FAITH CHALLENGE
1 JOHN 4:7-12
April 18-May 16
Week 2: Seeing God by Loving Each Other
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-12
Memory
Verse: Beloved, let us love one another for
love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John
4:7 (NAS)
· Love comes from God.
· We cannot see God, but we know that God is with us when we love each other.
· God showed God’s love for us most clearly in Jesus Christ.
· Students will create skits that apply what they learned about God and about love the previous week to modern situations.
1. At the beginning of each
class, the Coach greets arriving students and supervises snacks.
2. The Guide and Coach remind
students to write prayer joys and concerns on the Prayer Wall and to place
their offering in the offering jars.
3. After most students have
arrived and snacks are ended (no later than 9:55 a.m.), the Guide asks the
Coach to lead an opening prayer. This can be brief and may or may not involve
the prayer chain.
1. Pass out Bibles and ask students to find 1 John 4:7-12. Students may at first look for the gospel of John. Inform them that 1 John is from a group of letters said to be written by John, one of Jesus’ disciples and are labeled 1, 2, and 3 John. They are after Paul’s letters. Ask students to take turns reading the verses of the Bible passage aloud.
2. To be sure that students understand what they have read, use the following questions to discuss the passage. Feel free to come up with your own discussion questions as well.
· What does John tell his readers (us) to do? Love one another.
· Why is it important that we love each other? It shows that we have been given new life; it shows that we are children of God; and it shows that we know God.
· Why does loving each other show that we know God? Because God is love.
· How do we know that God is love? Because God showed God’s love for us by sending God’s Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. In Christ, God come to earth in human form to be with God’s people and show them what love/God is like.
· The earliest disciples were able to see God because they could see Jesus teaching and preaching and healing. What are some ways that we can “see” God? We see God in stories about Jesus in the Bible and in people whom we love and who love us.
1. Ask for volunteers who were present the week before to summarize the Bible stories they discussed last week and what they learned about what God is like and what real love is like. Use the flipcharts taped on the wall the week before to remind students who were present what happened. Some students might be attending for the first time this week, so be sure to help students summarize fully for the benefit of new students.
2. Tell students that this week they will be learning how to apply what they have learned about God and about love to real-life, modern-day situations.
3. Divide the class into as many groups as you have adults in the classroom. Give each group:
· One set of “Jesus story” discussion questions. (Each group gets only one story this week; be sure to hand out stories that were discussed the week before; since students shared what they learned the week before, it is not necessary for students to be in the same group or to be working with the same story).
· A piece of flipchart paper and markers.
· The chart that was created for the group’s story the week before (for reference).
· Bibles.
· The adult leader will need the small-group instructions and the “adult version” of the stories (they have possible answers to the discussion questions in italics).
· Paper and pencils for writing skits.
4. Tell the groups that they will be reading some stories about Jesus and the ways that he showed love to different people in the gospels. Each group will be reading and discussing different stories. After their discussion, they will create a skit that acts out the story in a modern-day setting. When the groups are finished the class will come back together to share their skits.
5. Allow about 15-20 minutes for the small groups to discuss their stories and create their skits.
6. When the small-group time is up, call the class back together. Let each group have a turn sharing their skits. After each skit, discuss:
· What happened in the skit?
· Who needed God’s love in this skit?
· How was God’s love shared in the skit?
· What do we learn about God in this skit?
· What do we learn about love in this skit?
1. Close the class by singing They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love. If any students know it already, you can invite them to sing it through once with you to teach it to the rest of the class.
2. Ask students to tidy up. Gather all “Jesus Story” handouts for use the next time this lesson is taught.
1. The Coach conducts the closing prayer time. All students and adults gather around the prayer chain. The Coach begins and ends the prayer. The Coach asks each student to contribute a joy, thanksgiving or concern in turn.
2. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.
1. For questions on this lesson plan, call Susan Mazzara, 387-0920.
2. Gather supplies and make photocopies as listed in the supply list.
3. Write the words to They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love (attached) on flipchart paper (large enough for class to sing off of) and post it on the wall.
1. Ask for volunteers from the group to be: a reader, a discussion leader, and a recorder.
2. Ask the reader to read the story aloud.
3. Ask the discussion leader to use the summary and questions provided for each story to discuss the story.
4. As the group discusses the questions, ask the recorder to write answers on the clean flipchart paper.
5. After the group has discussed the story, help students brainstorm a modern-day situation that reflects the Biblical story.
6. Help students decide:
· What characters are needed?
· What is the “worldly” way to respond to the situation?
· How might Jesus respond to the situation?
· Who needs God’s love in this skit?
· How can God’s love be shared in the skit?
7. When the group has discussed the story, use the answers recorded to create a modern-day skit that acts out the story. Make sure there is a part in the skit for each person in the group.