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THIS WEEK’S PASSAGEs Psalm 139:13, Colossians 1:21-22
MEETING AIM To explore where we get our worth - from knowing that God created us and sees us as incredible.
BACKGROUND PREPARATION Get whatever artistic materials you would like to use (e.g. pencils, paper, chalks, paints). Find the Dove ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ on the links section of the Youthwork website. Find newspaper and magazine adverts for products which give the message that they will improve your life.
SKETCHES
15 mins
Start the session with ‘artist stations’ set up with pencils and paper or with paints, chalks and more if you’d prefer. Tell the young people that you are going to describe a famous person to them and they have to draw them. However, you will not be telling them who it is until after they have finished drawing. Then describe a person in a series of different ways, for instance: this female has brown, almond shaped eyes, short cropped hair, a button nose, freckles and nicely shaped lips. (This is Emma Watson but you could choose anyone.) After the initial directions, each member of the group can ask one question to add to the description. After they have finished drawing ask them to show their drawings! Make the point that when we hear someone described or even if we were told the person’s name, we would all draw that person differently, because so much of how we see people is about perspective.
REAL BEAUTY SKETCHES
10 mins
Show the Dove video from the links section of the Youthwork website entitled ‘Real Beauty Sketches’. Ask for initial feedback on what they saw and how they think these might be viewed differently by someone else. Do you think you see the same things about your friends as they see in themselves, or do you see their good bits before the negatives that they focus on?
Ask the group to think about how God would describe them. Encourage the group to think about the words God might use (or does use in the Bible) to describe us. Remind them that as their creator he would describe them as incredible and just as he intended them to be.
ME? HOLY ?
10 mins
As a group read Colossians 1:21-22 and then ask:
• What does is mean when it says that God sees us as holy and without blemish?
• Is that what our culture tells us we are? Find some adverts from newspapers or magazines which suggest that we are not good enough, or lacking in some way or another (most of them imply this!). Ask the young people to tell you what the advert is implying. For example, a make-up advert suggests that you will be more beautiful with the product. Ask the group:
• Is this the message that is in this week’s passage?
• Is it is easy to listen to God rather than all the other messages we see and hear?
Say: it is easy to get sucked into the media and what they say about us, but it is not the truth. God made you good enough and sees you as perfect both in appearance and action.
YOU ARE MORE THAN WHAT YOU SEE
10 mins
The culture we live in is very focused on what we look like, when the truth is that it is only a small part of who we are. Ask the members of the group to write down five to ten things about themselves (exclusive of their appearance) that are interesting or unique. For example, things they enjoy doing, are good at or define who they are, e.g. ‘I enjoy netball, I love playing FIFA, I am a follower of Jesus.’
Say: by focusing on other aspects of who we are, we counteract the nature of our culture and its obsession of image. Our appearance is one part of our identity but shouldn’t be the entire focus of who we are. It is important to have a balance.
HOW OTHERS SEE US
10 mins
Give each member of the group a blank piece of paper and ask them to write their name at the top. Ask them to pass it to the left of them and for the person to their left to write something amazing / incredible / beautiful that they see in that person at the bottom of the page. Get everyone to fold the sheet so that what they have written is not visible but the name at the top is. Pass this around the rest of the group so that each individual has a sheet full of incredible things about themselves. Encourage the group to be honest and also specific about that person to show that time has been taken over it.
PASS IT ON
10 mins
As they leave, encourage the group to pass on what they have learnt to their friends through their social media profiles. Ask them to take a photo of themselves, but with ‘I am more than what you see’ written on a piece of paper in front of their face. They could post this on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with instructions of how to join in underneath, so that their friends can do the same.
KEY POINT #1
No matter what the media and culture says, God sees us as beautiful creations. In Psalm 139, it says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that he thinks of us all the time. When he thinks of us and sees us, it is not as someone who can be improved or would be better with some form of product applied. He loves you just as you are and thinks you are incredible.
KEY POINT #2
Words are really powerful - we must remember that the words we speak about ourselves and others have real impact, even more so when it is something personal. Let’s focus on using our words for good with the people around us and in the way that we speak about ourselves.
