TRANSFORMED LIFE WEEK 6: GIFTED FOR SERVICE
Age group:15+
Theme: Finding Your Ministry in the Church
The aim of this session is to help the members of the group to identify what they are good at or gifted at and how they can use this to serve or help other people in their community or church.
Bible references: Romans 12:4–8, 1 Corinthians 12.
LEADER’S NOTES
"God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.”
Romans 12:6–8 (CEV)
We are all good at something, even though at times it may seem doubtful as to what that something is! Some people have the confidence and ability to identify their gifts and to know exactly how to use them. For others, it may not be as clear how the things that they are good at can be used to serve others. However, as the Scripture passage above tells us, we all have different gifts that are given to us by the Holy Spirit and we should use them to the best of our abilities.
For some members of your group, it will seem very clear to them where they can help others within a church and serve using their gifts. Quite often, these sorts of people are able to serve in many different ways. The danger here is that you will get someone with ‘burn out’ – they do so many different things and are involved in so much that they become stressed out andexhausted, and then cannot do anything.
Other members of your group may not feel that they are that good at anything in particular so they are unsure of how they can be useful to the church or the group. These people will need your time, attention and prayers as you demonstrate that everyone has the ability to serve and help.
There may well be members of your group who are gifted but who are not members or attendees of a church. It may be that you could get them involved in a church that you know has good links with people their age. However, it could also be that they do not want to get involved with a church but would like to use their gifts elsewhere. Make sure that you are available to discuss options with them and have some suggestions of local groups or charities that they could get involved with.
All of the Getting Started activities can be adapted for groups that have no previous experience or contact with church, with the focus being on how they can use what they are good at to help others. The Digging In activity ‘Use Your Gifts’ is specifically for those groups. The aim is to challenge your group to use their gifts to help or benefit others, whilst introducing the reasons that Christians believe they should use the gifts given to them by God. The Response activities ‘Appreciate Others’ Gifts’ or ‘Wall Of Talents’ are good responses to use with a group of this dynamic.
Although the theme of this session is specifically for people to find their ministry in the Church, there is no reason why it cannot be adapted and used to enable members of your group to use their God-given gifts anywhere.
Cup Stacking
Duration: 15 mins
Equipment required: 6 plastic cups for each person and the means to look at the link below.
Description:
Go the following link and learn how to stack cups:
In order to demonstrate and teach this to your group you will need to have a go yourself!
Hand out the cups and demonstrate how to stack cups. When everyone has had a go and learned how to do it, see who the fastest cup stacker in your group is!
The Point: Just for fun.
Beautiful Music
Duration: 15 mins
Equipment required:Eight glasses, jugs of water, spoons and a table for each team.
Description:
Split the group into teams of threes or fours and get each group to stand around a table on which are the glasses, jugs of water and spoons.
Explain that they need to fill each glass with a different amount of water to make a different pitch of sound which they can test by gently tapping each glass with the handle of a spoon.
The aim is to be the first group to be able to play, using their glasses of water, the first line of ‘Twinkle TwinkleLittle Star’.
When they think they have got it, each group can play their version of the line. Congratulate the best rendition. If there’s time they could all work on another tune.
The Point: Just for fun.
Land, Water, Mountains and Sky
Duration: 15 mins
Equipment required: None.
Description:
Get the group to stand in a straight line next to each other with their shoulders nearly touching.
Explain that you are going to say one of four words. Each word has a movement attached to it and they must remember what the movement is and do it.
Anyone who does the movement wrong is out.
The words and movements are as follows:
- Land – take a step forwards
- Water – take a step backwards
- Mountains – take two steps forwards
- Sky – take two steps backwards
When they have mastered this add in some new words and movements:
- Hill – take a step to the left
- Lake – take a step to the right
- Whirlpool – jump on the spot
The winner is the last person left in the line.
Variations of this game could be to split the group into two teams and have them playing against each other – the winning team is the one with the most people left or the last player left standing.
The Point: Just for fun.
Different Gifts
Duration: 15 mins
Equipment required: Means to show YouTube clip.
Description:
Gather the group together and watch the following clip, which shows different people participating in cup stacking:
Discuss the fact that we are all good at something as well as finding other things more difficult. In the clip, we saw people who were good at stacking cups, or more to the point, people who had exceptionally fast hand-eye co-ordination!
Today’s session is all about looking at how we use the things that we are good at – our gifts – and how we can use them to benefit other people and/or the church that we belong to.
The Point: To introduce the topic of the session using a YouTube clip.
Random Record-Breaking Gifts
Duration: 10 mins
Equipment required: Computer(s) and link to the internet.
Description:
Gather everyone around to look at the following pictures/reports of random world records, which can been seen at the following link:
Look at as many as you feel is suitable for your group and then discuss with them which one they would like to have a go at breaking and why.
Explain that in order to break world records, you need to be good at or gifted at something related to it. For example, you wouldn’t be able to even think about breaking the record for the highest stiletto heel if you were clumsy and had bad balance. However, you would if you could balance well, had experience of wearing high-heeled shoes and could also walk in them!
Some things we are gifted at are of no use except, perhaps, for a party piece at a boring party! However, other things that we are good at can be used to help other people and if we are a member of a group or church, they can be used to help or serve other people.
Today’s session is all about recognising our gifts and looking how we can serve our church or other people by using them.
The Point: To look at random world record breakers and to think about how we can use the most random of gifts to serve other people.
Thinker, Sayer, Doer?
Duration: 15 mins
Equipment required: None.
Description:
Ask everyone to have a think about where their strengths lie or what things they are particularly goodor gifted at.
Go around the group and ask everyone to say if they are a ‘Thinker’, a‘Sayer’ or a‘Doer’. Then ask them to stand in these three groups.
Now ask each group to discuss what they are good at, e.g. in the ‘Sayer’ group some people may be good at singing, some good at talking or at reading poetry etc. In the ‘Doer’ group some people may be good with computers, others able to do physically demanding things etc.
Gather everyone together again and spend some time discussing what they have learned about themselves and their abilities. Explain that today is all about recognising our gifts and then using them to help other people, whether that is in a church environment or in our community that we live in.
The Point:To get the group to think about the things that they are good at and to learn more about why and how they are good at these things.
Use Your Gifts
Duration: 20 mins
Equipment required: Means to show the YouTube clips.
Description:
Gather the group around to watch the following clips of different people’s gifts:
- Fastest violin player:
- Fastest reader (reading Michael Jackson’s Bad!):
- An artist drawing a charcoal picture:
Discuss together what they think of these different gifts and whether they are useful or not. How can these people’s gifts be used to help other people? (This may take a bit of thinking outside the box!)
Explain that Christians believe that allgifts have come from God and people can use these gifts to serve God in different ways.
This belief comes from passages similar to the following one from the Bible:
‘God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have.If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.’
Romans 12:6–8 (CEV)
Sometimes it may not be very clear to us what we are good at or how we can use it to help other people. Then at other times, we can see that we can help in so many different ways and we can’t decide which would be the best way. The important thing is that we are willing to help others and let them benefit from the things that we are good at whether it is in a church or in the community we live in.
The Point: To demonstrate some obvious and some random gifts that people have and to challenge the group to use their gifts to benefit others in their community or church.
Different Gifts
Duration: 15 mins
Equipment required: Bibles or means to display Bible verses.
Description:
Gather the group together and have a quick discussion/reminder as to who is good/gifted at what.
Display the following Bible verse or give out Bibles and ask everyone to look up Romans 12:4–8:
‘A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use.That’s how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another.
God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have.If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach.If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.’ Romans 12:4–8 (CEV)
Sum up the passage by saying that it shows us that any group or church is made up of different people who can do different things. Just like our bodies are made up of different parts that have a specific use.
With the things that we can do well we can help others and benefit the groups we belong to by using them. For example, if you are a confident person you could meet and talk to new members of the group to put them at ease or you could offer to give the notices, or read from the Bible. If you are good with computers you could update the group or church’s webpage or type up letters.
Often we do not think we can be of use until the opportunity has passed and someone else is doing the job because no-one else would.
In order to use our gifts and the things that we are good at, we first need to realise where our strengths lie and then to think how we can benefit others.
The Point: To use Scripture to challenge the group to be a part of their group or church by using the things that they are good at and becoming more involved using these gifts.
United and Able To Serve
Duration: 15 mins
Equipment required: Bibles, paper and pens.
Description:
Divide the group into smaller groups of threes or fours and give out the Bibles, paper and pens.
In their groups, ask them to look at the following Bible passage and then to answer the questions relating to it. (If they would like to take notes on their discussions or thoughts they can do this on the paper.)
1 Corinthians 12
- What are the main points that you can draw from this passage?
- What would you say you have learned about the following points after reading this passage?
1) Spiritual gifts and service
2) Different people and different gifts
3) Unity through the Holy Spirit
- In what ways is this passage relevant to you and your lives? How can you apply it and put it into practice?
Spend some time sharing the different groups’ answers and discussing their thoughts and questions based on the passage. Invite members of the group to sum up what they have learned.
The Point: To look at the Bible to show us that even though we are all different and good at different things, we can serve God through our unity in the Holy Spirit.
Appreciate Others’ Gifts
Duration: 10 mins
Equipment required: Young people’s phones, iPods, headphones etc.
Description:
Invite the group to split themselves into smaller groups of twos or threes and to spend some time listening to each other’s music on their phones or iPods.
As they listen, encourage them to think about today’s session and what they have learned. Ask them to consider the gifts of the people who were involved in making the music and how they benefit other people’s lives with it.
If some of the group would like to pray, encourage them to do this either individually or with the rest of their group.
The Point: To encourage your group to reflect upon what they have learned in this session.
Wall of Talents
Duration: 5 mins
Equipment required: Paper and pens.
Description:
Ask everyone to write down their name and what they are good at that could help other people.
Display these descriptions up on the wall of your meeting room and explain to the group that if someone in the group needs a hand with a specific thing or knows of someone else who does, then they can look at the ‘Wall of Talents’ to see who they could ask to help them.
Sum up by looking at the varied gifts that there are in your group. You may like to say a short prayer to thank God for this, if it is appropriate to your group.
The Point: To encourage your group to put what they have learned from this session into practice.
Serve the Lord
Duration: 10 mins
Equipment required: Memory verse displayed or Bibles, post-it notes and pens.
Description:
‘There are different ways to serve the same Lord,and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.’
1 Corinthians 12:5–6 (CEV)
Display the memory verse so that everyone can see it and give out the post-it notes and pens.
Invite everyone to copy down the verses and then say them together a few times.
Suggest that they take them home and stick them somewhere so that they can see and read the verses when they need encouragement to know that they are good at something and they can be used in many different ways through their gifts.
The Point: To encourage your group to learn more about God through learning Scripture.