Adaptable Meeting Guide: Ezekiel: A Leader who was set apart

THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE Ezekiel 2:1-11

BACKGROUND PREPARATION Print out Ezekiel facts on separate sheets of paper, collect a flipchart or large paper and pens, whipped cream, marshmallows and golden syrup.

Don’t take it lying down!

10 mins

Ask for a volunteer and tell them to lie on their left side. Introduce Ezekiel by giving four people a fact to read out:

• Born in Jerusalem, his Dad was a priest which means he was in the priestly line.

• He was an ‘exile’ in Babylon - displaced or moved from his Jewish home country, living in a foreign land.

• Babylon was the capital of Babylonia, a wealthy and powerful city.

• God spoke to Ezekiel in tangible ways, with visions like the valley of dry bones.

Then say: Ezekiel was seriously obedient, God told him to lie on his side for 390 days! (At this point see how your volunteer is doing.)

New Babylon?

10 mins

Say: Ezekiel was obedient to God’s bizarre requests in a nation where people didn’t follow God and would have thought he was a bit mad. The Babylonians influenced the Jews living there, so his own people and culture became corrupted by one which had given up on God, and so they thought Ezekiel was crazy. (Tell your volunteer they can get up now!) Then ask the group to discuss whether our culture is similar to the Babylonians or the Jews or both? Then ask what the defining characteristics of our culture are. Get a volunteer to write these on a large sheet of paper, e.g. consumerism, individualism, technology, binge drinking.

Consumerism

15 mins

Get out the whipped cream, golden syrup and marshmallows and ask for a volunteer. Get someone else to stuff this volunteer’s mouth with as much sweet stuff as possible and make them eat it as they call out different things we are encouraged to ‘consume’ e.g. phones, trainers, hair products etc. If you are worried they may be sick or want to laugh at an adult, get a leader to do it! After the mayhem has died out make the point that consumerism is all about getting more and more stuff for ourselves. This is not a healthy way to live – it will make you sick. If you think about the things that our friends want for their lives and futures it’s always more stuff – money, clothes, cars, houses. Believe it or not, these things don’t bring happiness.

Ask: how can we live differently to our friends in this area? Once the discussion has ended say: a really helpful tool for living differently is the Tearfund Rhythms app, which gives you tasks each day to help you live more generously, gradually changing your attitude.

Individualism

10 mins

Say: this is linked to consumerism because it is all about the self, selfish ambition and being selfsufficient. Ask the group to discuss what practical things they could do to live like this and break individualism in our lives, in really practical ways (E.g. sharing our problems, praying for others, putting others before ourselves in everyday situations, letting someone get on a bus before us.)

Technology

10 mins

Ask: who checks their phone more than five times a day? Who watches more than an hour of TV a day? Who can’t eat a meal without ‘instagramming’ it? Say: our lives are heavily influenced by technology. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but how many of your friends use social media to slag people off or boast about something? Ask the group to discuss how we can live differently on the internet. Ask everyone to write in their phone one technology related challenge e.g. a Facebook fast, a ‘love Monday’ or ‘thank you today for...’ to change Twitter into a positive tool.

LIFESTYLE LEADERSHIP

5 mins

Ask someone to read Ezekiel 2:1-11. Say: Ezekiel was given a task to show the people how they could live a better life, a life in all its fullness (John 10:10). Often you don’t need to tell people to change but you need to lead by example, leading with your actions and life choices. This is the way that we are all called to lead, even if you don’t feel like you are; you will be a lifestyle leader just by the way you live your life. In order to see our nation changed we need to start stepping up.

PRAYER

5 minsA

sk someone to pray for the group, that as individuals we will live lives that lead others to Jesus.

KEY POINT #1

Ezekiel was called by God to his own people. We often think of missionaries as people who go but Ezekiel was a stay missionary. For most of us it may be physically easier to stay where we are but mentally and emotionally it is really hard to be a missionary in our own contexts. It is so easy to get sucked into the way our culture is and really hard to go against the flow. We’re going to focus on a few characteristics of our culture and see how we can live differently.