SESSION SEVEN: HOW?

MISSION ACADEMY FUN-SIZE
SESSION SEVEN: HOW?
Icebreaker/Game:
Dingbat Challenge
Icebreaker/Game:
Hands and feet
Duration: 10 minutes
Duration: 5 minutes
Equipment Required:
Equipment Required:
•Dingbat PDF
•Just you!
Description
As a group, work through the 10 Dingbat
Suggestions found at the end of this
session and work out the common
phrase or saying. Think about positioning
of letters and words, things that are
missing or not said. This is a team effort
which requires creative thinking and the
challenge is to answer at least 8 out of
the 10 correctly.
To get your minds thinking in the
right way check out the answer to the
Dingbats below
many
drink
Answer:
Tough at the top
Find some space and get yourselves into groups
of three or four. As a group you must complete a
number of challenges asking with a specific number
of feet and hands touching the floor. No knees,
bums or anything else can be touching the floor! You
must hold your position each time for a minimum
of 10 seconds. In your group(s) of 3 or 4 mix up the
numbers of hands and feet that must be touching
the floor, each time reducing the number so that the
challenge gets increasingly difficult. By all means
make up your own, but the five challenges below will
certainly get you started. They can all be achieved,
so keep going until you manage to do it.
Examples
tough
weak
Description
many
Answer:
One drink too many
The Point:
As you start to plan you mission activity,
try to think creatively about the ways
in which you can deliver your mission
activity. The best plans may not be the
most obvious and may require you to
think in a slightly different way.
Groups of 3
Groups of 4
6 feet and 6 hands only
8 feet and 8 hands only
3 feet and 3 hands only
4 feet and 4 hands only
2 feet and 3 hands only
3 feet and 4 hands only
2 feet only
2 feet and 4 hands only
1 foot and 2 hands only
2 feet and 8 hands only
The Point:
Be a team! Sharing our faith is often quite
challenging, and can make us feel a little
uncomfortable. Sometimes it can seem just too hard,
and we might want to give up. As you plan your
activity you will need work together in new ways
and solve problems well in order to overcome the
challenges your activity might face. Then we will be
effective in being the hands and feet of Jesus to the
world around us.
Jesus Story: Jesus walks on water
Matthew 14:22-34
Want to walk on water? Get out of the boat!
Waterskiers are cool. Surfers are even cooler. But
walking on water like Peter does here – that is next level
cool. When Christians talk about this story they often
have a go at Peter because he sees the wind and the
waves and then sinks. But this story is a brilliant example
of someone just wanting to do what Jesus is doing. And
what happens is not that Jesus tells Peter to step out of
the boat, but that Peter goes to Jesus with the idea and
Jesus makes it happen.
Read Matthew 14:22-34
Spend some time chatting through the following
questions:
•Peter just wanted to be like Jesus and grow closer to
him. In what ways do you want to be more like Jesus?
What can you do to grow closer to him?
•How do you think Peter felt when he stepped out
of the boat onto the water? What was it that made
him afraid? In what ways have your own situations
sometimes stopped you from keeping your eyes fixed
on Jesus?
•When the disciples saw Jesus they thought he was a
ghost. They were terrified! They didn’t expect Jesus
to do something quite so mindblowing… What do you
expect Jesus to do? Do you place limits on him?
•As soon as Peter cries out to Jesus and asks him for
help, what does Jesus do? What can we learn from
this?
•Is Jesus telling Peter off in verse 31? Or is there more
to what he’s saying than a simple rebuke?
•Jesus asks Peter why he doubts. What makes you
doubt? How can you work on this and still stay close
to Jesus?
When we think about wanting to share our faith with
our friends the starting point is to try and be like Jesus.
When we do this, we then get ideas about the kinds
of things we can do to make a difference in their lives.
These are sometimes God’s ideas, sometimes our ideas
and sometimes somewhere in between. Whatever they
are, we can pray about them and we often feel God
is saying, ‘Go for it’, and he blesses them and helps
to make them happen. Even when we feel like we are
sinking, God reaches out to us and turns things round
for good, but in there somewhere there has to be a
moment, just like Peter’s, where we step out bravely in
faith. Every time it is worth it.
Going Deeper: Make the most of
every opportunity
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Imagine a beautiful, warm, sticky piece of your favourite
chocolate cake sitting on a plate in front of you waiting
for you to get stuck in and gobble it all up. How will you
make the most of it? Are you the kind of person that
will just stuff it in as quickly as possible? Or the kind of
person who will savour every mouthful? Or maybe you’ll
eat all the icing first, or perhaps just eat half now and
save the other half until later?
Read: Colossians 4:5-6
Spend some time chatting through the following
questions:
•What does it mean to ‘make the most of every
opportunity’?
•In terms of sharing the gospel, does ‘making the most
of every opportunity’ mean that we have to share our
whole story with every non-Christian we meet? If not,
what does it mean?
•How can we possibly know ‘how to answer everyone’?
(v.6) What could you do if someone asks you a
question you don’t know how to answer?
•In what practical ways can our words and actions be
‘seasoned with salt’? What does this mean?
•Always making the most of every opportunity can be
a pretty tiring thing. How can you make sure you are
supported and nourished in your own relationship with
Jesus whilst you’re trying to reach out to others? Why
is it important to do this?
Video: Evangelism Linebacker
Watch: Linebacker Evangelism (http://www.godtube.com/
watch/?v=M1C2CNNU)
Sometimes the thought of ‘evangelising’ is a little terrifying.
Sometimes we feel under pressure to share our faith because
that’s what Christians are ‘supposed’ to do. But we’re not
called to evangelise out of fear of what will happen if we
don’t, rather we’re simply called to share God’s love with
others and tell of the difference he makes in our lives.
•What are the first thoughts/images that come to mind
when you hear the words ‘mission and evangelism’?
•What methods of evangelism have you been involved in/
seen before? Were they successful? Why, or why not?
•What should our motivation for doing evangelism be?
Why?
What? Main Chatterbox Activity:
SCHEME Action Plan
Duration: 50 minutes
Resources required
•Pens and paper or smart phone
•Cardboard and markers
Aim
This session supports the ‘How? Chatterbox session and will
help you develop an action plan for your chosen mission
activity. It will help you explore the ‘When, Where, What, How
and Who’ questions of planning your activity, and enable
you to put an action plan together. (If you didn’t decide your
mission activity at the end of the ‘What?’ session, then you
will need to decide your activity before starting this session.)
Action Plan (45 mins)
Firstly: Decide with your mates when and where you would
like your activity to take place, discussing the options
available.
Secondly: Decide what needs to happen and how. The
SCHEME Action plan below will help you explore the aspects
that you will need to consider
S: Space
•What space will be needed?
•Do you need to book and is permission needed?
C: Cash
•Is there a cost to this activity?
•How could you reduce this cost?
•How will you raise money and who could you ask
for help?
H: Helpers
•Will extra helpers be needed and why?
•How could your mates be involved in your activity?
•Are there any adults that you would like to help?
E/M: Equipment and materials
•What equipment and materials may be needed?
•What do you have and what will you need to find?
•Who could help you and who will be responsible for it?
E: Expertise
•Do you know anyone who has specialist knowledge or
skills that could help?
•Is there anyone who could help you with your project?
Thirdly: Decide who will take responsibility for what. Write
down your actions so you know what each other is doing
and do them!
Pray: (5 mins)
Pray that your chosen activity will go to plan and that God
will use your words and actions to reach your chosen group.
Ask God to give you the confidence to reach out to others
and pray that he will prepare the hearts of the people in
your chosen group.
What? Extra Chatterbox Activity:
Evaluation
Duration: 25 minutes
Resources required
•Something to write on and with
•Alternatively the Way Ahead PDF
Aim
This session supports the ‘How?’ session and should be
used at the end of the activity to help you think through the
sort of outcomes you are hoping for. These will inform your
input in the ‘So?’ session.
Activity Evaluation Form (20 mins)
Think through and agree in your group questions that
will help you evaluate the success of your projects. The
questions should relate to both the impact on yourselves,
and the impact on your chosen group. Once you have
agreed your questions, keep a note of them on your phone
or piece of paper so that you can use them as part of the
‘So? session.
Some examples are below, but decide on questions that
work for you:
•Did the activity build relationship with others and if so,
how?
•Did you really listen to others and if so, how?
•Did the activity help people view the Christian faith
positively? Why? Why not?
•Did the activity bring others closer to Jesus and if so,
why?
•Did the activity bring you closer to Jesus and if so, why?
•Did the activity increase your confidence to share your
faith, and if so why?
•Write 3 words that describe how you felt about your
mission activity
•Write 3 words to describe how you have changed as a
result your mission activity
As this is an extra session, make sure that you answer
these questions following your activity, before completing
the main ‘So’ Chatterbox session. It will help you go
deeper in your reflections.
Pray: (5 mins)
Take a moment to pray together that your mission activity
with have a positive impact on the lives of the people you
are reaching as well as your individual lives. Thank God that
changing lives is God’s business and that all we have to do
is play our part.
Prayer 1: Listening to God
Sometimes it is helpful just to be still before God. Making
space to listen to him can sometimes be a challenge
amidst the ‘busy-ness’ of everyday life.
Take some time now individually to be quiet and listen
to God.
You might like to play some soft worship music in the
background, depending upon where you are.
Remember, prayer is as much about listening as it is
about talking.
Prayer 2: Handy Prayers
Look at your hand. Use it to help you pray.
Take hold of your thumb. Thank God for the gifts that he
has given you and the strength you have in him.
Take hold of your index finger. Thank God for the direction
he provides you with and ask him to show you where he is
leading you next.
Take hold of your middle finger. Thank God for the other
members of your group. Ask him to bless them as they
seek to serve him.
Take hold of your fourth finger. Commit your mission
activity plans to God and ask him to bless your ideas and
show you what else he wants you to do. Spend some time
listening to what he might be saying in response.
Take hold of your fifth finger. Tell God about the things you
struggle with and/or are worried about and ask him to help
you with these over the coming days.
Answers: Long overdue, I understand, On the spot fine, sleeping on the job, Vice versa, Can I call you back?, Thorn in the side, Bolt Upright, Party time, Up up and away
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SESSION 7 HANDOUT: Dingbats
MISSION ACADEMY FUN-SIZE