- Life Night - SPENT! SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT 5 S
SPENT! LIFE NIGHT OUTLINE Goal for the Life Night The goal of this Life Night is to help teens understand that everything we have first belongs to God and that the practice of tithing can bring freedom from materialism and greed. Many teens feel as though the call to tithe is only for adults, but this night should help teens understand how tithing is connected to a healthy spirituality at any age. Advertisement Get a stack of fake $100 bills. You can create and print your own (maybe with your pastor s or youth minister s face on the bill) or you can also purchase play money at a party supply store. Write an invitation to the Life Night on each bill with a black marker. This can be as simple as, Join us for Life Night tonight after Mass! or something similar. Have the Core team greet parishioners before Mass and pass out a fake bill to the teens as they enter the Church. Announcement At the end of the Mass, if the youth minister gives announcements to the congregation, he or she can tell the teens that the Core team decided that bribery is the newest and best way to get teens to Life Nights. He/she can tell the teens that there is more money waiting for them at the Life Night if they come. Environment This is an easy one. Make the room a huge advertisement for materialism at its best (or worst). Create a playlist of music that has to do with money and wealth and have it playing as the teens enter the room. The environment at the front of the room is attached to the game during the gather portion of the night. There should be a section devoted to each of the following: cars, clothes, electronics, college, savings, vacation, and Church/charity. So be creative to make each of these big, eye-catching, and appealing. At the base of each of these displays you will need a basket. GATHER 10 Minutes As the teens enter the night, have Core members stationed at the door handing out stacks of fake $100 bills. Decide before the total amount of money that will be passed out to the teens. In order for the game to work, each teen will need at least $1000 in fake money. Spending Spree (5 min) After all the teens have entered and been given their money, have the youth minister or a Core member explain the game. They will be given three minutes to spend all their money by dividing it between the baskets of their choosing. In the front of the room there will be seven different stations. Each station will have a basket in front of it for the teens to put their money into. Here are the 7 stations: College (decorate with college shirts, books, etc.) Cars (picture of expensive cars, cardboard cut-outs of cars, etc.) Clothes (a display of the most popular brands of clothes) Electronics (computers, cell phones, ipods, Xbox, Playstation, etc.) Savings (piggy bank, things from the local bank, etc.) Travel/vacation (pictures from exotic locations, cruises, beach, mountains, etc.) Church/charity (collection basket, signs or items from local charities, etc.) The teens must spend ALL their fake money by dividing it among the baskets. While the teens are doing their spending spree have upbeat music playing in the background. Welcome & Introductions (5 min) After the three minutes are up, have all the teens sit down. The youth minister will then welcome all the teens and introduce any teens that are at Life Night for the first time. While this is happening, one of the Core members will need to tally the amounts in each of the baskets. The totals will then be used in the talk during the Proclaim. HT SPOTLIGHT 6 SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIG
CATECHISM REFERENCES: CCC 2407 SCRIPTURES: Deuteronomy 14:22-26 Matthew 6:24-33 Mark 12:41-44 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, 1 Timothy 6:17-19 James 1:16-17 PROCLAIM 15 minutes Tithing Talk (15 min) This is a topic that most teens disregard as not relevant to them. This talk will need to explain the why behind tithing and why it is a practice that can bring freedom and joy to us regardless of our age or how much money we have. 1. Cash Flow Breakdown a. Start by having a couple of teens share about how they chose to spend their money - how did they decide what to use the money on? b. Tell the teens the total amount of money that was handed out at the beginning of the night and then give the rundown of how much was placed in each basket. c. Compare how much ten percent of the total is with how much actually ended up in the Church/Charity basket. 2. Tithing - doesn t the Church have enough money? a. Tonight is about tithing. The word simply means tenth. From Jewish times the practice of giving ten percent of your crops, livestock, etc. back to God was common. The practice is part of the law given to the Jewish people in the book of Deuteronomy (14:22-26). b. Today tithing is still practiced. All members of the Church are called to give ten percent of their earnings back to God. Many dioceses divide up the ten percent with five percent going to the parish collection, one percent to the diocese, and four percent to a charity of the parish s choosing. c. What s your first reaction to that? Do you hate the idea of being told how to spend your money? After all, you earned it. Shouldn t you be allowed to use it however you want? In our society this teaching seems against everything we stand for. More than that, we can interpret this teaching as an easy way for the Church to guilt its members into giving money. d. But here s the reality God knows us. He knows how attached we can become to money, possessions and wealth. But these attachments can prevent us from attaching ourselves to God (the true source of life). Jesus was very clear in Matthew, no one can serve two masters you cannot serve both God and mammon (Aramaic word for wealth). Matthew 6:24-33. e. While it is true that tithing allows the Church to stay open, it is less about that and more about our attitude towards money and things of this world. 3. Why now? That s something old people do. a. Looking around our church, it seems like a safe assumption that tithing is just for adults. After all they are the ones who get envelopes to put in the basket. They have jobs and get paychecks - so it s their responsibility, right? b. Wrong. As teens you have more disposable income than any other age group. Many of you get allowances, many have jobs. Tithing is a call for you just as much as for your parents. c. Tithing isn t just about money. Not having any money doesn t get you off the hook. Just as valuable as money is the gift of your time and your talents as well. Giving ten percent back to God means giving of your time and your talents as well as your money. 4. Freedom of dependence a. Someone telling you that you should give back to God is not enough. More important is the why. Why is your ten percent (which is a lot smaller than someone who is making a ton of money as a doctor or lawyer) important to God? b. Check out the story of the widow s mite found in Mark 12:41-44. All the big shots of the temple put in large sums of money while a poor woman puts in the equivalent of a penny. Jesus points her out and says that she has given more because she gave from her poverty and the rest gave from their excess. c. Her gift showed her dependence on God above everything else. She trusted that God would provide for her. That is the gift that God wants to give to us in tithing. When we trust and depend on our own ability to gather money and stuff, we are always striving for more and never satisfied. But when we put God first and trust him we can experience true freedom. It is then that we remember that everything belongs to God in the first place; we only have our money, our time, and our talents as a loan from God. SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT 7 S
SPENT! LIFE NIGHT OUTLINE d. As a good father, God desires our happiness. The world has its opinions on what will make us happy, but God gives a different answer. It is in Him that we are free and happy and satisfied. Tithing is simply a tool to detach us from the things of this world and more fully attach us to God. Teen Envelopes (5 min) Before the night, talk with the pastor or parish administrator about the possibility of creating an offertory envelope specifically for the teens. If this is possible, have these printed and ready at the end of this night. Challenge the teens to take some envelopes and use them at during the offertory at Mass. BREAK 20 minutes Personal Reflection (20 min) Give each teen a pen and a copy of the reflection sheet on the following page. Allow them to find some space on their own and give them about ten minutes to fill out the paper. Have soft music playing in the background and encourage the teens to not talk to other teens during this time. When you gather the teens back together, have them hold onto their papers. (See handout on page 9.) SEND 25 Minutes Sharing (10 min) Have someone (preferably a teen) who has developed the habit of tithing give a short sharing about why they do it and how God has rewarded their generosity. This sharing can be based around 2 Cor. 9:6-15. This should be a positive example of how God rewards the generous and the freedom that giving provides. Offering (10 min) Have a cross at the front of the room. Close the night by entering into a time of praise and worship (use the song Take my life by Passion as a song to lead the teens into prayer). Have a short reflection on the total gift of self that Christ gave us on the cross and that our gifts should simply be a response of gratitude. After the reflection, invite the teens to bring forward the paper they wrote on and place it at the foot of the cross as a sign of their willingness to give part of themselves back to the giver of life. The CORE members will need to ensure that the mood of the room remains prayerful. Close this time of prayer with the Hail Mary and Ave Maria. HT SPOTLIGHT 8 SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIG
PART 1 - What do you have? Money - how much do you earn at a job? How much do you get for an allowance? How much do you have saved? How do you spend most of your money? PART 1 - What do you have? Money - how much do you earn at a job? How much do you get for an allowance? How much do you have saved? How do you spend most of your money? Time - how much free time do you have after school on a weekday? How much free time do you typically have on a weekend? What do you do with most of your free time? Time - how much free time do you have after school on a weekday? How much free time do you typically have on a weekend? What do you do with most of your free time? Talents - what are your gifts and talents? What are the things that you are good at doing? What do you enjoy doing? How are you using the gifts and talents you have? Talents - what are your gifts and talents? What are the things that you are good at doing? What do you enjoy doing? How are you using the gifts and talents you have? PART 2 - What can you give? Money - what would ten percent of your money be? Could you give that to the Church? What charities do you want to give money to? PART 2 - What can you give? Money - what would ten percent of your money be? Could you give that to the Church? What charities do you want to give money to? Time - what would ten percent of your time be? In what ways could you give it back to God in prayer? In what ways could you give it in service of others? Time - what would ten percent of your time be? In what ways could you give it back to God in prayer? In what ways could you give it in service of others? Talents - what would ten percent of your talents be? How could you use your talents to glorify God and serve the Church? Talents - what would ten percent of your talents be? How could you use your talents to glorify God and serve the Church? Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give - Matthew 10:8 Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give - Matthew 10:8 SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT 9 S