the group and pray together about these commitments over the next month.
  • Create an enormous “tape blob”. Utilizing various symbols, pictures, and representations, connect with masking tape all the things you can think of that Jesus holds together. This can get as big as you can handle, and could be incredibly memorable for your group if you keep it around! Create a discussion around what our part is in the midst of all the things God holds together, as well as pondering why God does God’s part.

GET ACTIVE!

  • Using the tape creation option above, have the students display their creation somewhere public with a sign that says, “In Jesus all things hold together.” Or, going even further, you could have students create representations of all the things they came up with on signs they wear around their necks. Then they could go stand somewhere public (or maybe in your church) with the signs for an hour or so, taping themselves together to represent being held together by Christ. This might be a wild Sunday morning shake-up and discussion-starter for your congregation!
  • Make an action plan together involving the last question in the discussion above. Begin work on projects and other actions related to keeping those group commitments. If there is work to do, divide up responsibilities and dive in.
  • Have each student make a second diagram and take it home. Ask them to sit with their families and do the same activity, this time with the spokes representing their family’s collective thoughts, actions, and attitudes as opposed to their individual names. Send the above instructions for the activity and the two-circle diagram for each family to complete. Invite students share with one another the next week what their families discussed and how they’re getting active together.
  • Have a small (index card-sized) two-circle diagram for each student to take home and hang somewhere visible. Leave room on the piece of paper for each student to write out his/her commitments. Invite the students to both pray and act as they see these through the next month.

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VISION GENERATION #11 (NOVEMBER): A Season Visited

BIG IDEA:

Being a part of the Kingdom means that we identify and share in the joys and difficulties of others.

YOU’LL NEED:

  • Art supplies (some combination of paper, glue sticks, crayons and markers, magazines and play dough or clay; you know your students and what they like to do!)
  • Whiteboard or poster paper and markers
  • Bibles, copies, or projected words for Romans 12:9-15, so every student can read it
  • A map of the continent of Africa to be projected or enough copies for the students to get a visual of the country
  • To set the scene for talking about weather, you may want to use clips from the Planet Earth Discovery Channel series, available for free online at http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/video/video.html. These could be playing as students enter, or you could play them while students create their artwork.

FOCUSING TEXT:

Romans 12:9-15

DIVING IN:

Welcome students and distribute your art supplies to your students. Explain: We are in the middle of two months that we often call the “holiday season”. I’d like you to use half of the art supplies we’ve given you to create something that represents the first thing that comes to your mind as you think about Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve. Explain that we’ll be using the remaining art supplies a little later on.

Give students several minutes to make their creations, and then invite your students to explain what they made. If your students have positive associations with the holidays (which is likely), point that out.

Ask: How would you describe the weather here during the holiday season?

Next put up the image of the map of Africa and continue: For much of the world these two months are the beginning of a new season of weather, a change that brings greater rain. When it comes to Africa, what do you think might be some of the positive results of rainfall? Supplement your students’ answers by explaining the following advantages to rainfall:

  • Relief from drought
  • Possibility of greater crops, which both feed and provide financial support for families
  • Settling of dust
  • Relief from the heat
  • More water to drink

As you can probably guess, in addition to those types of blessings, the rainy season that we are now entering in Africa (as well as in much of the United States) also brings difficulties.

Note to leader: in what follows, we’ve given you talking points you can use with your students with footnotes that link to other articles with a more in-depth discussion. Feel free to highlight all four of the difficulties of rain below, or you can choose to focus on just a few.

Difficulty #1: Increased Disease

  • Diseases that are a threat during rainy season because of environmental conditions include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and Rift Valley Fever.
  • Diseases that are a water-borne and thus more likely during the rainy season include dysentery and cholera.[1]

Difficulty #2: Destruction of Homes

  • Many African homes have homes that rely on mud for stability.
  • While these homes are fine during the dry season, when the rain falls, the mud walls begin to fall apart.[2]

Difficulty #3: People who are Homeless Have Even More Problems

  • While people who are homeless can sometimes find food and shelter during the dry season, the rain and water standing in puddles makes this even more difficult during November and December.
  • Sometimes the rain causes excrement to wash into the ground water that many displaced people would normally use for drinking.[3]

Difficulty #4: Greater Agricultural Difficulties

  • The uncertainty of rainfall makes it difficult to know when to plant.
  • If the crops are planted after the first rain, the land may dry up and the seeds might die if a second rain does not come in time.
  • If the crops aren’t planted in time, the rainy season might not be long enough and the seeds might not reach maturity before the dry season returns.[4]

Continue: The rainy season throughout Africa brings hope and despair. It brings sorrow and joy. There is rejoicing and mourning. As people who follow Jesus, how might we respond? Let’s read what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome about responding to others during different seasons of life.

Next read Romans 12:9-15. Feel free to share the following insights with your students:

  • Romans 12:9-13 explains how we are to treat fellow believers; Romans 12:14-15 (as well as Romans 12:16-21) describes how God wants us to treat those who do not yet know him.
  • As in 1 Corinthians in which Paul follows his description of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) with an exhortation to love (1 Corinthians 13), Paul follows the same pattern in Romans. Romans 12:3-8 teaches about spiritual gifts and Romans 12:9-13 gives us tangible ways to love each other.
  • When we “cling to what is good” (v. 9), we do not have the time or energy to run after what is evil.
  • In Romans 12:11, Paul connects our love for others with our love for the Lord, and our service of His kingdom. As in a host of other Scripture passages, loving God and loving others are linked hand in hand.
  • The “hospitality” Paul encourages in v. 13 was especially crucial to the early church. Without hospitality, the spread of the gospel during Jesus’ and Paul’s life would have been greatly hindered as messengers of the gospel often went from home to home, sharing the good news and staying with new believers. In fact, in receiving and entertaining travelers, people who opened their homes and their hearts to others were actually opening their lives to Christ (see Matthew 10:40, 25:40).

Ask: What does it look like to rejoice with someone who is rejoicing or to mourn with someone who is mourning? When might it be difficult to share in either situation? Why do you think the Apostle Paul thought it was important to share in both situations?

Q: Can you give some examples of rejoicing with someone in your life? What about mourning with someone?

Q: Now take a moment to think about the joys that those who live in Africa during the rainy season might be experiencing. Share any ideas you have with the group. Write down responses on the board. What are the sorrows? Again, write down students’ responses on the board.

Explain: The reason I wanted you to use only half of your art supplies before is that I wanted to give you an opportunity to think about how we, even though we live thousands of miles away from Africa, can share in their joys and sorrows. I’d like you to take a few minutes and use your art supplies to depict a way that we can live out Paul’s command in Romans 12:15 with Africans who are entering their rainy season. If possible, try to show ways you can both mourn with them, as well as rejoice with them. After a few minutes, invite students to share their artistic creations. Make sure you affirm their creativity and sensitivity to the Lord’s leading as well as others’ needs.

To transition into the closing guided prayer experience, explain to your students: We are not in charge of the rainfall. We do not choose to withhold the rain or bring it with such force. But we can pray to the One who causes the rain to fall and who is present during all seasons. We celebrate the One who came and visited us during the seasons of life on this planet, to share in our own joys and sorrows.

Praise: Invite students to spend some time praising God for who He is and His divine power over nature. Encourage your students to do this out loud.

Confess: Ask students to confess (either out loud or privately) ways that they are falling short when it comes to sharing in the seasons with others.

Ask: Invite students to make requests to the Lord on behalf of those who are living throughout Africa during this season. Begin by asking students to pray for special joy for those in Africa during this season, and then transition to a time of praying for those who are experiencing grief and sorrow during this rainy season.

Thank: Close your prayer time by asking students to thank God for meeting them in this season as well as those who are affected by the rain or lack of rain throughout Africa.

HAVE MORE TIME?

  • Hand out blank calendars for November and/or December. Have the students write prayer requests on each day or each week of the calendar using the above discussion as their guide.
  • Create a large wall calendar for your youth room that can remind your group for the next couple of months to be praying for specific challenges faced in African nations during this rainy season. Let students add their own thoughts, sentence prayers, or drawings to represent their own intercession on behalf of their brothers and sisters across the world.
  • Contact any missionaries or church leaders in Africa your church has connection with and ask them to share more about the weather and its effects on their lives, through email or maybe even a phone call to your group.

GET ACTIVE!

  • Make calendars in advance with prayer requests each day for those in Africa. Hand these out to students and invite them to pray daily as they go through the Holiday season.
  • Create a resource page (a web page, a FaceBook profile) so students can go deeper in their understanding of the seasons in Africa. You might want to include:
    1. the web pages above
    2. any stories about or contact information for church-sponsored missionaries in this part of the world so students could get first hand information to share in joys and sorrows
    3. books
    4. ideas on how to keep connected to the weather patterns on the African continent (You could include a weather forecast each of the following weeks for a different city in Africa. Use the weather forecast to rejoice, mourn and pray! Just visit Weather.com to find the weather anywhere, including Africa!)
  1. http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/rtdinfo/51/01/article_5103_en.html&item=Environment&artid=3395
  2. http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/rtdinfo/51/01/article_5103_en.html&item=Environment&artid=3395
  3. http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2007/07/chads-rainy-sea.html Chad’s rainy season, with ongoing violence and displacement, brings the health situation closer to emergency levels (Interview with Dr. Ingo Hartlapp July 30, 2007).
  4. http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/rtdinfo/51/01/article_5103_en.html&item=Environment&artid=3395

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VISION GENERATION #12 (DECEMBER): One Person’s Gift

BIG IDEA:

God calls us to step beyond a legalistic approach to money, resources, and gifts and into the more complex realities of seeking justice through sacrificial giving.

YOU’LL NEED:

  • A copy of the movie “Schindler’s List” (DVD 2) cued to 43:04 from the start
  • TV or projector and DVD player
  • Bibles or copies of Mark 10:17-31 for everyone present

FOCUSING TEXT:

Mark 10:17-31

DIVING IN:

Start by saying: With Christmas coming soon, you’ve probably all spent some time thinking about the gifts you are giving and the gifts you hope you’ll receive this year. You might have even made some lists with specific requests, or at least dropped some big hints.

Q: How do you decide what to ask for when there’s a gift-giving time like Christmas, your birthday, or any other time your family or friends give gifts?

Q: How do you decide what to give others? How do you decide WHO you’ll get gifts for?

Q: How do you think God feels about our giving practices? Do you think there are ways we give that are more pleasing or less pleasing to God? Explain your thoughts.

Next ask for three volunteers to help you read Mark 10:17-31 aloud. Ask one volunteer to read the words of the rich young man, one to read the words of Jesus, and one to serve as the narrator and read everything else.

After reading the passage together, begin the discussion by saying: When the man asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” in verse 17, he seems to be thinking in terms of earning his way into the kingdom of God by doing specific things. Given Jesus’ response in verse 21 that the man needs to sell everything and give to the poor, does every person who wants to follow Jesus need to do likewise? Probably most of your students will realize the answer here is “No.” If not, then why would Jesus ask the man to do such a thing? If it hasn’t already been mentioned, suggest: Perhaps Jesus wanted him to give away his money because it was standing in the way of his ability to wholly follow Christ. Perhaps this is one of the reasons it’s so hard to enter the kingdom of God (v.23, 24).

Q: How does money tend to get in the way of our ability to follow Christ today?

Q: So do you think Jesus wants all rich people to sell what they have and give everything to the poor? Why or why not?

Q: Some have said that only those rich people who are wrapped up in their wealth, as this rich man likely was, need to sell what they have and give it away in order to enter the kingdom. Do you agree with that? Why or why not?

Note to leader: We know that the rich man was devout in his faith since he claimed to have kept so many of the commands since he was a boy (likely meaning since he turned 13, which in Jewish culture was the point at which a child assumed personal responsibility for obeying the commandments). Perhaps the man’s problem was that while he followed all of the external commands of the law, he missed the importance of an inner attitude of generosity. Or perhaps he missed the connection between faith and all the rest of life, including his practices with money.

As you discuss this passage with students, don’t let them get away too easily with accusing those who we tend to classify as “rich” as being the “problem”. By much of the world’s standards, most of us in the U.S. are incredibly rich. How can we rethink our own wealth (however comparatively big or small) in light of the sacrificial way of the kingdom of God?

At this point, explain: During World War II, there was a wealthy man who discovered the power of sacrificial giving as he sold or gave away most of what he had in order to serve the poor. Before the late 1930s, Poland had been a relatively safe haven for Jews in Europe. As you’ve studied in history classes, in 1939 that all changed as the Nazis occupied Poland and began to kill its Jewish residents. Jews were herded into crowded ghettos, beaten, and marched into concentration camps where most were killed.

Oscar Schindler, a German, was quite wealthy. Initially, he knew that during the Nazi occupation he would have the opportunity to make a lot of money through the black market. He started a new factory with the cheapest labor force he could find: Jews. However, soon his focus shifted from making money to saving lives. He ended up trying to save Jewish lives through bribery, negotiations, and hiring as many as he could. It’s estimated that he saved over 1,100 Jews from death, often at great cost to himself.

We’re going to watch a clip from the Oscar Award-winning film “Schindler’s List,” which depicts Schindler and his wife at the end of the war leaving the Jews he had saved. Play the DVD, starting at 43:04 and ending at 47:04 from the start of the DVD. Then debrief this scene with students:

Q: How did you feel when you watched Schindler’s own emotions as he left the Jewish workers?

Q: While Schindler gave away his fortune, at the end of it all what did he realize about the resources he still had?

While most of us weren’t alive during the Jewish Holocaust, we ARE alive during other serious world crises-like AIDS and hunger-that are killing millions every year, many of whom are children.

Q: The ring given to Schindler contains a Hebrew statement from the Talmud (a Hebrew book of interpretation that is often used alongside the Hebrew Bible): “Whoever saves one life saves the world in time.” How is that relevant to the crises of hunger and AIDS?

Q: In verse 27, Jesus teaches that “all things are possible with God,” meaning that even in the midst of the obstacles that keep us from being kingdom people, God can help us overcome those obstacles. How do you think God can help us overcome the obstacles that keep us from using our money generously for kingdom purposes?

Note to leader: Generosity can be a complex issue for both kids and adults to grapple with, particularly because it is connected to the concept of grace. If your students seem a bit fuzzy at this point, you might want to explore this a little further by asking the following questions:

Q: What are the behaviors, attitudes, and values that tend to keep us from living generously?

Q: One of the main distinctives of Christianity is that we believe we are saved by grace, not by works. Given this, what is the connection between grace and generosity?

This passage closes with the commonly-known phrase, “…but many who are first will be last, and the last first” (v. 31). Read this verse again, and invite students to brainstorm a list of types of people we usually consider to be the “last” in our society and across the world. Who qualifies as “last”? Certainly we should include orphans, widows, beggars, and the poor, but don’t forget overlooked groups like prostitutes, modern-day slaves, and even kids at school who are ridiculed for being different, disabled, or who fail to “measure up” in some way.

Close this discussion by having students pray together in pairs for the “last”. Pray that we might become more sensitive to the ways God calls us to use our resources-monetary and otherwise-generously and sacrificially for those who are considered last in this world. Pray that God would inspire us this Christmas to live out everyday justice as citizens of the kingdom of God.

HAVE MORE TIME?

  • You may want to incorporate more film clips from Christmas movies like “Scrooge” or “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” Some of these offer stories of people who were transformed into generous givers during the Christmas season. Dialog with what might motivate people toward true generosity, and what motivates us to live generously towards others.
  • Create a “Reverse Advent Calendar.” Instead of the traditional Advent calendars that reveal candy or coins each day, what about each day revealing a new act of service, contribution, or generosity toward others in some way? This “Reverse Advent Calendar” could be one tool to help students shift the focus of this season in their minds (if it’s too late to do this for this year, perhaps you could make a note of the idea for next year, or modify the calendar to be the week of Christmas or the traditional twelve days of Christmas).
  • Ask students to share stories about how they have experienced the generosity of others or seen glimpses of this aspect of the Kingdom of God in their lives or in the world.
  • Brainstorm ways that the student community as a whole can practice sacrificial giving in this season and in the coming year.

GET ACTIVE!

  • Youth get information about social causes from the internet more than from any other source. Tap into their internet research savvy by starting an internet social networking group where your students can connect about both local and global needs for putting faith into generous action. Ask different students to research the issues most interesting to them and then share information and links with each other via your group’s blog, MySpace page, or whatever social networking interface students most gravitate toward. Let this be a catalyst for spurring each other toward generous living during the Christmas season and beyond.
  • Connect students and families with holiday gift catalogs from development organizations like World Vision that offer Christmas gift alternatives. Encourage them to consider giving up material gifts this year in exchange for gifts that make a life-saving difference for kids across the world. For ideas that range from buying a family a goat to funding the education of a whole school, see the World Vision Gift Catalog online and pass it on to kids and families in your ministry! Even better, you could set a goal together and collect funds toward a gift from your group toward a child or family in a developing country this Christmas.