Elijah: Session 1

Download the PDF here.

 

Gathering time

10 minutes

As the young people arrive, serve them the refreshments you have provided. As you eat and drink together, chat about the young people’s lives. During the chat ask them what the hungriest they have ever been is, but make sure you are sensitive to those who come from poorer backgrounds and may be hungry more often than others.

 

Odd one out

5 minutes

Have a ‘find the odd one out’ quiz. Read the items on the list and see if the group members can find the odd one out. The answer is in italics and the reason in the brackets. You can offer a prize if you want.

Flour, butter, eggs, sugar, iron (although a vital mineral for our health, it is not a vital ingredient for a basic sponge cake).

Cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, carrot (fruit not a vegetable).

Peanut, almond, walnut, brazil nut (a legume not a nut).

Wolverine, Spider-man, The Hulk, Superman (DC not Marvel).

Heat, fuel, oxygen, water (water can put out fire, not make it).

You can add as many more as you can think of, or have time for. How to make fire links with today’s Bible passage.

 

Bible exploration

15 minutes

You will need: pens; paper; optional digital camera; Bible commentaries and / or Bible maps would be great to have if possible

The Bible exploration, chatting together and creative response hold together as one activity. Your time, numbers and resources are the only limit to how advanced you want your newspaper to be. 1 Kings 17-18 is a long passage. Divide the young people into smaller groups to look at the following sections:

1 Kings 17:1-6 - Elijah and God

1 Kings 17:7-16 - Elijah and widow

1 Kings 17:17-24 - Elijah and widow’s son

1 Kings 18:1-6 - Drought in the land

1 Kings 18:7-15 - Elijah and Obadiah

1 Kings 18:16-38 - Elijah and the prophets of Baal

1 Kings 18:39-46 - The end of the drought

Explain that you all work for The Israel Times, the best newspaper at the time of King Ahab (or it would have been if newspapers existed back then). It is everyone’s role to create an edition of The Israel Times recounting the events of recent days and the drought of the past few years.

In their groups, they should read their specific passage and think like reporters, photographers and comic strip creators. As they read they should take note of the important facts, interesting quotes and how the events affected the people mentioned.

 

Chatting together

10 minutes

As the groups read and think about their passages, ask them the following questions. Can they find any answers from their specific part of the story?

• Was Elijah a little cheeky asking a widow for some food?
• How do you think the widow felt?
• What was Ahab’s problem with Elijah?
• Why was the son so important to the widow?
• If Israel was doing well, why couldn’t they have more than one god?

 

Creative response

15 minutes

You will need: pens; paper; pencils; art materials; digital camera (optional); recent newspapers (be aware of the stories within them - use these as a guide, the group are not to read them); lining paper folded into the size of a single spread newspaper (four pages)

You could create a simple cut and paste hand written newspaper, or a computer designed and printed version, to share with the wider church community. If one, or more, of the group use desktop publishing software, they can scan and type in the content and create a digital newspaper.

Explain that papers, TV and online news never reveal all or only the facts. There is always an angle. What angle does your newspaper take? Does it have multiple angles: from supporters of Jezebel, the humanitarian angle, the righteous religious angle. Explore each of these as you create articles, cartoons, pictures and infographics for your newspaper.

Let your group use their talents, if they draw let them do the cartoons and ‘photos’. If they write, give them an article. If they are kinaesthetic learners, then layout of the newspaper will be their thing. Have them work as a team, deciding who does what.

Some ideas around what should be in the newspaper are: main overview -the headline piece; an interview with the widow, Obadiah or the king’s advisor; a quote from Ahab, the queen or a prophet of Baal; a weather report; maps and pictures; an opinion piece.

Use the group divisions from Bible exploration to cover the complete story, from the drought’s beginning to end. It would be good to discuss the headline, and ‘angle’ of the headlines and opinion piece all together. This is the easiest way for the group to respond to this passage. What does this passage tell us about God and the people of Israel?

 

Prayer

5 minutes

Make sure you finish with a specific time of prayer. With a major creative project going on it is easy for prayer to get missed at the end. You could point out that we can choose to follow God and won’t be persecuted for it in the UK, unlike the prophets of God in today’s reading. Have a time of silent or open prayer and thank God for the freedom to worship and pray for strength and freedom for those who are persecuted when they make the choice to follow God.