Youth Small Group Guides
These were written by one of our interns whilst working with our youth congregation. Please feel free to use them as required. Click on a topic to view the guide or print out the PDF version.
Topics:
>> Fear //
Ice Breaker
Go round the group asking everyone what they fear the most or what fear constantly arises in there lives.... smooth link into the focus.
Focus
Matthew 14:22
Jesus walks on water but the focus is Matthew stepping out of the boat. Matthew did walk on water but as the storm grew stronger he began to sink. Look at the fact even though he sank Jesus was there to pull him up (“you of little faith”). We can totally relate this to our lives. In the midst of a storm the disciples in the boat were in there ‘safe/comfort zone’ however Peter wanted to show his commitment to Jesus, but to do this he had to step out his comfort zone. All he needed to do was have faith in Jesus, but he was scared. From that we can conclude that fear is the thing that holds us back from the things we truly want.
Action
Ask people:
What they thought about Peter, was he a success? a failure? (look at him compared to the other disciples)
What are our dreams? and what are the things we fear? (what’s holding us back?)
Simon Wield
>> Group Feedback Session
Ice Breaker
If you could ask God for anything and he would give it to you whatever it was – what would you ask for and why?
Focus
Ok no great biblical exposition this week. Something we did in my cell group, which was really effective and useful, was simply having a feedback session. This involves getting everyone to share their thoughts on how the group is going. So think about the things that have gone well (maybe particular meetings), the things that haven’t gone so well, things we should start doing, things we should do more/less of etc
This is a really good thing to do on e regular basis.
Action
Give everyone a piece of paper, get them to write down their thoughts. Then go round the group and get everyone (including leaders) to share what they’ve written. Have one person to write down the points raised.
Then have a general prayer at the end, give all you’re the thoughts and ideas up to God.
Simon Wield
>> Kingdom of Heaven //
Ice Breaker
Ahhhh.. there are only so many ice breaker games I can think of!!!! Have a chat and a cup of tea or something.
Focus
The Kingdom of Heaven
When Jesus wasn’t healing people or being challenged by the Pharisees and others, he preached on basically one thing, and that was the Kingdom of Heaven. Why is this so important? What is it? It’s a complicated subject, that’s why he used parables to explain it. Check out Matthew 13 (read the whole thing).
The Kingdom of Heaven, rather than being a geographical place, is the rule of God and acceptance of his kingship/authority. We can see this in the first parable in this chapter (Sower). The truth of the Kingdom is exposed to people, but not all accept it because the state of their heart isn’t right. This speaks of an authority rather than a place.
We also see the importance of understanding, which is also about the state of the heart rather than intellect.
Action
Have a discussion on what people think the Kingdom of Heaven is. Maybe ask some people to try and explain it.
Then get people to write out their own modern day parable to explain the Kingdom of Heaven.
At the end spend some time in prayer, and ask God to give you deeper revelation of his Kingdom, this will help you so much in your walk with God if you can get hold of this truth.
Simon Wield
>> Listening //
Ice Breaker
Hot seat!
One person is nominated to sit on the ‘hot seat’, and each person has to ask them a question. Once they’ve answered their questions the next victim is up… and so on.
Focus
How do we listen to God?
Being young most of us are quite spiritually immature, and the idea of listening to God can sound amazing, but can be very frustrating. Our human mindsets tell us we need to hear an audible voice, but how often does that happen? In the Old Testament when people heard from God and prophesied it was very direct, almost like he gave them a script. For example in Exodus (25) when God gave Moses intricate plans for the Tabernacle. This was because they didn’t have the Holy Spirit within them, it came over them, God gave his message, and then he left.
Look at the ways God speaks to us today through our spirit (thoughts, pictures, words etc), often it’s very subtle. Look at the ways we can train our spirits to be more open to God and what he’s saying. What are we feeding our spirits with?
Action
Testimony: Ask people to share about times when we feel that God has spoken to them?
Pray for each person one at a time, and rather than asking people what they need prayer for, ask God what they need prayer for. It’s so important to be patient and wait for God to speak. Don’t rush into prayer! Encourage people to prophesie over each other. (Do some homework on this before the meeting!) After, write down any prophesies and check they’re in line with scripture and encouraging. Pray about them and try to discern what you feel God might be saying.
Simon Wield
>> Love //
Ice Breaker
‘He said she said’ Bible style! It’s basically ‘He said she said’ but rather than being random people and random situations, use Bible characters and situations. Sorry if you don’t know how to play it.. sure you can think of something.
Focus
1Corinthians 12 and 13
1Cor 12 is a chapter on spiritual gifts and chapter 13 is on love. The focus is looking at the fact we (the church) can get carried away with ministry and using our gifts and forget about the heart behind them. Paul warns the church of Corinth that without love their gifts will be useless. If you look at Jesus’ ministry, everything he did came out of a heart of love and compassion eg Mat 11:38 ‘Jesus, once more deeply moved..’.
We’re not going to love people as much as Jesus and some may feel they don’t love as much as they think they should. But loving people is a command ‘love thy neighbour’ and if we obey this command I believe a genuine love for people will grow within us.
Action
Discuss with the group about love. As loving people is a command, get each person to think about how they can show love to people they’re in contact with.
Pray for people that God could fill them with more love for people
Simon Wield
>> Obedience //
Ice Breaker
Ok this week ‘The Name Game’. Everyone write a name of a famous person (don’t let anyone see), then write on a bit of paper and stick it on the person to the left’s head (so everyone can see it except them). Then you go round the group trying to guess who your person is by asking one question with a yes or no answer. First to guess right wins.
Focus
Obedience 1John 2:3-6 The verse that stood out in this passage for me was verse 5.. “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him”. In this we see God’s heart for obedience. He wants us to be obedient to his will to allow his love to made complete in us, and to serve his kingdom, not because he’s a big mean dictator! Obedience to his will is our way of loving God, and is a sign of true humbleness by accepting his wisdom far exceeds our own.
We see the importance of obedience in 1Samuel 15 (give the chapter a read). In this Saul is rejected as king because of his disobedience, and then in the next chapter we see the anointing of David the humble shepherd with a heart of obedience.
Quick bit of useful information. The word obey comes from the verb (in Greek or Hebrew can’t remember) ‘to hear’, so we need to know what God’s saying in order to obey him. Which means we need to be constantly reading his word and seeking his will through prayer.
Action
Get your group to talk about their reactions to the call for obedience, people’s first reaction can often be negative, generally people don’t like being told what to do!
Then maybe the group could spend some time thinking about their own situations, and pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal and convict areas of disobedience. Remember to keep affirming that it’s in obedience that we come to know God’s love and in turn true freedom.
Simon Wield
>> Relationship //
Ice Breaker
Write down an unusual fact about yourself on a bit of paper, for example “I have an extensive stamp collection”, fold it up and put it in a hat. Pick at random one of facts and as a group see if you can guess who wrote it. You don’t want people to know it’s your fact!
Focus
Mark 12:28-34 – In this passage Jesus talks about the two most important commandments (love God and love your neighbour). It’s easy to slip into a legalistic way of thinking, and put more emphasis on doing good deeds and being a ‘good christian’, rather than focusing on the most important thing; our relationship with God (loving God). Sometimes we forget about God’s grace and try to earn his love through deeds. God loves us whatever we do, ‘good deeds’ should be an effect of our relationship with God.
Action
Look at your relationships with close friends, or anyone you love, is that based on good deeds? (I hope not) how should our relationship with God reflect our human relationships? Trust, intimacy… Get people to respond, write down your ideas then share.
Simon Wield
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