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PORTRAITS
Allow 30 seconds for each young person to draw a picture of the person sitting on their left and show their portraits to their subjects. After some chatter, ask the group how many apologised when they showed their picture.
REVIEWING TEXTIFY
Show the ‘Covert Christians’ clip from the links section of the Youthwork website. Say: lots of Christians keep their faith hidden. Ask the group, on a scale of one to ten, how easy they found becoming a more visible Christian during the Textify challenge, and why? In groups of three or four, share how the Textify challenge went. Use flipchart sheets with four sections: ‘Wins’ (encouragements), ‘Surprises’, ‘Learning’, and ‘Disappointments’, to review the Textify challenge then feedback to the whole group. Once the group has fed back, spend time in the small groups praying.
THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX
Give the young people a copy of the nine dots puzzle from the links section of the Youthwork website. Nine dots are arranged in a set of three rows. Challenge the young people to draw four straight lines that connect the dots without taking the pencil off the paper. Show them how it’s done (the explanation is on-line) and explain that when it comes to making disciples Jesus often challenges us to think bigger: to think outside of the box.
BIBLE STUDY
The first Christians believed that the good news of Jesus was just for Jewish people, until God challenged them to think bigger. God tells Peter to go to a Gentile’s house, something Jews would never do. Peter goes, but is criticised for it. Read Acts 11:1-17 and then ask the group these questions:• Why did Peter have a vision about food before the men came to find him?• Why do you think Peter hesitated to go with them?• Are there groups of people that you hesitate to share the gospel with?• Is there anyone in your sphere of influence that you deliberately didn’t choose to Textify? Why?
BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS
Watch ‘A pep talk from kid president to you’ from the links section of the Youthwork website. Ask for volunteers to read the following scriptures: Ephesians 3:20, Philippians 4:13, Matthew 17:20-21, John 14:12. Give the group some time to reflect on the passages. Write BHAG on the top right of a flipchart: explain that it’s time to think bigger. Break down into smaller groups. Ask the young people to imagine a Church that lived in the daily reality of these passages, and, with this in mind, ask the young people to dream what your church and community could look like in 2018. Write the answers and reflections under BHAG on the flipchart.
DISCUSSION
It’s now time to focus on the May Bank Holiday Big Weekender. In small groups, write down creative ideas for word and action mission to do as part of the Big Weekender. Each idea must state who they want to reach and what they want to do. Remember: think outside of the box. Get feedback from each group. Decide on the top five ideas. Spend the next week praying about the ideas.
