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Synopsis
The aptly named fourth album from the world’s biggest boy band
Introduction
This session explores the issue of change, something your young people will be particularly familiar with. In particular, this session looks at how quickly our circumstances can change, and reminds us that God never changes.
THE SESSION
Begin the session by playing a game of football, or volleyball, but with a twist. Split your group into two teams, but only put a few players from each team on the pitch. As the game gets under way, keep changing the situation by substituting players into each team, adding extra players in, reducing the number of players and even changing the goals that the teams are aiming at. Allow your young people to become more and more frustrated by the way the game is being run, without explaining your reasons for making changes. After a suitable length of time, ask your young people how they feel about this game and explain that during this session, we are going to be looking at the theme of ‘changes’.
Say: Sometimes, things happen to us that are unexpected or unplanned. Today, we’re going to be thinking about how we can better cope with those changes.
Track 7: night changes
Play the track, and ask your group whether they can relate to the issue raised in this song. At a very simple level this song speaks of the idea that you begin a big night out with the very best of intentions and pretty high expectations, but in one moment, all of that can be turned around.
Perhaps we have experienced our hopes being dashed in a moment at an entirely dif different level: one bad exam result seeming to ruin your future career plans, a friendship or relationship soured by one mistake, family breakdown or moving house changing your sense of stability and security. In just one moment, everything can changed and you can be left feeling as though your world is in tatters.
Provide a Bible and ask someone to read Hebrews 13:5b-8. Say: No matter what changes we may be experiencing, whether expected or sprung on us from nowhere, Jesus does not change; he is always there and can always be depended upon.
Ask your group to discuss how knowing this helps us to cope when we are going through times of change.
Invite a leader to share one of their own experiences of coping with a time of change, perhaps talking about how something which seemed to disrupt their plans initially turned out to be a positive experience, or how God turned a situation around for the best.
As you bring the session to a close, pray that in every situation your young people find themselves in they would know God’s unchanging presence with them.
