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THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE MARK 3:14
PREPARATION
Find a clip of Mr Bean goes to church, either on DVD or it’s available on YouTube and prepare a way to show it. Find pictures of five or six different types of church building and either print them out or show them on a slide show. You also need Toblerone bars (sufficient segments to give one to each young person) and pre-cut triangles of paper and pens.
MR BEAN
10 mins
Watch a short clip from Mr Bean goes to church. This could be either the section where he falls asleep or doesn’t know where to stand up or sit down. Talk with the group about how we laugh at him not knowing what to do in church. We know this is not real church and just a comedy clip but point out that church can seem a strange place to people with no experience of it. Explain that over the next four sessions we will be trying to work out what Church actually is. Then we can be really well equipped to reimagine church.
SETTING THE SCENE
5 mins
Show the pictures of different kinds of church and ask if these pictures show us what Church really is. Talk to the group about how the pictures just show the building but not what the Church is really like. Talk to the group about the fact that the building is not the Church, the Church is the people.
KEY POINT 1
Our expressions of Church would seem strange in other contexts. Traditional, Western-style church is not the only way to do church. The Greek word ‘ekklesia’ from which our word ‘church’ comes from means ‘called out’. It is nothing to do with buildings, but is used to describe the disciples being ‘called out’ by Jesus, as we will hear about in the Bible story.
THE SMALL PRINT
10 mins
Ask someone in the group to read the Bible verse aloud. Start by saying that the apostles were sent out on a mission. We read about and watch characters in stories and films being trained by their leader and then sent on a mission but here we read about the apostles being with Jesus, learning from him and then being sent out. The word ‘apostle’ literally means ‘sent out’ in Greek.
Read the Bible verse a second time. Ask what we can learn from this. Explain that the Church was started by Jesus as a key part of his ministry on Earth. Belonging to Church is all about a relationship with Jesus (being with him), serving Jesus (being sent out) and doing things in community (the 12 disciples with Jesus). Draw attention to the fact that the apostles were not on their own.
WHAT IS CHURCH?
10 mins
What makes a church? Explain that there are three elements of Church: these can be called ‘up’, ‘in’ and ‘out’. ‘Up’ is worship, ‘in’ is being in community with each other and God, and ‘out’ is reaching out in mission. We should have all three of these elements in church. A fourth element that joins churches together, is connectedness, as Christians are connected in ‘the body of Christ’.
Depending on time you may also like to think about connectedness through time as well as space, as each generation of churches is connected together through history.
KEY POINT 2
Church is a community called to live in a rhythm of worship and mission, to be with Jesus, and to be sent out.
APPLY IT
15 mins
Give out triangles of paper and ask the young people to label the corners of the triangle with the words ‘up’, ‘in’ and ‘out’. Ask them to think about what happens in their own church context with mission, community and worship, and write words or draw pictures to describe these on the paper triangles.
• What sort of worship takes place at your church?
• Does your church have any mission outreach projects?
• What sort of church community activities happen?
• How is your church connected to other churches?
When the triangles are finished share them with the group, talk about what people have written and link them all together with string or glue on a larger piece of paper to show the connectedness of church.
PRAYER
5 mins
Place the joined triangles carefully onto the floor as the young people gather around them. First pray for worship, asking God to inspire us in our worship so that we can express our faith through the worship we bring to God. Secondly pray for our church community, that we may be faithful followers of Christ and make our community a safe, hospitable, welcoming place. Thirdly, pray for mission as we reach out to share our faith with others. Finally pray for the worldwide Church, our connectedness and our Christian brothers and sisters wherever they are.
