PREPARATION
Some plastic bottles and balls, paper and pens, Bibles, the clip from Disney’s Cinderella, available at Premieryouthwork.com/links, and a method of showing the clip.
INTRODUCTION
5 mins
Say: We all have work to do. Whether it’s paid or unpaid, there is usually something that takes up a large chunk of our time. And it’s important to remember that the way we do his work and who we do it for can make a big difference. Our work matters.
Work isn’t only the stuff that people get paid to do. Work is anything we do that isn’t just for fun or recreation. It’s a gift God has given us so we can serve other people. These tasks make someone else’s life easier and more joyful. Yes there will be frustrations, moments of anger and annoyance, and times when we really can’t be bothered, but that comes as part of the bigger package. Think about the shops you visit: you either wait patiently in the queue and deal with the cashier kindly, or you treat them as if they’re beneath you. Or at school: you either see your teachers as people and tasks as experiences that will genuinely help you succeed in life and respect them or you see them as people and experiences that are designed to keep you from all the things you would rather be doing and ignore, mock or disrespect them. The Bible is clear that all the things we do matter to God. This session explores how we can carry out good work.
BIBLE BIT
15 mins
Ask everyone to think about what they get up to during the week, all the activities they might be involved in: school, youth groups, sports clubs, church, worship team, part-time jobs, babysitting for neighbours or families from church, shopping, etc. Ask them which activities they think God is particularly interested in? Why?
Ask someone to read Colossians 3:23–24. Ask the group what stands out for them and why? Highlight that Paul is saying that God isn’t only interested in some of the things they do; not just the things they might do in a church context; not 47 per cent of the things they might do each week, but ‘whatever we do’. And God wouldn’t ask us to do whatever we do with all our hearts if it were not of some significance to him, even if we may not consider it significant at all. You could explain that this passage was directed at slaves, but still holds truth for us today.
DISCUSSION
10 mins
Split the group into small groups and ask them to discuss the following questions before feeding back to the wider group:
• What tasks / activities do you usually pray about?
• Thinking about the activities you do each week, what might you do differently if you think of yourself as working for Jesus?
• What has stopping you from achieving your very best in the work you do?
• Why do you think God is interested in our work?
HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT YOUR WORK?
10 mins
Show the clip from Cinderella from premieryouthwork.com/links. Once you’ve watched the clip, discuss as a group how Cinderella was singing as she went about her mundane and boring tasks. She probably didn’t want to be cleaning the floor, especially for people who were so cruel and ungrateful, yet she completed her tasks with cheerfulness and dedication.
Ask them how they can relate this to their daily front lines. What is their attitude like when they are getting ready for and going to school? When someone in their dance class is struggling with a step, do they complain about having to go over it again and again or do they help the person who is struggling? What difference might it make if we remember that God is there with us?
Say: we all have work to do, and that we can show others we care about them by going about our work in a particular way, so we should work hard, energetically, competently and carefully. If we believe in God, this can speak volumes about our faith to those around us. If we don’t believe in God, this can still make a huge difference to other people by making their lives easier and happier.
KEY POINT
In order to do good work in all areas of our lives, we need to have a positive attitude, and a desire to please God and help others.
WORKING FOR THE BOSS?
10 mins
From the last discussion, we know that how we work on our front lines matters. Ask how and why the world expects people to work. Explain that we don’t simply mirror the world’s attitudes to work, causing ourselves and others to become exhausted and burnt out.
God created us to care for others and the world we live in, and work plays a big part in doing exactly that. Yes, we do work hard, but we are working for God. He might be our boss, but first and foremost he is our father, who knows that there is more to life than work. This is why he commands us to celebrate a Sabbath rest with him as well as to work with all our hearts (you could look briefly at Exodus 20:8–11 here). Ask how the young people see the idea of a Sabbath. Do they have a day when they rest from their work? What does rest from work look like for them? How might they build this idea into their lives?
RESPONSE
10 mins
Get the group to reflect on their front lines and the work they do day by day, in particular something they find challenging that makes it difficult to do good work. If people are willing, invite them to share their challenges and write them down on a piece of paper, then roll their pieces of paper up and put them in a bottle. Once the group has finished sharing, place all the bottles at one end of the room, arranged like a set of skittles or bowling pins.
Give everyone a go at bowling down the bottles of problems. Pray for the group afterwards, asking God to help them knock down the obstacles they face on their front lines, and to empower and excite them to do good work in the weeks’ ahead.
This study was put together by the team at LICC who focus on empowering Christians to be confident, fruitful disciples in God’s world.
