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PREPARATION
Invite the team to pray for the girls during the week and ask God to reveal something about his purpose for their lives. Share among yourselves anything you feel God is saying to double check that it’s positive, helpful, scriptural and non-specific (i.e. not the name of who they’ll marry!) before you share it with the group. You will need: large sheets of paper, pens, magazines, and glue. Get ‘I am second’ and ‘You make me brave’ from the links section of the Premier Youthwork website.
SHE’S GOT IT!
10 mins
Give the group large sheets of paper, pens, magazines and glue, and ask them to create in groups of four or five ‘The-girl-who’s-got-IT’. Think about her achievements, reputation, abilities, style etc. Ask them to present their creation and discuss what’s realistic, great or downright terrifying about the girl they’ve come up with! As part of the discussion, read out the three statements of how the boys define their identity as well as the answers to the girl’s questions from the week before. Ask if anything surprises them about the guy’s answers.
KEY POINT
There’s a growing checklist of ideals girls have to live up to in our society, so it’s unsurprising that many of them feel pressured to present a perfect version of themselves with every comment or photo they post. Their need to know ‘why am I here?’ can too easily become ‘am I pretty / good / desirable enough?’ Jesus answers our need for purpose and approval by calling us to the adventure of knowing and doing the Father’s will.
WRONG SCALES
5 mins
Read the following quote out to the group that challenges the way we measure our worth. Encourage them to imagine God saying this to them:
Get off the scales! I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humour and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life. It’s true; the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength or love. Don’t give the scale more power than it has earned...get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful. Steve Maraboli: Life, the Truth and Being Free
YOU’VE GOT IT!
10 mins
Read Luke 10:38-42 and discuss these questions.
• Do you have an answer to the big question ‘why am I here?’ Can we hear it?
• What are your hopes for your life?
• What holds you back from pursuing your dreams for your life?
• Jesus says that Mary has got ‘it’. What’s the ‘it’ he’s talking about?
• What do you think Jesus’ hopes for Mary and Martha are?
• What do you think his hopes for you are?
• How does this compare with the ‘IT’ girl we made earlier?
LOVE YOUR ‘S.H.A.P.E.’
10 mins
This activity focuses on building a picture of each girl’s uniqueness by understanding their S.H.A.P.E. and can be done individually or in pairs. Once they have filled in what they can, discuss together ways that God may want to use their passions, abilities, hopes and experiences to honour him and reveal his love to others. To do this, ask the group to think about their own individual answers to these:
• Spiritual gifts - what has God given you? (look at 1 Corinthians 12:7-11)
• Heart - what are you passionate about?
• Abilities - what do you love doing / what are you good at?
• Personality - what are you like as a person?
• Experiences - what have you been through (positive or challenging) in your life?
I AM SECOND
10mins
Download the interview with pro-surfer Bethany Hamilton from the links section of the Premier Youthwork website. Ask the group:
• What’s your response to Bethany’s story?
• What comes first in her life?
• How is she able not to allow her accident and disability to hold her back in fulfilling her two loves (surfing and honouring Jesus)?
• Bethany considers honouring God to be her purpose. What impact do you think this has on her life and the people around her?
• What holds you back from honouring God in your life?
Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and discuss what honouring God looks like. You may want to touch on issues related to relationships, sexual purity etc. but remain focused on the fact that God has a vision for their life, that will bring them freedom like nothing else. Asking, ‘how does this choice fit in with God’s vision for my life?’ can be a great way to address struggles and temptations.
KEY POINT
We will spend our entire lives discovering God’s purpose for us. This session is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a great beginning that you will need to continue unpacking with them through mentoring and small group work. Inviting girls into this wonderful journey of discovering their purpose and following God’s call is one of the most beautiful privileges and awesome responsibilities of being a youth worker.
BRAVE
15 mins
If possible, take the group outside, somewhere lit by candles or nightlights. A change of location can open up new ways of engaging. This is a chance for them to bring to God their hopes, dreams, insecurities and fears. Remind them that they don’t do this alone. God gives us his spirit to help us know and serve him more every day. We don’t need to feel confident or brave - he makes us brave. We can feel the fear and then do it anyway! Play ‘You make me brave’ by Amanda Cook and Bethel Music (you can find it on the links section of the Premier Youthwork website) as they pray for each other. You may want to have some of these verses handy: Jeremiah 29:11, John 15:16, Philippians 3:8, Philippians 1:6, Psalm 139:13, Micah 6:8, Psalm 20:4.
