New Hope Youth Ministry News
Details, Reminders, Important Things to Know, and Plans for Wednesday Night
Youth Leader Notes:
I will be hosting a baptism class during small group time for those students interested and who have attempted to complete the packet. I do know we have a few students who are interested in learning more and who may be interested in getting baptized on a different day.
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Reminder: Nov 27th is youth and family worship night. Encourage students to invite parents; you are welcome to invite parents as well. You are also welcome to invite your family to join us that night. Mochas will not be open that night.
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Please watch this video about small groups and going deeper. For me, it's encouraging because I see so many of you using these tactics and principles.
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This Week
Game Time
Who Will Be Left Holding the Bag?
Materials Needed: This is a game that is very simple to adapt to the size of your group. You will have objects that the youth will need to do something with before passing it on to the next person. When the music stops, the person left holding the object loses. All you need is an object to pass and someone to play the music.
How to Play:
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You can choose any object for the students to pass, but they must do something with the item before passing it to the next person. For example, if using a scarf, they wrap it around their neck once and then pass it to the next person. It could be a large children’s ring, and each student must put the ring on their finger before giving it to the next person. A bucket would also work. They would need to stand up and turn in a circle, then sit down and pass the bucket to the next person.
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One of the youth workers will sit with their back to the group and play a song on the guitar or piano. They will set the speed at which the game moves.
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The key to the fun is that they must do something with the object before passing it on, and everything must move to the speed of the music.
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At the end of the game, the music suddenly stops. The last person holding the object is out.
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Lesson Directions:
A lot of us have learned that in order to pray, we need to disengage and disconnect from the world around us. We believe that if we do that, and we do it long enough, try hard enough, and disconnect ourselves far enough, we will finally encounter God. And don’t get me wrong, sometimes that’s true. It has been for many people throughout history. As we mentioned in the first week of this series, the Bible is filled with stories of people disengaging from their world and encountering God. You may even have had an experience of God like this.
But even if we have had these experiences before, if we are being honest, they’re often fleeting, few, and hard to replicate—especially in your teenage years. And, look, just because something doesn’t happen very often doesn’t mean we should throw it out entirely. There’s beauty in getting quiet and seeking God in solitude. But if your only experience pursuing a relationship with God is sitting in silence and occasionally feeling God’s presence or hearing His voice, you’re probably going to feel a bit annoyed, frustrated, and let down.
When we realize that God can be encountered in regular and normal experiences, then we start to encounter God all over the place. Not only that, but we realize that we already encounter God on a regular basis. The world becomes magical when we see it as the home of God’s presence.
This is what the practice of prayer opens us to. It helps us realize that God is close to us, loving us, showing us we belong. There is no shame, no guilt, no expectation, just God’s presence and invitation. Prayer is not something that can only be mastered by the spiritual elite—the pastors and priests. Prayer is offered to all of us because of the grace of God through the life and work of Jesus, and it’s something we can all experience in a vibrant way because God is present not only in the prayer closets of the super-spiritual but also in the everyday experiences of the average Joe. All it takes for us to crack the code is to embrace God’s invitation to include Him in those moments.
Youth Small Group Guides
When students can allow their freedom in Christ to color the way they navigate prayer, they’ll find gospel centered transformation in that area of life.
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SERIES GOSPEL LENS God is present in our world
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SERIES SUMMARY When you engage God’s world God’s way, you engage with God Himself.
Lesson Break Out:
Week 1: Prayer is engagement with God
Week 2: Prayer is accepting God’s invitation into intimacy
Week 3: Prayer is noticing our encounters with God
Week 4: Youth and Family Worship Night
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Bible Reading Plan:
WEEK 1: James 3-4
WEEK 2: James 5
WEEK 3: 1 Peter 1-3
WEEK 4: 1 Peter 4-5
WEEK 3 SMALL GROUP GUIDE
Prayer is noticing our encounters with God
Genesis 28:12-16
WARMUP (James 5)
1 Peter 1-3 (next week)
How did your Bible reading (from the reading plan) go this past week?
UNDERSTANDING THE TENSION
What kinds of “formulas” have you tried to make prayer more engaging or successful?
When in your life has God been most real to you? Is there a particular moment you can share?
EMBRACING THE TRUTH
Read Luke 24:13-16. Why do you think God kept the disciples from recognizing Jesus?
What does the Luke 24 situation suggest about God’s nature?
After encountering God there, Jacob never saw that ordinary old place the same way again. What ordinary places are special to you?
PERSONALIZING THE POINT
Where in nature do you see aspects of who God is?
How has God showed up in the ordinary moments of your life?
THROWING ON THE G SHADES
To notice God in the ordinary, you’re going to have to be fully present—not so distracted. What distractions might be holding you back from noticing your encounters with God?
SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY
Hand out the prayer papers. They have pictures of a school textbook, a smartphone, and a toy car. The school textbook represents school. The smartphone represents home. The toy car represents the drives to and from things. Students will sit and reflect on each category for a minute or two, and then journal a prayer to God about how they want to notice Him more in each of those scenarios represented by the props. Afterward, come back together and share.