Your mission, should you choose to accept it

Transcription

1 Mission 2 Your mission, should you choose to accept it Key Passage: Exodus 3:1 4:20 Key aims To realise that God speaks and listens and will give us everything we need To continue to welcome the young people, particularly any that are new today Key story God meets with Moses and gives him the mission to bring his people out of Egypt. God gives Moses everything he will need to carry out his mission. Agents Briefing 10 minutes If you are participating in the Spy Base challenge and/or the Hieroglyphs activity with the rest of the holiday club, then you could continue on with this activity (see the explanations on page 60). If not, use another icebreaker activity to help the group continue to get to know one another better. Be mindful of those young people who have not come with a friend and/or are new today. For example, as today s theme is about communication, invite the group to play a game of Chinese whispers. Ask everyone to sit in a circle. Ask each young person to think of a sentence which includes their name and one thing that they like or enjoy doing (eg Hi, my name is James and I am mad about watching Arsenal play football ). Give each person a chance to have a go at passing their message round the circle by whispering their message to the person on their right and then the message continues being whispered to each person in turn. Ask the last person to say the message out loud and see how accurate it is. Active Agents 45 minutes You will need: Bibles, pens, paper, flip chart paper It may be useful to participate in the activities with the younger children in this section, so that the main Bible passage is discovered and the young people continue to be part of the whole group. However, if you are not joining with the rest of the club, this is the time to introduce the bible passage and the key theme of God communicating with his people. Bible focus: Exodus 3:1 4:20

2 This passage could be read directly from the Bible, using the group to read out loud, or you could use the meditation on Resource Sheet Mission 2. Alternatively, use the following script to retell the main points of the story. Tell the group to listen carefully as there will be questions following the story! Bible story So, where did we leave Moses, God s rescuer, yesterday? He had been rescued by God and was living in a land called Midian. He had a wife called Zipporah and a son called Gershom. Moses was a shepherd and looked after Jethro s sheep (Jethro was Zipporah s dad). One day, Moses was out with the sheep, wandering around the desert when he came to a mountain, called Sinai. This was the mountain of God! The sheep were roaming about all over the place and Moses was trying to round them all up when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It wasn t a sheep, or a wolf coming to attack his flock. It was a bush. It was a bush that was on fire! Moses went up to it to get a better look. He d seen bushes on fire before if lightning hit one during a storm, it would burn brightly in the gloom but this one was different. As Moses got closer, he realised what was different. Although the bush was on fire, the branches and the leaves weren t burning! Just like the fire on the screen, but this wasn t projected it was real fire! Moses stared at the strange sight. But then, it got stranger. Moses, Moses! God spoke to him! Can you believe it? God had rescued Moses and now he was talking with him. Moses replied, Here I am. Don t come any closer, God said, because you re standing on holy ground. Take off your sandals. I am the God of your ancestors! Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God, and he took off his sandals. God carried on speaking: I have seen how unhappy my people are in Egypt, the tough times they are going through. I know how much they hurt. I will rescue them from Egypt and give them a new home a country where there s lots of space to grow food and keep animals. Go, Moses! You are to lead my people out of Egypt. Moses was really scared! I can t do that! he cried. I m not a great man, I can t go to the King of Egypt, the Pharaoh, and tell him to let the Israelites go! God knew that Moses was worried. I ll be with you, he said. I ll give you the words to say. I AM WHO I AM. When you speak to them, tell them, I AM sent me. They ll believe you and follow you.

3 Then God told Moses what to say to the Israelites. He was going to send Moses to rescue them, and he would be with Moses every step of the way. But Moses was still nervous. He didn t want to go, but God showed him things that persuaded him that God would be there, including a wooden walking stick that God turned into a snake! Finally God promised that Moses brother Aaron would go with him to see Pharaoh. Moses would be accompanied by both God and Aaron! God had given Moses all he needed! So God had spoken to Moses in a special way and given him the rescue mission! God didn t expect Moses to be completely unprepared. He told Moses what to say and gave him everything he needed. What s next for Moses and the rescue mission? We ll have to wait and see! Discussion Lead a discussion, using the following questions as a guide: How do you think Moses felt when he saw the burning bush? How do you think Moses felt when he realised God was speaking to him? How did God try to make Moses feel better about going on the mission? What do you think the name I AM means? Explain that Moses was just one person and had little confidence in his own abilities, and yet with God s help he played an important part in God s plan of rescuing the Israelites from slavery. End by asking the young people to think about how it makes them feel to know that one person can play such an important part in God s plan and make such a difference. Let s change the world Ask the young people to make smaller groups or get into pairs. Tell them they have to decide how they would use one person to change the world. They now have five minutes to decide what they will give this person in order to complete the task. They can have anything they want; money is no object. When their time is up, the groups can use a flip chart to help present their ideas. Before they start, explain to the groups that the key to this being effective is to really believe what they are describing. They should try to make their idea as interesting as possible. Let the other young people award points out of ten for each idea. At the end, remind the group that today s Bible story tells us how one man, a humble shepherd in the desert, made a big difference in the world as a result of following God. Recap

4 Sum up the main points of the story and link to today s theme: God knew how unhappy his people were in Egypt, and took the next step to rescue them. God spoke to Moses and he listened to him too. Moses was able to tell God how he felt. God knew what Moses needed, and he made sure that Moses got everything that he would need when he went back to Egypt a message for the Israelites, a special walking stick, his brother to speak to the Pharaoh because Moses was too nervous. God speaks to us today too! And he listens. We can talk to him anytime and know that he listens to us. He also gives us everything we need to do the things that he has in store for us. Going Undercover 45 minutes including refreshment time You will need: Bibles No, not me! Comment that Moses was called by God for a big task, but he did not feel worthy of this. Ask for volunteers to read one verse each to remind the group how Moses responded to God s call. Exodus 3:11 (I am not a great man.) Exodus 4:1 (The people won t believe me.) Exodus 4:10 (I am not a skilled speaker.) Exodus 4:13 (Couldn t you ask someone else?) Ask each person to consider how they would feel if God asked them to do something big to change the world. Imagine what it would be like if he asked you to go and persuade a world leader who was keeping another nation as slaves to let them go! Drama Divide the group into smaller groups and invite each person to share their thoughts about how they would feel if God asked them to change the world. Ask each group to come up with a scenario in which God was asking one of them to do such a big task. Encourage them to consider how God might communicate with people today to ask them to do this. For example, with Moses he used a burning bush might he today use modern technology in some way? Give the groups a few minutes to share their thoughts and come up with a short sketch highlighting their ideas. Take time to watch each sketch and discuss the ideas.

5 Let the young people discuss any issues that may have arisen during these sketches. One issue might be about God working in his time frame and not ours. We live in an accelerated culture with instant communication. We need to remember that God hears instantly but his response may not be instant or what we are looking for. Share your story This is a great time for you or another adult to share a story from your own experience of how God has spoken to you and how you have answered his call on your life. You might like to consider inviting someone else from your church or Christian community to come in especially to share a related story. Agents Are Go! 25 minutes You might like your group to join in with the wider group again at this point, in which case you could pray during the debrief time at the end. If you are not re-joining the younger children, take this time to focus on response and prayer. Just a minute Explain that you are going to give the whole group one minute to name as many people who have made a difference in the world. When you say Go, they can shout out answers and you will see how many they can name. You might like to ask another leader to write down the answers. After one minute, see how many answers they have given. It is likely that they will have given the names of famous people and perhaps biblical characters. Comment that there are many ordinary people who have made a difference in the world, perhaps in small ways, simply by the way they have lived. Response Challenge the young people to take a moment to consider how they are making a difference to the world. Have a brief time of silence and then invite some responses to this question. Focus on the idea that each one of us can make a difference, albeit in small ways, simply by seeking to live according to God s will. Prayer Remind the group about how God communicated with Moses and comment that God also talks with us today.

6 In the story we heard how Moses told God how he felt about feeling unworthy for the task God was calling him to. Ask each person to think about what they would like to say to God about themselves. Affirm that God listens to us, just as he did to Moses. Explain that you are going to say a short prayer, during which you will leave gaps for each person to complete in their minds. Say the prayer once, so that the group has a little time to think about how they would complete the sentences in the prayer. Then say the prayer again. Thank you, God, for listening to us and for speaking to us. Thank you, God, for helping me when Thank you, God, for looking after me when Thank you, God, for always being there. Amen.