SMALL GROUPS February 14th, 2012

Will You Be My Valentine? – Week 1 – Dating

PARENT EDITION:

One of the most difficult topics to talk to our Jr. High students about is the idea behind dating. Not only are there are so many questions that our students have about what it means to date, but we ourselves often have a lot of questions about it. When do we allow our students to start dating? Do our students even have feelings for the opposite sex in middle school? Our goal is to try and talk through these questions together, and figure out what the answers are, even though some questions might not necessarily have a cut and dry answer.

Question 1: What kinds of things have we taught our students about when it comes to the topic of dating?

Question 2: Have we given our students a certain age where they are officially allowed to date? Why did you choose that age?

Question 3: Does it seem crazy to think that our students are getting ready to start dating?

Question 4: Have we taught our students what the purposes of dating are? What have you taught them, and why?

Question 5: Because of the cultural differences between now and then, dating is a difficult topic to look to the Bible for answers. Are there any spiritual truths that we can take from the Bible and relate back to the topic of dating?

LEADER INTRO

It’s time for a brand new series, and today is Valentine’s Day. Whether you choose to celebrate or not, it’s the perfect time to talk about three things; dating, love and sex. Over the next three weeks we’re going to tackle these topics, because we know that they are such confusing topics, especially for Jr. Highs. For week 1, we’re going to start off talking about dating, which is one extremely confusing topic that we look to the Bible for answers about. We’re going to do the best we can to help our students understand the concept of dating, and some wholesome purposes for its existence in our society.

Question 1: Go around the room and give your highs and lows for the week.

Question 2: Today is Valentine’s day! Did anyone get any cool cards or gifts from someone at school?

Question 3: How many of us have had or have a crush on a girl or boy?

Question 4: What do you personally think the purpose of dating is?

Question 5: Because of the cultural differences between ourselves and many of the people in the Bible, how can we figure out what the Bible says about dating?

Question 6: Sometimes, dating can be a bad idea, depending on where we are in our lives personally, but sometimes it can be perfectly ok. How can we figure out when it’s ok for us?

Spend a few minutes in prayer with your students for needs, and the wisdom to know how to deal with the confusion of relationships.

PUT GOD FIRST

Feb, 15 2012

Parents,

When you bring up the topic of love sex and dating, it results in many questions.  It is quite a hot topic …  ha ha ha.  There are a few principles that will be helpful to the students as they are tying to navigate their way through the teenage years and wrestling with all this stuff.  One of those guiding principles is “Putting God First.”  We will be looking at the 3 areas of Love, Sex, and Dating through the lens of putting God first.  It will be good for the youth to wrestle with what it would be like to put God first when it comes to this area of their lives.  Here is some of the small group material that may have been covered this week.

Goals…

• To establish a safe place for the students to talk about this stuff
• To be a voice of truth for them since they are hearing so many lies
• To talk about what it would be like to put God first even in the areas of Love Sex and Dating

Conversation Starters…

• High’s and lows
• Did anything stick out from the message that you had questions about?

Dig a Little Deeper…

• PUT GOD FIRST
  • Read Matt 6:33
  • What are some “temporal” things that people chase after?
  • Is this something that is easy or tough to live out?
  • What sounds better to live for … Big Macs or God?
  • LOVE
    • Can you remember as a kid what cartoons began to form your idea of love?
    • What are some other ways that you form your idea of love?
    • What are some ways that you can put God first in this area of your life?
    • SEX
      • Read Exodus 20:14, and 1 Corinthians 6:18
      • Do you think that the Bible is clear or blurry about sex?
      • What guidelines does the bible lay out for us to follow?
      • What are some ways that you can put God first in this area of your life?
      • DATING
        • What does society say about dating?
          • Think of a song, or movie, or magazine, or friends
    • Do you feel pressure to get into a relationship?
    • What are some bad reasons to get into a relationship?
    • What are some good reasons to get into a relationship?
    • What are some ways that you can put God first in this area of your life?

Personal…

• You could just remind them that everyone struggles in this area
• You could share a time where you put God first in one of these areas and talk about how God helped you out

Applications…

• Take a moment to think about some changes that you need to make in your life as a result of tonight
• Remind your group that you are available to talk with tem about this stuff

Scriptures…

“You must not commit adultery.”  Exodus 20:14

“Run from sexual sin.”  1 Corinthians 6:18

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “            Matthew 6:33

SMALL GROUPS February 7th, 2012

Heroes – Week 5 –Esther

PARENT EDITION:

After the popular demand of a female hero from our Jr. Highs, I decided that Esther would be an incredible hero to talk about as the finale of our Hero series. Esther had this incredible faith and trust in God, and knew the importance of prayer, which is something that takes a lot for some people to grasp. Even as a 20-something I still have a hard time sometimes understand what it means to pray constantly, and live in an attitude of prayer, as Paul talks about in the New Testament. I know I can’t necessarily blame that on my Jr. High program growing up, but I know that I was never taught much about prayer as a middle schooler. As parents and leaders of Jr. Highs it’s important for us to teach our students what it means to pray, and its importance. In Esther’s story, we see a young woman, with so much potential, who is given this amazing opportunity to save her people, the Israelites.

Question 1: How were your weeks with your Jr. Highs? Did they mention anything about mentoring this week? Were any of you challenged to think about how you are mentors to your kids on daily basis?

Question 2: Esther gives us this amazing story of how someone trusted in God so deeply, that she was willing to put her life on the line, knowing that God would take care of her situation. Do we have any stories of how we’ve been able to trust God to provide for our families, and how He followed through for us?

Question 3: Esther asked Mordecai as well as her friends and family to fast for her before she went in to talk to the king, which was illegal. How can we teach our students, through our own personal actions, the importance of prayer in all of our situations, big and small?

Question 4: This is the last week that we’ll be talking together about being Heroes, so are there any ways that we have thought of, over the past number of weeks, that we can show our students what it means to be a hero?

LEADER INTRO

It’s the last week of our series on the deliciousness and simplicity of Oreos. So far we’ve focused on Noah, Joseph, Moses and Joshua. This week we’re mixing things up a bit, and focusing on a Heroine. Most of us know the story of Esther, about how God made her queen at the perfect time to save the Israelites, and most of us consider her a hero. She was not only a hero to the Israelites in her story, but she is also a hero to most of us now. Esther risked her life for God’s calling, to save the Israelites. She trusted that God was using her for a reason. This week we’re going to show our students that we can trust God, and he’ll do amazing things through us when we do.

Question 1: Go around the room and give your highs and lows for the week.

Question 2: As we heard in this story, Esther was a hero. Besides trusting God, what were some other ways that she was considered a hero?

Question 3: Esther was willing to die in order to save her family and the rest of the Israelites. That takes a lot of faith and trust. What kinds of things in our lives require a lot of faith and trust to accomplish?

Question 4: Why is it so hard sometimes for us to trust that God is leading us in the right direction?

Question 5: What can we do in order to start to trust God with everything?

Question 6: Esther was a hero because of her trust and her faith in God. What situations can we be praying about that require a lot of trust and faith from us?

^15-16 Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: “Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I’ll go to the king, even though it’s forbidden. If I die, I die.” (Esther 4:15-16 )

Spend a few minutes in prayer with your students for needs, and the willingness to be the heroes that God has called them to be.

SMALL GROUPS January 31^th, 2012

Heroes – Week 4 –Joshua

PARENT EDITION:

Mentoring is one of those topics that we talk about a lot in the local church, but still a lot of times people do not understand it fully, and cannot rely one someone to give them a Biblical example of mentoring. This week at Fuel, we’re talking about Joshua, and his relationship with Moses. Though there are many great examples of mentoring relationships between two people in the Bible, Joshua and Moses seem to have one of the greatest examples. In Exodus and the book of Joshua, we get a glimpse of the relationship between these two guys, and the way that Moses poured into Joshua’s life, so that when Moses passed away, Joshua would be able to lead the Israelites to the promised land. As a Jr. High ministry, we want to enable both our leaders and our parents to have amazing mentoring relationships with our students. Let’s see what kinds of questions we can ask ourselves to be the best mentors that we can possibly be on a daily basis.

Question 1: Did any of us have any meaningful chats with our Jr. Highs about what it means to be a Christ Follower this week? Did any conversations come up about the messages at Fuel over the past few weeks?

Question 2: One of the first instances where we see Joshua in the Old Testament is a great example of how Moses shows Joshua what it means to have a deep and meaningful relationship with God. Read Exodus 24:9-18 and talk about how as parents, we can demonstrate our own personal relationships with Christ to our students.

Question 3: Joshua, after Moses past away, was able to model his relationship with God after Moses’ own relationship with God. How have we seen things that we’ve taught our kids about Christ been reflected through their lives over the past year or so?

Question 4: Joshua didn’t just receive mentoring from Moses, but he also was able to be a mentor to the elders of the tribes of Israel that would eventually take over. Joshua saw the importance of mentorship. How can we teach our students the importance of the mentorship they receive from both us, and the other Jr. High small group leaders, so that they will become mentors one day?

LEADER INTRO

This week’s hero is Joshua. Joshua is one of my favorite Heroes in the Bible (and not just because we share a name). If you read in book of Exodus we start to see this very unique relationship between Moses and Joshua. Joshua eventually is going to take over leadership, and take Israel into the promised land, so Moses is teaching Joshua everything that he needs to know. You’ll often hear a lot of talk about mentorship in local Church circles, and if done properly, it can be one of the most important tools in bringing people to Christ. We have a really cool opportunity as Jr. High small group leaders to pour into our Jr. Highs as their mentors. We know the things that they have gone through, and can teach them so many things while they make their way through life. Tonight we’re going to first, try and teach them what it means to be a mentor, through Moses and Joshua’s stories, and how they can begin to find trust in both you as their leaders and others, and second, we’re going to do our best to be the mentors that our Jr. Highs need outside of their homes.

Question 1: Go around the room and give your highs and lows for the week.

Question 2: There are so many types of Oreos nowadays. Oreo Cakesters, Golden Oreos, Mint Oreos. What’s your favorite?

Question 3: Joshua and Moses had a pretty cool friendship. Moses taught Joshua tons of things that he needed to know to take over as leader. Who do we have in our lives that “mentor” us?

Question 4: Joshua trusted Moses and that, in many ways, was the reason Joshua was so successful in his leadership. How can we learn to trust our mentors.

Question 5: We can be mentors to our brothers and sisters, or younger friends at school or church. Can you think of anyone that you could start mentoring?

Question 6: What kinds of things can we teach these people? How can we help them along the way?

¹² Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.” ¹³ So Moses and his assistant Joshua set out, and Moses climbed up the mountain of God. (Exodus 24:12-13)

Spend a few minutes in prayer with your students for needs, and the willingness to be the heroes that God has called them to be.

SMALL GROUPS January 24^th, 2012

Heroes – Week 3 – Moses

PARENT EDITION:

This week, we’re staying on track with our series titled ‘Be a Hero, Not an Oreo’. We’re going to take a look at the life of Moses, and how, even with a lack of self-confidence, he was able to overcome what he thought were personal flaws, to achieve a sense of authority through God. Often, in the lives of our students, they feel a lack of self confidence, but don’t realize that they have been made perfect in the eyes of Christ. What we should try our hardest to do as leaders and parents is give them the sense of confidence in the fact that God made them so unique and perfect to follow God’s plan for their lives.

Question 1: What do you think led to the lack of self-confidence in Moses’ life? Do our students relate to these factors?

Question 2: In Exodus 3, we see an entire dialogue between Moses and God, where Moses tries his hardest to persuade God that he isn’t the right guy for the task of confronting Pharaoh. God proves to Moses that no matter what Moses thinks, he has been made to accomplish this mission and follow God’s path. How can we encourage our students, that like Moses, they were made especially to fulfill God’s plan for their lives?

Question 3: What changes in Moses’ life between the dialogue he has with God, demonstrating that he thought that he was inadequate for the job he had been given, and when he approaches Pharaoh with a great sense of authority? How can we show our students that this attitude can also happen in their lives?

Question 4: What are we doing in our student’s lives to encourage them to continue to be a Hero in their everyday lives? Are there any examples that we can think of?

Question 5: With so many examples of heroes provided to us in the Bible, what can we do as parents and leaders to be a hero in our families? Who in the Bible are we using as examples and role models to show us how to be the best parents and leaders that we can possibly be?

LEADER INTRO

This week we continue with the same series, on how God has made each of us so unique, and given us the abilities to be a Hero, and continue along His path for our lives. Moses is going to be our example for this week, and we’re going to take a look at how, though he felt like he wasn’t qualified to do God’s work, he stepped up, and achieved great things for God, and ultimately became a hero.

Question 1: Go around the room and give your highs and lows for the week.

Question 2: Did anyone discover a new way to eat an Oreo this week?

Question 3: Moses seemed to not have a whole lot of self confidence, but he was still able to do good things for God. What kinds of things do we see in our own lives that might stop us from doing what God wants us to do.

Question 4: When Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh, Moses seems to approach him with an attitude of complete authority. What do you think changed, taking Moses from a man without any confidence, to someone with a lot of confidence?

Question 5: How can we allow God to give us the feeling authority to be a Hero at home or at school?

Question 6: What other types of characteristics does Moses show in his story, which made him a hero? And how can we mirror those qualities?

Spend a few minutes in prayer with your students for needs, and the willingness to be the heroes that God has called them to be.

SMALL GROUPS January 17^th, 2012

Heroes – Week 2 – Joseph

PARENT EDITION:

An Oreo: A delicious treat, without much depth or complexity. Us: A being created by God, with a purpose, filled with complexity and depth. Our students might not always realize it, but they have been created with a purpose, and even at such a young age, they’re meant to fulfill that purpose. Looking to the Word of God, we see so many amazing examples of people that have fulfilled God’s purpose for their lives in huge ways. Last week we took a look at Noah’s life, and saw how he was able to listen, obey and follow God’s plan for his life. This week we’re looking at Joseph’s life and story. We can easily see that Joseph was slow to anger, he was obedient and he stuck to his morals, despite the odds being stacked against him. These are things that our students can learn easily, and commit towards obtaining in their faith journeys.

Question 1: As parents, how can we help demonstrate to our students what it means to be slow to anger in a truthful, and real way.

Question 2: Though our students are not necessarily always obedient in a school or home scenario, how can we teach them on a basic level to listen for God’s voice, and then remain obedient?

Question 3: Sometimes morals can be a difficult thing to talk about within a family setting, but how can we use the situation between Joseph and Potiphar’s wife to show our students both the importance, and possibility of upholding our values and morals?

Question 4: We’ve been talking about Heroes in the Bible that can demonstrate what it means to be a Christ follower and uphold Godly values. How can we as parents be “Heroes” to our students on a daily basis?

Question 5: Joseph had a pretty crazy life, but remained faithful to God through its entirety. How can we continue to encourage and uplift our students as they make their way through middle school and head into high school?

SMALL GROUP LEADERS:

Last week we talked about the deliciousness but shallowness of Oreos and then compared them to the complexity of what it takes to be a hero. We talked about Noah, and how he was a hero because he heard God’s voice, he obeyed God’s voice and he was used by God. Noah wasn’t an Oreo, but he was a Hero. He was a great example of what it means to work at becoming a hero. This week we’re talking about Joseph, and how Joseph, despite the odds being totally stacked against him, was able to follow God’s direction for his life and eventually become a hero.

Question 1: Go around the room and give your highs and lows for the week.

Question 2: Did anyone eat any Oreos this week in honour of this month’s series?

Question 3: Joseph went through some crazy things earlier in his life, like being thrown in a pit and being sold by his brothers, but we still don’t see him reacting or getting upset with his brothers. How would you have acted in that situation?

Question 4: Joseph was totally obedient to God through the whole story in Genesis, and because of that, he was given all sorts of responsibility. Does that ever happen with us between us and our parents, leaders, teachers, etc.?

Question 5: After hearing more about Joseph, what are some things that he can teach us, and that we can use at home, at school or with our friends?

Question 6: Heroes like Noah and Joseph seem to have things about them that really made them heroes. What kinds of personal qualities, like being obedient, do you think really make these guys heroes?

Spend a few minutes in prayer with your students for needs, and the willingness to be the heroes that God has called them to be.

FLAWED

Jan, 18 2012

Parents,

Tonight we will be looking briefly at the life of Moses.  God did many great things through Moses and there is a lot that we can admire about him and learn from him.  Moses also had some flaws and God used him through those flaws.  It is really important that we recognise the flaws and weaknesses within our own lives and surrender them to God.  It is also important for us to learn to “love ourselves” the way God loves us and see ourselves through His eyes.  Please take a look at some of the small group material that we covered on Wednesday.

Goals…

• To help the students understand that we all are flawed
• To help the students understand that God loves us despite those flaws
• To take a look at the life of Moses and learn from him

Conversation Starters…

• High’s and lows
• Tubing stories???
• Did anything from tonight’s message stick out to you?

Dig a Little Deeper…

• What are some great things that Moses did?
• What are some flaws that Moses had?
  • See Exodus 4:10-12
  • What are some things that you could learn from the life of Moses?
  • What would be some “hidden” flaws that teenagers may have?
  • What are some “exposed” flaws that teenagers may have?
  • What are some ways that teenagers deal with their flaws that are “unhealthy?”
  • What are some ways that God wants us to deal with our flaws?
  • Read Luke 10:27
    • What does it mean for you to “love yourself”
    • What is the difference between being prideful and humble about it?
    • Do you tend to look for self-confidence from God, or from other people or things?

Personal…

• You could share something about God at work in your own life
• You could share a “flawed”  area of your life or your past that God has helped you work through

Applications…

• Pray that God would help them to “love themselves” and be self confident
• Pray for those who battle with insecurity
• Let your students know that you are available to talk further if they want

Scriptures…

¹⁰ But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”¹¹ Then the LORD asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

Exodus 4:10-12

“The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.” Luke 10:27