• To serve others
• To gain love and acceptance
• To obtain recognition and status
• To find self-fulfillment
• To serve God

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Ingredients
1 loving teacher
8 to 12 young minds
1 to 2 cups curiosity
4 to 5 spoonfuls fun hands-on participation
Patience
Laughter
Enthusiasm

Directions

1. Combine talented teacher and eager young mind
2. Add cupfuls of curiosity and spoonfuls of fun.
3. Blend in generous amounts of hands-on participation mixed with patience.
4. Sprinkle with laughter and serve with enthusiasm.

Yield
Learning at its best!

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Tips for using Stories.

• Don’t tell a story without practice.
• Do not analyze the story. Let the story speak for itself.
• Don’t make it a sermon. Stories enhance sermons; sermons do not enhance stories.
• Keep it vivid. Use words that paint mental pictures.
• Make sure it is appropriate. Age group and context are important considerations.
• Visualize the story. Rather than memorize, visualize. See the story in your mind’s eye.
• Consider student vocabulary level.
• Beware of tangents. tangents tend to confuse.
• Avoid too many details. Excessive detail also tends to confuse.
• Don’t show and tell. Use props sparingly Let your words do the communicating.
• Resist asking for feedback. Let the story simmer in your listeners’ minds.
• Do not illustrate a story. Stories within stories may work in writing but not in teaching.

Get Help on Your Youth Sermons

Creative Sermon Ideas
This 100 Page e-Book Includes All The Help You Need To Prepare Powerful, Life-Changing Youth Sermons That Will Turn Your Preaching Around And Make Your Youth Sit Up And Listen! Includes 7 Complete Sermons.
=> I want More Youth Sermon Ideas…

Game Description
Sitting in a circle, youth toss a ball of string to someone else in the circle. The person receiving the string must name a quality, item, or something else related to the lesson.

Game Materials
Ball of string or yarn

Game Play
Example: Name a Quality of friendship

1. Sit the group on the floor in a circle.
2. Holding firmly to the string, toss it to a person in the circle.
3. The person receiving the string must name a quality (of the person who tossed it to him/her) that makes them a good friend.
4. The person then, holding firmly onto the string, tosses the ball on to another person. The string should be held above the ground.
5. Continue until everyone has received the string at least once and said at least one quality of a friend that the person who tosses it to them possesses.

Discussion

• Of the qualities mentioned which do you value most?
• Who are your friends?
• How can we be better friends?
• Why are friends important?

Closing
What makes a friend is the connections we make, the events we share, the discussions we share. Eventually, if we fail to share with each other or if we do things that “break” the relationship the friendship begins to fall apart. John 15 speaks of the “Vine and the branches” and the connectedness we must maintain with Christ! Fortunately the Bible says we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother- Jesus.
What are some of the qualities of God as a friend?

Apply it
What is one quality of a friend you will work to show in your actions this week? Who will you show it to? How?

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Creative Sermon Ideas
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Description
Conspicuously placed signs get attention and encourage participation.

Example

1. Post two large sheets of paper or a couple of sheets of newsprint (small print classifieds work best) with
2. the heading “Good Things Come to Those Who Wait” on opposite walls.
3. Use large tip markers but make sure the paper is thick enough so it does not bleed through. Alternatively use your classroom whiteboard.
4. As youth arrive, direct them to one of sheets of paper or the whiteboard and instruct them to list as many things as possible that may take a while to receive but are definitely worth the wait.

Note: pasting newsprint around the room, on the floor or on a table etc in unusual places with large printed questions is more likely to catch their attention when they enter your classroom because it is unusual.

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Use
Use this word game to add an element of fun and interactivity to a lesson. It works great with questions where youth can list a variety of single word answers.

Materials
Paper and writing utensil for each youth

Example As a game, give the youth 30 seconds to make a list of as many things as possible that must be “connected” in order to work properly.

1. Go around the group and have each person choose a word off their list that has not been chosen yet. S/he will get a point for each other person who has written that same word.
2. Everyone then crosses that word off the list.
3. Continue around until there are no more words left.
4. Reward the youth with the highest score.

Discussion
Why is being connected to Jesus so important in John 15?

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Often, well known scripture passages and events gain new life when told from a different perspective. Assign class members the roles of different people a passage. If we were to use Mark 14, then read the Mark 14, and have each person retell the story from the perspective of the person’s role they were assigned.

Possible roles are:

1. Jesus annointed with Perfume – Jesus, Chief priests and teachers of the law, people (crowd), Simon the Leper, Mary the sister of Martha (the woman with the jar of perfume), disciples, Judas Iscariot
2. The Lord’s Supper – man carrying the jar of the water, the owner of the house with the large upper room, the disciples, Judas, Peter, Jesus
3. Garden of Gethsemane – Peter-James-John, God the Father, Jesus
4. Jesus’ Arrest – The servant of the High Priest who had his ear cut off, the streaker who lost His garment, guards, Jesus, disciples
5. Jesus Before the Sanhedrin – Sanhedrin, High Priest, Jesus, guards, those who were asked to give false testimony
6. Peter denies Christ – the servant girl who questioned Peter, the crowd, Peter

Some more creative roles would be to tell the story from the following perspectives:

1. Annointed with Perfume – from the perfume’s perspective
2. The Lord’s Supper – the unleavened bread and wine, the table, the upper room
3. Garden of Gethsemane – the garden itself
4. Jesus’ Arrest – the streaker’s lost garment, the ear, the swords and clubs, the kiss
5. Before the Sanhedrin – The house of the high priest, the high priest’s torn robes, the hands which struck Jesus, the blindfold Jesus was made to wear
6. Peter denies Christ – the rooster, the fire by which Peter was warming himself, Peter’s tears

Application
1. Discuss the insights and lessons learned from this activity.
2. Do this same process for key Biblical events in both the Old and New Testaments

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Look ahead to the next lesson.

As soon as one lesson has been taught, you should be looking ahead to the next one.

1. Write the topic on a post-it note and stick it someplace you will see each day. Then as you go through the week, you will be amazed at the things you find in daily life that relate to the lesson. You will find yourself able to apply the lesson in practical real life scenarios.

2. Change the context.With the topic in your thoughts, walk through a toy store. What toys could be used as object lessons for the upcoming topic? Do the same walking through the supermarket, through a garden, watching the news, reading the newspaper, etc.

3. Relate the lesson to Popular Culture. With the topic in your thoughts, what recent movies or TV shows are related? How can you use them to illustrate key points in your lesson? Do the same for popular songs on the radio? Popular sports figures and events? Tap into youth culture and you have thier attention!

4. Apply it to your own life.What are some events or experiences in your own life where this lesson was applied, should have been applied, or wasn’t applied. How would knowing the content of this lesson have made a difference to you? What lessons did you learn from the experience? How would applying this lesson make a difference in your life today? As you go through the week try to apply the lesson at every opoprtunity to your own life.

5. Carry a notecard with you with the topic written on it. Whenever you get an insight or idea, jot it down on the card. Too often we have great insights, but then we forget them because we didn’t have a process for recording them for future reference.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
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Create file folders for common lesson topics

Over the years, you will find yourself repeating many of the lesson topics with a different set of youth or children. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel every time.

1. Make a list of future lesson topics and create a folder for each topic. Whenever you come across stories, articles, or other teaching materials related to the topic, place a copy in the folder. You can even get parents and the rest of your youth workers and youth teachers to help you. Let them know what topics are coming up and ask them to be on the lookout for related information and to give you a copy of anything they come across.

2. Save your Lessons and Materials by topic. When you teach a lesson on a specific topic or Bible passage, photocopy it and place it in a folder for future reference. In the future when you teach the topic or passage again, you now have additional teaching ideas and activities to help you prepare your lesson.

3. Save your ideas and insights. Have a great teaching idea or activity for a lesson? Write it down and place it in a file according to topic. In the future when you teach that topic, your incredible insights and wonderful ideas won’t be wasted.

4. Do the same thing for key events and activities. Put a copy of everything related to the event into a folder. Meeting minutes, publicity, contact persons, resources etc. Next time you have the event it will be so much smoother!

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…

What you do
In a designated place, leave a lesson photocopied from your favorite resource with everything needed to teach the lesson. A small cloth bag with a draw string works great. Staple a label to the outside with the title of the lesson, the topic, and the scripture passage. (Large manilla envelopes or file folders can also be used for this. A small toolbox also works.)

Here’s what you should include:
1. A Photocopy or the original teaching plan for the lesson. (This has all the details for the lesson background, key principles and teaching points, and instructions for the learning activities. This should be read in advance of the actual teaching, even if it is 15 minutes before you start.)
2. A teaching outline of the lesson with key points, discussion questions to ask, and activities listed. This is what you actually use when you teach the lesson. You should never teach directly from a curriculum.
3. Any props, objects for objcet lessons, posters, OHP cells, or other materials needed to teach the lesson.
4. Worksheets and pencils for the typical number of youth that attend your program, plus a few extras.
5. Blank Paper for students to write on
6. Whiteboard markers and eraser
7. A small Bible
8. A list of the contents of the bag needed for the lesson.
ANYTHING ELSE NEEDED TO TEACH THE LESSON

WHY?
1. For those times when you are running late and don’t have time to prepare for a lessonand collect all the resources needed.
2. When you need to teach a lesson outside the church in someone’s home, at a school, or even at another church. Just grab your “Lesson to Go” and you have everything you need.
3. When you get delayed, or find yourself ill and you need someone else to teach a lesson for you. They will appreciate your advanced preparation.

After you have taught the lesson, be sure to replace your “Lesson to Go” for the next time you find yourself in a crunch!

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…