Youth group Olympics
10 minutes
Begin the session by introducing the youth group Olympic games, which will span the coming eight weeks. You may want to create a big chart, which you can add scores onto each week. The first event is ‘head basket’. Purchase a head basket with small balls (available from Tiger). Select a leader to wear the head basket, and invite young people to throw balls in. To make it more difficult or to add subsequent rounds, try throwing other items into the basket or have your leader move around.
What is discipleship?
5 minutes
Explain that for the next eight weeks you are going to be looking at discipleship. Write ‘discipleship’ on a board / piece of paper, and divide the group into twos or threes. Ask them to discuss what they think discipleship means, and feed back to the group. You may want to add their answers onto the piece of paper.
Say: You may not have realised it, but if you’ve given your life to Jesus and made a commitment to him, then you’ve embarked on a journey of discipleship, but there is a big difference between simply believing in God, and being a disciple. The Bible is quite clear that we are called to go out to all the Earth and make disciples of all nations, not to simply convince people that God is real. God wants his people to be set apart, to be holy, and to live differently. So as people who believe in God, something is required of us. There are things we need to do if we want to follow Jesus.
What about grace?
5 minutes
Say: You may be thinking, hang on a minute! I’ve said the prayer so that I can be saved and go to heaven. I thought it was just about having faith in God, and not about what we do! This is a tricky one, and both a yes and a no. We are going to delve into this together today, as we explore what costly discipleship is and what it looks like.
Take the following example: imagine two people getting married (you could identify some people known by the group or celebrities). In order to get married, they stand there, together, on their wedding day, and say some very important vows. Legally, all they need in order to be married is to say those words in the presence of a minister. But imagine that they then go off their separate ways, live in separate houses, only speaking on the phone on a Sunday morning. They are still technically married, but is that really a marriage as we would understand it? Similarly, all we need to do to be a Christian is to invite Jesus into our lives. But we would question how serious our commitment was if we never spoke to him, never spent time in his presence, never got to know him more through the Bible or spent time with his Church.
Invite the young people to get into groups and discuss whether this example helps them to understand how faith and discipleship work together. Can they think of a story or example of their own?
Costly Discipleship
15 minutes
Read Luke 14:25-34. Get the young people into groups and ask them:
- Is there anything in this passage that surprises you?
- Why do you think it says that you have to hate your family? What do you think that means?
- Jesus doesn’t shy away from saying exactly how it’s going to be - why do you think that is?
- What do you think the part about the tower is saying? What does the tower represent?
- What do you think the story about the king is saying?
- If you could sum up this passage in one sentence, what would it be?
- Think about what being a disciple of Jesus might cost you; have you ever considered the cost before?
Invite the groups to feedback on their discussions. Say: it’s so interesting that Jesus never forced anyone to follow him, or sought to impress them or win them over. If anything, he actively discouraged people to follow him, unless they were pretty serious about it! He wanted people who would leave everything for him - that’s the sort of commitment Jesus is after. Are you ready to give up everything and follow Jesus? The disciples in the Gospel accounts leave their nets, families, friends, plans, hopes, dreams, fears and expectations behind because they were so captivated by the person of Jesus that he was worth leaving everything behind for. The call is the same to us - Jesus simply says: “Come, follow me”. It’s something we need to consider. Even those of us who have been Christians for a long time need to ask ourselves afresh - am I really living as a disciple? It’s an invitation to embark on an adventure that will cost us everything, but will be greater than anything we could have ever dreamed up for ourselves. Life with God, walking by our side.
Spotlight: The Persecuted Church
10 minutes
(In each of the following session plans, we will include a ‘spotlight’ section, where we highlight the relevance of the topic for our everyday lives and the world.)
You may want to pass around photos or stories of Christians who are living in other parts of the world today who are being persecuted for their faith (see Open Doors for ideas). Are we compromising the faith that other people are dying for? Spend time reflecting and praying for those who are being persecuted. We may not experience physical pain or death for our faith - but what are some of the ways in which we might experience a different kind of persecution in this country?
Counting up the cost
10 minutes
Say: As we play this song, consider what we’ve been discussing, and whether or not you are willing to pick up your cross, pay the cost, and follow Jesus. Play ‘The cost’ by Rend Collective.
Say: For the next seven weeks we are going to be exploring what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus, in our practical actions. One of the only times that Jesus gives specific teaching on how to be a disciple is in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. It’s one long talk that gives practical and detailed information for those of us who want to follow Jesus, and what that looks like in our lives. Pray together to close.