LIVING ON PURPOSE Week 2: Connecting With Others This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide 1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW This lesson focuses on part of Jesus prayer before he was arrested. In John 17, we read the words that Jesus prayed for himself, his disciples, and for all believers. It might be strange for some of your students to realize or appreciate that Jesus prayed for them before his crucifixion. The fact that Jesus prayed for our unity reinforces the importance of Christian fellowship. LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: Jesus prayed for unity among Christians. 2. WHY: Unity among Christians is a powerful sign of God s love. 3. HOW: Your students will be encouraged to strengthen their connection with God and with other followers of Jesus. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE John 17:20-26 SECONDARY SCRIPTURE 1 John 4:20-21 TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead your small group lesson. Read John 17:20-26. Throughout the Gospels we see that Jesus spent a lot of time praying to his Father. Jesus knew the importance and power of prayer. In this passage from John 17, we get an intimate glimpse of Jesus prayer life. We get to read words Jesus spoke in prayer even better than just knowing that Jesus prayed. We discover that unity among his followers is a top priority for Jesus. THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional] Text Message Questions We ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry. Did you know Jesus has specifically prayed for you? Come to small group tonight to see how he prayed.
Why would Jesus want you to be unified with other Christians? Come tonight to small group and get some answers. Parent Email We ve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and customize the email to fit your ministry needs. Dear parents, This week we continued our small group study of the five biblical purposes for our lives. Our focus this week was on being connected with other Christians. Unity among believers is something that Jesus prayed for specifically in John 17. Being unified doesn t seem easy or possible for some people. As a group, we looked at why Jesus valued unity so much. Our young people talked about some of the obstacles that keep Christians from experiencing this unity. Specifically, the students talked about why they sometimes struggle to have this kind of deep connection with each other. Through Jesus prayer we found that as we draw closer to God individually, it helps us become more unified with other Christians. I d encourage you to take time this week to talk with your teenager about our small group lesson. Here are some questions that can help launch your dialogue: How can you tell when a group of people is experiencing unity? How about when a group of people is experiencing disunity? What s the evidence for each of those conditions? How does disunity among Christians hurt or hinder our efforts to share God s love with people? What are some of the unique challenges Christian teenagers might face when pursuing unity, compared to what adults might face? Finally, watch for times when you see your student connected with other believers. When you notice these moments, make sure to encourage and praise your teenager. It can have a life-changing effect! Have an awesome week!
LIVING ON PURPOSE Week 2: Connecting With Others 2. LESSON GUIDE GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] As you begin your small group, welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Have you ever watched a team whose members didn t work together very well? It s not a pretty sight. People struggle to work together for all kinds of reasons. And we all know what happens at the end of a game, don t we? The team that played well together almost always comes out on top. The players ability to work together as one helps them perform better and achieve their goal: victory. What are some of the reasons people struggle to play together well on a team? Give a recent example of how you either encouraged a teammate or were encouraged by a teammate in sports, music, a club, or some other group. What impact did this experience have on you, and why? How is this experience similar to the interaction we have with other Christians? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Belonging to a winning team is always exciting, but belonging to a unified team can be more rewarding even if the unified team doesn t always win on the field, the court, or the stage. Working and competing alongside true friends can be a lifechanging experience. If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and you d like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at ideas@simplyyouthministry.com. TEACHING POINTS The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) Unity among believers, (2) Unity between the Father and the Son, and (3) Unity as a witness to the world. Remember: All throughout these lessons, it s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main points keep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your audience. Read John 17:20-26 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let s spend a few minutes taking a look at Jesus prayer for unity, and the effect that it can have on how we interact with other Christians.
1. Unity among believers How do you define the word unity? How can you tell when a group of people is experiencing unity? How about when a group of people is experiencing disunity? What s the evidence for each of those conditions? Does unity mean sacrificing uniqueness? How can we be unified when we are unique? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Unity can be defined many different ways, but at its core, it means being focused on a common goal or purpose. Being unified doesn t mean everyone in the group will think or act identically. Christian unity means pursuing and demonstrating a Christ-like love toward each other. We are on the same team, with the same goals, so we have the opportunity to act like it. Christians can experience a supernatural unity made possible through Jesus. 2. Unity between the Father and the Son Why does Jesus use the relationship he has with God the Father as a foundation for his prayer for Christian unity? What s the connection? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The unity of Christians can parallel the relationship between the Father and the Son. Notice that Jesus prays, May they be in us. Our unity is a result of our connection to God. The Father and the Son know each other intimately. The closer we get to God individually, the closer we get to each other in a group or church setting. It may not happen overnight, but it can be the result as we focus on the common goal of loving God, serving God, and telling other people about God s love. 3. Unity as a witness to the world SAY SOMETHING LIKE: This supernatural unity will not go unnoticed. Jesus says our unity will show the world that he was sent by God. The unity of Christians will point people to Jesus as Savior. One of the best witnesses we can have on the world is to be unified with other Christians. How does unity among Christians support the claim that Jesus was sent by the Father? How does disunity among Christians hurt or hinder our efforts to share God s love with people? ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] Jesus knew about our human weaknesses and imperfections, and he knew how tough it could be to have solid relationships with other people. How can we actually achieve Christian unity when we re all so different and diverse? What obstacles block or hinder Christian unity? Which obstacles are new for your generation, and which have been around for a long time?
When have you seen deep, true unity among Christians? What was the result of this unity? Read 1 John 4:20-21. Why would some Christians actually hate other Christians? When have you seen this before, and what was the result? Why would John say that if we hate other Christians, then we don t really love God? Answer the question John wrote: If we don t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? APPLICATION What are some of the unique challenges Christian teenagers might face when pursuing unity, compared to what adults might face? Pair up with another person in the group for these questions. Unity is extremely important to Jesus. What sometimes keeps you from experiencing unity with other Christians? How can you encourage people in our small group and youth ministry to connect with each other like Jesus wants us to? We talked earlier about how we can experience more unity with other Christians as we draw closer to God. How are you and God doing these days? Are you spending much time together? How can you draw closer to God this week? Activity [optional] Find or buy a relatively easy puzzle to assemble. You will be defacing the puzzle pieces, so the best option might be purchasing a simple puzzle at a dollar store. Open the puzzle before your group meets and remove several pieces. For example, if it s a 30-piece puzzle, take out four or five pieces, but don t tell your teenagers that pieces are missing. You ll also need several Sharpie pens for this activity. Spread the pieces on the floor or a table, and ask your teenagers to begin writing the names of students in your youth ministry on the pieces. If you have a smaller youth group, it s OK for your students to write a person s name on more than one piece. Once they ve written on every piece except the pieces you ve secretly removed, of course challenge them to complete the puzzle as quickly as possible. Obviously, your teenagers will reach a point when they appear to be finished with the puzzle, but a few pieces will be missing. We have a pretty good idea of what the picture is, but this puzzle really isn t complete. What would you be willing to pay, if anything, for the missing pieces? Explain.
Depending on your group, your teenagers may be quite frustrated by the missing pieces or they may not care. This is true with churches, too. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Some churches are concerned when a person is gone for many weeks in a row, while other churches don t quite seem to care as much. We have the opportunity to be Christians who care who are willing to pay the price of building unity when others are missing. Here are the missing pieces that will let us complete the puzzle and they re a reminder that we re incomplete when our friends are missing. SUMMARY End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or takehome challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time. FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE] Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me (John 17:21).