I wanted to share what I did as a hook/game to lead into this study:

I set up a tray in the room with lots of different random items on it. It was in the room for a good 15 minutes while the students had snacks. They could choose to go look at it or not. It was in plain view for anyone to see. (My thinking is that probably most would not pay attention to it, even though it was right under their nose)

This is exactly what happened. After snacks, etc. we took the tray out of plain view and told the students they had a minute to write down what they could remember seeing on the try. Most students did not know what was on it, or were very unfamiliar with the items. They had lots of time to look at it, etc. but never took the time to.

This is a picture we can refer back to in this study. We have lots of time to spend with God in his Word. He is right there waiting to spend time with us. But we tend to stay focused on other things going on around us, just like the students did with the tray in the room.

If we don’t take time to spend with God, we won’t know Him, His goodness, His great love for us and all the many attributes that are life changing in our lives. This is similar to how the students didn’t know anything about what was on the tray.

Hope this is helpful. 🙂

Group is divided into two equal teams. Each team sits in a single row facing the opponent team across a room. Each team picks out a piece of paper with a message on it. The messages should be common phrases or Bible verses relevant to your topic with about 5-10 words in it. Each person on a team is assigned a word from the message. If there are more team members than words, the same words can be assigned to multiple people. At a given count, the entire team yells out their assigned word in unison to the opposing team. The opposing team repeats the process. Each team has one guess at deciphering the message. The yelling is repeated until one team guesses the correct message.

Benton Hall in Texas leads a group of football guys and he found a different LAUNCH to use from the Bible.  He kicks this study off by reading the story of Jehosephat in 2 Chronicles 20 1-30.  In the story enemies are coming to attack Israel and Jehosephat gathers the people to pray.  God answers the prayer and the enemies actually fight with each other until they are destroyed.  It’s got some big strange names in it but, just breeze through those and highlight what God is doing.  If you lead guys, try it out!

Here are some creative ways to get your students praying…

Echo Prayer- Pray a short prayer phrase out loud. Pause for the family or group to repeat out loud your word of thanks, or confession, or praise, or petition. 

Complete the Sentence Prayer- Start the prayer allow volunteers to finish the sentence. For example: “Lord, thank you for…(thanking God); “Lord, please help…(praying for others needs); “Lord, I need…(pray for your needs).

Circle Prayer- There is definite power in being connected via holding hands in a circle. This prayer can begin and end with the same person. After opening prayer, the leader lightly squeezes the hand of the person next to them indicating that he/she is finished praying. That person can choose to pray or else lightly squeeze the hand of their neighbor. This continues until everyone has had an opportunity to pray, at which time the leader will end the prayer time.

Popcorn Prayer- This metaphor for prayer is that of the random popping of popcorn. Anyone is encouraged to jump in with a brief prayer of thanksgiving or request. Again, a leader can open this time of prayer and after a healthy silence, close the prayer time.

Wall of Prayer- put a large piece of poster board or butcher paper on the wall.  Have your students write prayers to God on the wall.  Leave it there and week after week, have them add prayers to the prayer wall.

Prayer Journal- Have your students write their prayers in a journal (either individual journals or a group journal that you keep). Have them write in it each week and revisit the past prayer requests to see how God has answered them. This will build their faith as they see God answering prayers over time.

suggested by Niki Price

This song expresses the internal conflict we have with having faith yet holding ourselves back from sharing the Gospel due to fear, sin and other reasons.

Jesus gave us the Great Commission. But this object lesson on sharing the gospel reinforces the idea that we must depend on the Holy Spirit for bringing the good news into the world. Our actions alone will never be enough.

Have students write down who they want to know Jesus personally. Pray over these lists each time you meet and share any updates if spiritual conversations have started or opportunities to share the gospel. The lists can also be put into a notes section of a cell phone.

Can I be a Christian without going to Church?

Take a Lego piece out and talk about how it, being on it’s own is like us saying, “I don’t need the church. I can just have my own personal relationship with Jesus.” But, that isn’t what Legos were made for. They were made to click together to make awesome creations. In the same way, we, as Christians, are designed to click together with other Christians and turn into something beautiful. Take out some Lego creation with many blocks together and put it beside the lone block. Ask, “Is this Lego designed to sit on it’s own, or be a part of this creation?” Talk about how the pieces are all different colors and sizes, but they are made to fit together and they need each other. That is the church.

– Francis Chan

A fun and fast-paced way for your students to get to know one another. This is a spin-off of speed dating. First create a list of 15 to 20 questions that are open ended questions, like, “Tell me about your relationship with your parents,” or, “Tell me how you came to know Christ,” etc. Then set up the room with chairs facing each other about 1-2 feet apart. Put the questions on ONLY one row of the chairs and then have the students sit down across from one another. Have the person with the list begin with question one and both people take turns answering the question. Then move on to question number 2 and so on for 2 minutes until the leader says switch. Then the person without the questions list moves down one seat and they continue on with the next question. If you are worried about students getting too far ahead, have your MC keep the questions to themselves. Then they can gauge how the conversations are going then call for the group to rotate. This is a great way to get teens talking to one another.

Everyone is unique but we all have something in common. In a circle, call out characteristics to describe a person such as blue eyes, black hair, tall, curly hair, glasses, bangs, only child etc. If students fit the description, they come to the center. Verify the common characteristics and have students return to their places. Continue until ALL students come to the center at least once.