January 2018 Please do not distribute without permission New Hope website: www.multiplyinghealing.com 1
The Process New Hope groups are small groups of 4-6 people. They are designed to allow participants to tell their stories in a safe environment with others who have also experienced their own hurts. In a New Hope group, wounded people can experience community, develop a sense of purpose, and increase their faith as they learn about God s purpose in this world. The seven sessions are designed to be used once a week over a period of seven weeks. The first session acts as a vision-casting session for the group. It introduces the idea of a journey that begins in wounded-ness and culminates in a place of new beginnings, and it offers participants the opportunity to embark on this healing journey towards new beginnings together. In this first session participants are also introduced to the story of Joseph a man betrayed by his family, wrongfully imprisoned, and forgotten, only to see his life become a means of saving many people. In each subsequent session participants will be reminded of the vision statement from the end of Joseph s story: Do not be afraid. You meant to harm me, but God used what has happened for good not just for me but so that many other people could be saved. Through this reminder, it is hoped that wounded people can begin to see the possibility that what has happened to them could be useful in some way to help others. Each week, group members are encouraged to share personal stories that follow a progression of remembering happy times, talking about hard times, talking about hopelessness and feeling forgotten, toward bringing troubles to God, and then asking for purpose and a new beginning. Group members are given opportunities to share, listen, be listened to, celebrate and lament. Woven into this experience is a set of biblical stories that takes them on the journey that begins with God s perfect plan for the world. The stories then tell how for us, sin and suffering entered the world, and how God planned for Jesus to take on our sin and suffering and give us a new beginning. Participants are asked to share with others outside the group what they ve learned each week. There are two reasons for this: by giving away what they ve been given, participants begin to find purpose, and they become familiar with a very simple discipleship approach that helps them disciple others even as they are being initially discipled thus multiplying the impact of God s healing Good News! Because this is a key component of the process, leaders are reminded to do everything they can to help participants internalize and reproduce both the stories and the process. Storytelling needs to be oral (not read), then practiced so that each participant can tell the story themselves. The process should follow the same three-part structure each week: looking back at what has happened before, looking up to find what God has for them, and looking forward to what is next. This process can establish the foundation for a new group of believers who meet regularly. Telling Life Stories Healing occurs as people tell their stories to others who listen. Psychologists note that the way people tell their stories often gives clues as to where they are in the healing process. As people re- 2
craft and re-tell their own stories over time, they play an active part in their own healing. It is often difficult initially for people to begin this very important step of sharing their stories, so this curriculum attempts to create a safe environment in which people can share. Participants are always given the option of sharing either a personal story or a third-party story; but in either case, they are listened to by another person who asks them simple, open-ended questions that invite further exploration of feelings. In the process of sharing life stories, the participants experience the healing effects of sharing their stories with good listeners while learning to become good listeners themselves. Weaving Stories Together Diane Langberg, an experienced Christian psychologist, in her book, Suffering and the Heart of God, (2015) expounds three vital elements for healing heart wounds: 1) ongoing connection and community; 2) a sense of purpose and meaning; and 3) faith reminders of God s presence even when he doesn t seem to be there. As people tell their own stories of suffering in a safe environment and feel validated in their experience, they forge a healing community. As they learn appropriate Bible stories, they are reminded of God s presence in their midst. More importantly, as participants learn Bible stories, internalize them, and tell them to others, the Bible stories are woven into their own stories, creating a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. In so doing, participants embody Joseph s words that what was intended for harm, God uses for good, so that many people can be saved. (Genesis 50:20) Comments from Counselors and Church Planters Stressful events can cause a wide variety of negative consequences on a person, including mental and emotional difficulties. These difficulties, or Heart Wounds, can create barriers to the Gospel; that is, they can seriously hinder people from properly hearing and responding to the Gospel. The American Bible Society describes trauma (Heart Wounds) as causing a barrier to hearing the good news of God s love. Sometimes these difficulties, or heart wounds, can take the form of mental illness. Individuals with mental illness should be encouraged to seek professional help; however, non-professionals using basic support skills can also help many people who have experienced heart wounds. New Hope gives people some basic supportive skills to help them listen and care for people who have been through a stressful event. Not everyone is ready to participate in a New Hope group. Some people who have experienced emotional or physical wounds may not be ready to participate in a group. They should see a doctor or mental health professional. When gathering people together for a New Hope group, each participant should be able to have an interactive conversation that is not entirely focused on themselves or their own problems. They must be able to tell the majority of their heart wound story and be able to calm themselves down after telling their story. You should feel confident that the person can go home and be relatively calm at home after telling their story in a session. If a participant begins in a group but the facilitator realizes that the person can only talk about their own problems without listening to others also, the facilitator may want to suggest that the participant re-enter a group at a later time. In the same way that not everyone is ready to participate in a New Hope group, not everyone is ready to facilitate their own New Hope group. In addition to participating in a previous New Hope group, a new facilitator should be given additional information including information on self-care, mental health, and the theory behind the development of New Hope. When facilitating a New Hope group, the leader should be able to have a conversation that is focused entirely on the group members without being distracted by their own heart wounds. They must be able to listen 3
effectively and be comfortable discussing difficult issues. Even though they would not necessarily be discussing their own heart wounds in a group that they are facilitating, they should have been able to demonstrate the ability to talk about their past in a previous group and to engage in appropriate self-care. The assumption should be that someone who is willing to lead a New Hope is healthy enough and has the appropriate skills unless proven otherwise. Keep in mind that these initial New Hope sessions do not address specific traumas that people experience. They are not meant to---some of those may be addressed in later sessions (see supplemental sets on the website). These initial seven sessions are meant to lay a strong groundwork to which people can be referred later as they work through specific trauma. They are also meant to give lay people the basic skills to walk alongside someone through listening well to their story and responding appropriately with God s Word. Key to Sessions This symbol followed by green type indicates an activity for the group. 4
A yellow block indicates the Story for that session. Please learn this story before the session and tell it orally. Do not memorize the story; tell it in your own words, but retain the main points of the story. Information in bold face in the story is very important and should be included even if you adjust other parts of the stories. 5
1. Looking back Getting to Know one another (Caring and Sharing) In this first session, the leader should be prepared to take the lead in introductions and helping everyone feel comfortable in the group. Facilitator: Why we are here? We are here to talk about heart wounds, and how to find healing and freedom from past hurts. First, let's talk about Heart Wounds: Interactive exercise: Let s imagine you cut your arm You may choose to have two volunteers sit in chairs. You can bind one arm or leg to show that one has a physical wound. The other person has a heart wound. As you talk about the respective differences, refer to the volunteers in the chair. This will become a good reference when you review this material. Can you see it? What happens if you ignore it? When you go to take care of it- what is that like? (Painful) How long does it take for it to get better? After it is healed- can you see the cut? Now let s think about Heart Wounds (things that hurt inside). What do you think a heart wound is? What are some examples? Can you see a heart wound like you can see a physical wound? What happens if you ignore it? When you go to take care of it what is that like? (Painful) How long does it take for it to get better? After it is healed can you see the heart wound? We see that physical wounds and heart wounds are similar and require the same attention. We can picture what happens when a physical wound is healed, but we may not recognize what happens as a heart wound is healed. So, what does it look like for a heart wound to be healed? We are going to do an activity to give you a picture of what that looks like. 6
3 Villages: Something happens that gives you a heart wound. Something inside of you has been hurt, lost, or taken away. Maybe something happened to you. Maybe you lost someone. Many things can lead to a heart wound. You may find that you have symptoms of a heart wound: you start having trouble sleeping, you have nightmares, you begin watching everything around you, you feel on edge There is a journey that we need to take to experience healing. (The facilitator takes the group on the journey with him/her by walking around the room and stopping at a certain place for each village. You may want to pick up a heavy rock to visually show the weight of the trauma as you travel through the villages. You may also want to choose a spot for the Village of New Beginnings that is impossible to get to without going through the Village of No Hope, so the participants will see that it is necessary to go through all three villages in order to get to the last one.) The first stop that we take on our journey is the Village of Denial and Anger. In this village: It may be hard to believe that the hurtful thing happened Or we may be overwhelmed by it you try to avoid it but it keeps coming into your mind. Maybe you have nightmares and try to avoid sleeping We may feel numb Once the loss settles in we may feel angry We may be angry with God, at other people, or at ourselves. We can feel out of control and we may even want to take revenge (If you are carrying a rock you may show this by pretending to hit someone with the rock. Be sure to do this appropriately so as not to frighten someone.) This stage can last a month or maybe longer Sometimes someone gets stuck in this village (The facilitator leaves someone there as the rest of the group continues on ) The second stop that we make on our journey is the Village of No Hope. In this village: You may feel sad and hopeless; you can t imagine things ever getting better; you do not want to do anything. (If you are carrying a rock, you may show that it is weighing you down.) You may feel lonely and neglected This is the darkest place of this journey At this time, it is hard to see that anything good could ever happen Usually lasts 6 to 15 months Someone gets stuck in this village. (The facilitator leaves someone here ) Someone goes back for a short time. (The facilitator shows the back and forth movement between the villages.) But one day, something inside of you comes alive again This is the Village of the New Beginnings. 7
You are taking your life back the hurt is not in control of you anymore, you are free from the hurt and you start living your life again. The weight you have been carrying around it is not on your shoulders anymore, you have been able to put it down. You are not the same as you were before but you have a new beginning. (If you are carrying a rock, you may put it down. Don t hide it because you don t want to show that it is gone completely you should still be able to see it, but you have been released from its weight.) Do you want to get to this village? Yes Do you want to get there straight from when hurt? Yes When you cut your arm do you want a magic cream that will instantly heal the cut? Yes Is there a cream like that? No It is the same with a heart wound. We all walk on this journey, some faster than others, in order to get to the Village of New Beginnings. What are some of the magic creams that people try to make you use? Just get over it let it go Pray, pray more It s God s will just accept it What are some of the magic creams that people try to use on themselves? They pretend that everything is better. They can try to hurt others. There are no shortcuts to the Village of New Beginnings. The facilitator should physically show a barrier between the Village of Anger and Denial and the Village of New Beginnings. But what if you could walk on this journey with someone else? How would that change your journey? These sessions are about walking together on this path to New Beginnings. We will find people who will walk with us and listen to us, and with whom we can walk and listen to. We will also find that God will walk on this journey with us. We must walk on this journey, but there are many things we can do to help us move from village to village. The facilitator may want to show this by walking through the villages again with someone, and if appropriate, with a 3 rd person representing God s presence with us also.. 2. Looking Up Can I tell you a story about someone who also went on a journey and experienced suffering and pain? Tell the following story twice. Joseph Genesis 37 50 Many years ago, there lived a man named Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, but one of his sons, Joseph, was his favorite. Jacob showed how much he loved Joseph by giving him a coat of many colors. Joseph also knew he was special and he had dreams from God that showed that one day he would rule over his family. Because of all these things, Joseph s brothers didn t like him at all. One day Jacob sent Joseph s brothers to watch his sheep, and sometime later he said to Joseph, Go check on your brothers. So, Joseph went out to the field, but as he was a long way off his brothers saw him coming and they said to each other, Let s get rid of this dreamer once and for all. So when 8
he arrived they threw him down a dry well. Sometime later they saw some traders going by on their way to Egypt, so they took Joseph out of the well and sold him to the traders as a slave. Then they took Joseph s coat and put animal blood on it and gave the coat to Jacob. Jacob believed his son had died and mourned his death. But Joseph went with the traders to Egypt where they sold him as a slave to one of the king s officials. In that household God was with Joseph, and Joseph succeeded in everything he did. Soon the master put him in charge of his entire household. But Joseph was also very handsome, and the master s wife became fond of him. She tempted him to sleep with her, but Joseph refused and ran away. He said, How can I sin against God and my master like this? But one day the woman caught him and took his robe. When the husband came home, she told him, That servant of yours tried to rape me. The master believed his wife and so he threw Joseph into jail even though Joseph hadn t done anything wrong. But even in the jail God was with Joseph, and Joseph succeeded in everything he did. Soon the jail s guard put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. There was a servant of the king who was a prisoner in the jail. One day he had a dream that he didn t understand. He told Joseph his dream, but Joseph said, I can t interpret dreams only God can. God told Joseph what the dream meant. Joseph told the servant, and sure enough, the dream came true just as Joseph had said. As the servant was going back to serve the king, Joseph said, Please remember me when you re released and talk to the king about me. But the servant didn t remember Joseph when he went back, and Joseph stayed in jail for two more years. One day two years later the king had a dream that he couldn t interpret. In fact, he asked all his wise men and magicians, but none of them knew what it meant, and finally the servant remembered Joseph. He said, I had a dream in jail two years ago, and there was a man who could interpret my dream. Maybe he can interpret yours. So, the king sent for Joseph, and when he arrived he told Joseph the dream. Joseph said, I can t interpret dreams, but God can. And Joseph told the king what his dream meant. He said, You ll have seven years of plenty, but then you ll have seven years of famine. During the years of plenty you ll need to gather all the food you can and store it so you ll have some during the years of famine. The king heard this and said, Who is like this Joseph who has the spirit of God on him like this? And the king put Joseph in charge of storing and gathering the food to get ready for the famine. In fact, he made Joseph second in command of all of Egypt. And so for seven years Joseph stored food, and then the famine began just as Joseph had predicted. The famine spread past Egypt and even into the homeland where Joseph s father and brothers were living. Jacob and Joseph s brothers soon didn t have food to eat. And Jacob said, I heard that there s food in Egypt. He told the brothers to go to Egypt for food, so they went. When they arrived, they were brought in front of Joseph himself. When they were brought into the room Joseph recognized his brothers immediately, but they didn t recognize him because he looked like an Egyptian and he spoke the Egyptian language. His brothers came to him twice for food, and Joseph gave them food each time. As he was talking to them he asked them about where they came from and how their father was, and he became very emotional. Finally, the second time his brothers came, Joseph began to weep. 1 He sent all the servants out of the room, and he faced his brothers. In their language he said, It is I, it s Joseph, the one you sold into slavery. I didn t die. When his brothers recognized Joseph, they were frightened. But Joseph said to them, Don t be afraid. You meant to harm me. But God has used what has happened for good. Not just for 1 Showing people weeping and expressing emotion in the Bible stories is very important in order to release participants to feel that expressing emotion is normal and helpful. 9
me, but so that many other people can be saved. Now go back to our country, get our father, all your families, and come back to Egypt to live with me. That s what his brothers did they went back to their homeland and told Jacob, Your son is alive. They brought their families, cattle and livestock, and went back to Egypt to live with Joseph. Walk the group back through the Joseph story by beginning the story and asking What happened next? letting different people tell parts of the story that they remember. Dramatize this story, scene by scene. Be sure each person can tell what happened in the scene before moving on to the next scene. Ask if one person can tell the story all the way through. Assure everyone that the group will help each other and it s ok if, when you are re-telling the story, you ask for help from the group. Ask the following questions 2 What did you like about the story? What do you find difficult to accept in this story? What does this story show us about God? What does the story tell us about people? If this story is true how does it change your thinking? / What does this story mean for your life this week? Healing Activity Healing activities are meant to solidify the concepts in the story or to intentionally help a person work through their feelings, make decisions to move forward, or help create a healing community around them. Every lesson includes a specific healing activity and then an opportunity to discuss the activity with a partner. Be sure to show that these healing activities are important. You may choose to emphasize this spatially by changing positions in the room or go to another area when you do them. Introduction to the First Healing Activity: This activity sets the stage for successful healing groups as people commit to walking alongside each other on the path to healing. The facilitators should also participate in each healing activity along with the group. Remember the magic creams and how they did not help? What are some ground rules that you would like to have in this group as we meet each week? (Be sure that the following rules make it into the commitment in some form) What is said in the group stays in the group be a trustworthy person. In some cultures, this requires a culturally appropriate example. For example, you may need to say Do not tell anyone else s story. We are here to listen, not to give advice. If it was as easy as giving a small piece of advice, you would have been healed already and you would not be here. We need to allow each other the opportunity to walk the journey. We are all different we all need to walk our own journey. 2 These questions are really categories of questions. You may adjust the wording so that your audience will understand them better. For example, the last question can be asked in several different ways, including What is there to obey in this story?, How does this story change your life or your actions this week? Because this story is true, what do you need to do differently in your life? The most important thing is that the response should be specific and personal. 10
Drawing a picture/map of the 3 villages: Remembering that we are traveling to a place of New Beginnings is an important step to healing; it is easy to completely focus on our Heart Wounds and forget that it is possible to move to a place of healing. Today we learned about a journey that takes us through 3 Villages; Anger and Denial, No Hope, and finally New Beginnings. We have also learned that you will be a different person when you reach that third village and that you may have scars from your heart wounds. What would it be like for you to reach the Village of New Beginnings? What would happen for you in that village? Draw a picture or a map of the 3 Villages making sure to imagine what that third village, the Village of New Beginnings, would be like for you. This might include laughing with friends, sleeping at night with no nightmares, or working at a job you like. Healing Activity Review: After completing the activity, move into your small group, or break into partners, and discuss what your picture/map. If you do not want to talk about what you drew, discuss what it was like to draw that picture/map (i.e., they do not have to discuss what they wrote but they may choose to discuss what it was like for them to draw that picture/map.) Do not push someone to share who does not want to. 3. Looking forward Vision Reminder Is it possible that we could come to see things the way Joseph did when he said to those who had hurt him, Do not be afraid. You meant to harm me, but God used what has happened for good not just for me but so that many other people could be saved. People Think about someone in your life that could benefit from hearing this story about Joseph. Practice Joseph story Do you think you could tell this story to someone else? To whom would you tell it? As we practice this story, think about the person to whom you would tell it. Walk the group back through the Joseph story by beginning the story and asking What happened next? letting different people tell parts of the story that they remember. Then ask participants to get into twos or threes and practice telling the story and asking the questions to each other. Review what has been done in this session. Commissioning Pray for the upcoming week and for the people who will hear this story. 11
1. Looking back Worship (if appropriate) How was your week? How did it go when you shared the Joseph story? Pray for each other and those who heard the story. Learning to Listen Listening Skit This skit doesn t have to be scripted, because we ve all seen these kinds of listeners before, and have probably been like this ourselves at times. You can ask for volunteers and practice this skit before the session. It may be difficult to find enough people to act each of these parts, so if you can t, just use two people; one to be the person going through a difficult time, and the second to be the listeners. The second person can wear different scarves, hats, etc. and come and go from the stage area to show that they are different people. Some of the different kinds of listeners can also be combined into one; however, make sure that the good listener is distinct from the others and clearly recognizable. The good listener should be the last listener in the skit. Introduction: Listening is a skill and like other skills, it is something that we need to practice to be able to do it well. Most people think they are good listeners but we all have bad habits that interfere with our listening, and many times we don t even realize that we are doing it! Think of conversations as being either me, we, or you focused. We focused conversations are the most common, they are a balance between the two people and most people are good at this type of conversation. Me and You focused conversations tilt towards only one person; having a You focused conversation is the skill that we are going to learn about and practice because it is the most difficult. Actors One person going through a difficult time. This person should sit in a chair with an empty chair beside them. Each listener should come and sit and begin a conversation. The person should tell a short story of their difficulty or tragedy. Several other listeners. As each listener comes to listen, they should ask What is wrong? and then proceed to act according to their character described below. the busy one taking other phone calls, not listening, always distracted by something pretty the other is wearing or by something in the environment the advice giver says things like You should do this If you just do this everything will be fine. My problems are bigger than your problems. If you think you have a big problem, then listen to this.! This listener should go into how horrible her own life is in comparison to the other s. the overly spiritual one This listener should talk about always being thankful and praising God! Just pray to God and everything will be ok. If you just rejoice always, everything will be ok. Always be thankful for everything! The nosy one This listener wants all the information, and then calls other friends to tell them about the problem (in front of the person!). The judgmental one This listener tells them to ask forgiveness, get the sin out of their life, turn back to God. 12
The good listener looks at the person, nods her head without talking back, asks only three questions (written below), and at the end offers to come back and talk more. o What happened? o How did you feel? o What was the most difficult part for you? Debrief the skit: Ask the person who was having the problem how they felt with each type of listener. Talk about the different kinds of listeners that you saw. Ask for examples of why group members have difficulty being a good listener, that is having a You focused conversations with someone. Examples of barriers to good listening: Afraid they won t know what to say No time to listen I am not in the mood to listen Afraid that they can t fix the problem Afraid that they will make the person more upset The conversation will take too long Listening might make me feel bad The person should really talk to a professional of some kind rather than me. How did the good listener in the skit actually help the person he/she was listening to? Ask the person who played the good listener how he/she felt as he was listening. Commitment to each other: Remember last time when we mentioned a couple of rules to being part of this the group? What is said in the group stays in the group be a trustworthy person. We are here to listen, not to give advice. This drama showed us why these rules are important. If it was as easy as giving a small piece of advice, you would have been healed already and you would not be here. We need to allow each other the opportunity to walk the journey. We are all different we all need to walk our own journey. Are there any other rules that you would like to have in this group as we meet each week? Each person says this statement to the others (including any other ground rules the group decides on), either together, individually, or in pairs: We will not tell anyone else s story. We will listen to each other and not offer advice. Listening Practice 13
Do you remember the beginning of our story about Joseph? Things were good for him. He and his father had a loving relationship he was having dreams from God about his life. Do you remember when things were good for you? Let s break into pairs and share with each other about a time in your life when things were good. Discuss ground rules for sharing. The listener can only ask three questions to help the discussion. What happened? Or What happened next? (to keep the conversation going) How did you feel? (Either yourself, or when you heard it) What was the hardest part? (for you, or for you to hear) Or What was the best part? After the pairs share with each other, debrief the experience in the large group. How did it feel when you were a listener? Did you find it difficult to limit your responses to these questions? (If participants are finding it difficult to bring the conversations to a close as the listener, give them the option of saying, Can I come back sometime and talk to you some more? They may also offer to pray with the person, as long as they do not give advice as they pray!) How did it feel to be listened to? What kinds of things did your listener do to make you feel at ease? 2. Looking Up Can I tell you a story of how things in this world started out being good? This is how God intended the world to be Tell the creation story twice Creation Genesis 1 2 In the beginning there was God, and there was only God. God spoke. When he did, he created the world and everything in it everything we can see, and everything we can t. He spoke, and he created the light and the sun and moon and stars. He spoke, and he created the dry land and water. He spoke, and he created the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and all of the plants that lived on the dry land. And he spoke, and he created all of the creatures of the earth. 3 God looked at everything he had made and he said, It s good. Then God made a special creation men and women and he created them to be patterned after himself. This is how he did it: he took some dirt from the ground and fashioned it into a man. And God breathed into the man, and he became alive.* God put the man into a special garden that he had prepared just for him. He told the man to take care of the garden. He said, There are two trees in the middle of the garden the tree that gives life and the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil. You can eat from all the trees in the garden but if you eat from the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil, you ll die. And then God saw that the man was alone and he said, This is not good. So, he put him in a deep sleep and took a rib from his side, and he crafted a woman from that rib. When he brought the woman to the man,* the man looked at her and said, Wow! She s just like me. And the man and the woman lived in the garden happily together with God.* They were naked, but they 3 The order of the creation does not have to be told in the correct sequence, if you do not tell it in such a way that it sounds like it was created in that order. 14
weren t ashamed. God blessed them and told them to fill the earth and take care of it. God looked at everything he had made and said, It is very good. * God had made everything in six days, so he made the seventh day a special day set apart just for himself. Walk the group back through the story by beginning the story and asking, What happened next? letting different people tell parts of the story that they remember. Have the participants do a drama for the story. The group may act out the story as one person narrates, or the group may mime the story (acting it out without any words). You should not interrupt the acting. Ask the participants to perform the same drama a second time, explaining to them that you will stop the action at significant points. At these significant points, stop the action and ask, What was happening in this point in the story? and, What did you as [name of character] feel at this point in the story? After each drama, you may also ask, What did you see in this drama? or How did you feel as you were acting out such and such character? It is important to allow the participants to feel the emotions of the characters of the story. *You may stop the action at suggested points during the drama and ask each character what they are feeling God breathed into the man, and he became alive. God brings the woman to the man. The man and woman lived in the garden together with God After God had made everything he said, It is very good. Ask if one person can tell the story all the way through. Assure everyone that the group will help each other and it s ok if, when you are re-telling the story, you ask for help from the group. Ask the following questions What did you like about the story? What do you find difficult to accept in this story? What does this story show us about God? (Be sure they specifically talk about God s love for people.) What does the story tell us about people s relationship with God? With nature? With each other? If this story is true how does it change your thinking? / What does this story mean for your life this week? Healing Activity Healing activities are meant to solidify the concepts in the story or to intentionally help a person work through their feelings, make decisions to move forward, or help create a healing community around them. Every lesson has a specific healing activity. Be sure to show that these healing activities are important. You may choose to show that spatially by changing positions in the room or go to another area when you do them. The facilitators should also do each healing activity along with the group. Song: Working as a group in a fun way is a great way to build community and focus on something beautiful together. Compose a song about God s love based on the story. The participants can do this in groups or individually. Tell them that they will perform the songs for each other and use them throughout the following weeks in the worship time at the beginning of each session. To compose the song, they can tell the whole story, they can choose one verse that they feel is key, or they can choose to build a song around a theme from the story. They can create their own tune or use a tune they already know. 15
Healing Activity Review: After completing the song, move into your small group, or break into partners, and discuss what it was like to work together as a group to create a song. Do not push someone to share who does not want to. 3. Looking forward Vision reminder Is it possible that we could come to see things the way Joseph did when he said to those who had hurt him, Do not be afraid. You meant to harm me, but God used what has happened for good not just for me but so that many other people could be saved. People Think about someone in your life that could benefit from hearing this story about creation. Practice Creation story Do you think you could tell this story to someone else? To whom would you tell it? (If not mentioned, you should remind them that the best place to start is with their household.) As we practice this story, think about the person to whom you would tell it. Ask participants to get into twos or threes and practice telling the story and asking the questions to each other. You may also ask them to remember the listening questions from the looking back section and remind them that they may also practice using that question and listening this week. Review sessions 1-2. Commissioning Talk about doing one small act of kindness for the person to whom you tell it when you tell the story. It can be carrying a heavy load for them, or listening to them, or bringing them a bottle of water anything to show kindness and an act of God s love for someone. Pray for the upcoming week and for the people who will hear this story. 16
1. Looking Back Worship sing the songs from session 2 (if appropriate) How was your week? How did it go when you shared the Creation story? Pray for each other and for the people that heard the story. Listening Practice Remember last week when we learned about good and bad listening? Think back to this past week can you give some examples of good and bad listening either in yourself or in others? One day Joseph goes to find his brothers who are keeping the sheep for his father. When his brothers see him from a distance they discuss how they dislike him. They decide to hurt him and things begin to go badly for Joseph. Do you remember that part of the story? All of us face times like this. Today we re going to talk about one of those times. Let s get into pairs and simply share a story about a time when things went badly for you or someone you know. Discuss ground rules for sharing. The listener can only ask three questions to help the discussion. What happened? Or What happened next? (to keep the conversation going) How did you feel? (Either yourself, or when you heard it) What was the hardest part? (for you, or for you to hear) After the pairs share with each other, debrief the experience in the large group. How did it feel to be the listener? How did it feel to share your story? 2. Looking up Can I tell you a story about how things started going badly on the earth? This is how suffering, pain and people s disobedience entered the world. Tell the Fall/Promise story twice. Fall/Promise Genesis 3, Isaiah 53 The snake was the most cunning of all the animals God had made. Satan entered into the snake. One day the snake came into the garden where the woman was. He said, Is it true that God told you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden? The woman said, No, that s not true. We can eat from all of the trees in the garden except for the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil. If we eat from that tree, we ll die. Oh, you won t die, the snake said, God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you ll be like him. The woman looked at the tree and the fruit looked really good, and she wanted some of that wisdom. So she took a piece of the fruit, ate it, and gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate some also. As soon as they ate, their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked, and they were ashamed. They gathered leaves to cover themselves.* Later on that evening as God came to talk as usual, they heard him coming and ran to hide. God 17
came into the garden and said, Where are you? The man answered, I m here, hiding. I was afraid. God said, Why are you afraid? Did you eat the fruit from the tree I told you not to eat from? * The man said, It was that woman you gave me! She gave me the fruit and I ate it. * God turned to the woman and said, What happened? The woman said, It was that snake. He tricked me. From then on everything changed pain and suffering and death entered the world. The earth would become a difficult place. There was tension and accusation and brokenness in people s relationship with each other, especially the relationship between men and women. People s relationship with God was broken. God saw that the leaves were not sufficient to cover them, so he killed one of the animals he had made and made them clothes from the animal skins.* Then he thought, What if they eat the fruit from the tree that gives life, and live like this forever? So he took the man and woman out of the garden and placed a guard in front so they could not enter again.* The man and woman had children, and their children had children, and soon the earth was filled with people. But the people s relationship with God was still broken. Their relationship with each other was still broken. Their lives were very difficult. They still disobeyed God, and they still suffered. But God did not forget about his people, and he loved them and had a plan to restore them to himself. God told people about his plan by sending messages to them through his prophets. God said, I m going to send you a Savior who will never do anything wrong He is perfect. But even so, people will despise him and reject him. They will make him suffer; and finally, they will execute him. When this happens he will take all of your suffering and your sin onto himself. He will die to pay the penalty for your disobedience. But I am going to raise him back to life! Because of what this Savior does for you, he will make it possible for you to have a right relationship with God. This was good news for the people and they waited expectantly for the Savior that God had promised to come. Walk the group back through the story by beginning the story and asking What happened next? letting different people tell parts of the story that they remember. Have the participants do a drama for the story. The group may act out the story as one person narrates, or the group may mime the story (acting it out without any words). You should not interrupt the acting. Ask the participants to perform the same drama a second time, explaining to them that you will stop the action at significant points. At these significant points, stop the action and ask, What was happening in this point in the story? and, What did you as [name of character] feel at this point in the story? After each drama, you may also ask, What did you see in this drama? or How did you feel as you were acting out such and such character? It is important to allow the participants to feel the emotions of the characters of the story. *You may stop the action at suggested points during the drama and ask each character what they are feeling ask Adam and Eve at the beginning, before the snake comes, how they are doing in the garden ask Adam when God speaks to him, What are you feeling? ask Eve when Adam accuses her What are you feeling? ask Adam and Eve when God clothes them What are you feeling? ask Adam and Eve when God sends them out of the garden What are you feeling? 18
Ask if one person can tell the story all the way through. Assure everyone that the group will help each other and it s ok if, when you are re-telling the story, you ask for help from the group. Ask the following questions What did you like about the story? What do you find difficult to accept in this story? What does this story show us about God? (Be sure they talk about God s love.) What does this story tell us about people s relationship with nature, with each other, and with God now? If this story is true how does it change your thinking? / What does this story mean for your life this week? Healing Activity Healing activities are meant to solidify the concepts in the story or to intentionally help a person work through their feelings, make decisions to move forward, or help create a healing community around them. Every lesson has a specific healing activity. Be sure to show that these healing activities are important. You may choose to show that spatially by changing positions in the room or go to another area when you do them. The facilitators should also do each healing activity along with the group. Drawing a pain/heart wound or a barrier to God: Identifying our pain/heart wound is an important step to healing, because it can be a barrier between us and God. Our heart wounds can come from the suffering we have experienced or from the sin we have committed. Many times we simply don t feel close to God or feel peace, but we don t know why. Stopping for a moment, asking God to show us our heart wound and identifying it is the first step in addressing it. In this story, what have we seen about how evil entered the world? (Through Satan and through our own bad decisions and disobedience) What were the results of that evil entering in? (suffering and sin) Pain from our suffering and sin can create a barrier between us and God. Spend time asking God to show you a pain in your heart, a sin, or anything that you feel is a barrier between you and him. Draw a picture of it. If your group has a hard time drawing, or if they would not be able to reproduce this in their setting, ask them to go outside and find a stick, stone, leaf, or other natural thing to represent their pain. Healing Activity Review: After completing the drawing, move into your small group, or break into partners, and discuss what you drew. If you do not want to talk about what you drew, discuss what it was like to draw a picture of hurt (i.e., they do not have to discuss what they drew but they may choose to discuss what it was like for them to draw that picture.) Do not push someone to share who does not want to. 3. Looking forward Vision reminder Is it possible that we could come to see things the way Joseph did when he said to those who had hurt him, Do not be afraid. You meant to harm me, but God used what has happened for good not just for me but so that many other people could be saved. People Think about someone in your life that could benefit from hearing this story about the fall. 19
Practice Fall/Promise story Do you think you could tell this story to someone else? To whom would you tell it? (If not mentioned, you should remind them that the best place to start is with their household.) As we practice this story, think about the person to whom you would tell it. Ask participants to get into twos or threes and practice telling the story and asking the questions to each other. You may also ask them to remember the listening questions from the looking back section and remind them that they may also practice using that question and listening this week. Briefly review sessions 1-3 Commissioning Talk about doing one small act of kindness for the person to whom you tell it when you tell the story. It can be carrying a heavy load for them, or listening to them, or bringing them a bottle of water anything small to show kindness and an act of God s love for them. Pray for the upcoming week and for the people who will hear this story. 20
1. Looking back Worship sing the songs from session 2 (if appropriate) How was your week? How did it go when you shared the Fall/Promise story? Pray for each other and for the people that heard the story. Listening Practice Remember last week when we learned about good and bad listening? Think back to this past week can you give some examples of good and bad listening either in yourself or in others? Joseph is in prison with other men because he was falsely accused. While there, a man reaches out to Joseph for help because he has had a dream. Joseph interprets the man s dream and says that the man will be restored to a position of power in Pharaoh s house. It s good when we are in trouble to reach out for help. Let s share in pairs about a time when you reached out to someone or someone reached out to you for help during a time of trouble and you or the other person was helped. Discuss ground rules for sharing. The listener can only ask three questions to help the discussion. What happened? Or What happened next? (to keep the conversation going) How did you feel? (Either yourself, or when you heard it) What was the hardest part? Or the best part? (for you, or for you to hear) After the pairs share with each other, debrief the experience in the large group. How did it feel to be the listener? How did it feel to share your story? 2.Looking Up Can I tell you a story about another person who reached out for help? Tell the story of the Bleeding Woman twice Bleeding Woman Mark 5 God really did send his promised Savior, Jesus. Jesus proved that he was the one who would come and take onto himself all our pain and all our sins. One day Jesus was in a town and a huge crowd of people was following him. In the crowd was a really important man in town. The important man came up to Jesus and fell at his feet. He said, Jesus, my daughter is at home sick. She s dying. But I know that if you come and lay your hands on her, she ll be well. So, Jesus began going to his house with him. But the crowd continued to follow Jesus through the narrow streets. Also in that crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. Nothing she had done helped. She had gone to every doctor she could. She had spent all her money, but her problem was just getting worse. When she heard that Jesus was in town, she thought to herself, If I can go and even just touch the hem of his clothes, I know I ll be healed. So, she worked her way through the crowd,* reached out her hand, and 21