2
What We Need to Know
This is a FREE sample session of DWELL. The entire session is below, except for accompanying PDFs (song lyrics, printable resources). To receive an email with links to PDF samples of all DWELL leader and children resources, please use our Get Samples form.
Scripture
Focus
My heart knows three things that assure me I belong to Jesus. First, how I sin everyday; second, how Jesus saves me from my sin; and third, how I can show my thanks by serving God.
Faith Nurture Goals
- Imagine ourselves in the place of the jailer in today's story.
- Be aware of our own sin and need for a Savior.
- Identify ways to show thanks to God for the salvation he gives us through Christ.
Memory Challenge
Session Outline
Leader Reflection
Preparing to Tell God's Story
In the first session we focused on the first half of this amazing story. We saw what faith meant and looked like in the most difficult circumstances. Paul and Silas, beaten, chained, and exhausted, sang songs of praise to the God to whom they belonged. Their vibrant faith served as a testimony to their fellow prisoners, and, we marvel, to their hard-bitten jailer.
The jailer was almost certainly a cynical, tough, retired Roman soldier. Any sensitivity or gentleness had been squeezed out of him by his hard experience as a soldier and the expected cruelty of an imperial jailer. His first thought after discovering the prison's open doors was to assume the prisoners had escaped. His only recourse, suicide. But before he could fall on his sword, Paul stopped him. "Don't harm yourself; we're all here!"
Kneeling, trembling at the apostles' feet, this cruel agent of Roman punishment asked Paul and Silas the strangest question: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
Where did that come from? Part of the explanation may come from the fact that the jailer was on the premises and had heard the strange sounds of Paul and Silas's singing. Perhaps he wondered what kind of God inspired singing in jail. But there is a mystery here too---the mystery of how anyone comes to faith in Jesus Christ. Only God's Spirit, working in the human heart, can cause such a change.
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved---you and your household." The apostle's reply is certainly a summary of a long conversation, with many questions and answers and many stories about Jesus. The result was a miracle of salvation as the jailer believed, and he with his entire household was baptized.
Note that the jailer's household is mentioned twice. Often in Acts, Luke emphasizes that one person's coming to faith affects the entire household. Coming to faith isn't just an individual experience; it happens within a natural social context such as a family or a community. That's one reason why we baptize not only adults but their children.
The Q&A for today asks, "What must you know to have this comfort [of belonging to Jesus]?
This sounds very much like a merely cognitive thing, knowing and accepting certain facts. It's clear that the jailer had to know some things about Jesus to put his faith in him. But the knowledge we need is more than head knowledge, it's heart knowledge. It's the personal, heartfelt recognition of my own sin, it's trusting in Jesus with all my heart, and it's making the commitment to live for him.
The Q&A (and the catechism on which it's based) describes this knowledge in three steps, sometimes summarized as guilt, grace, and gratitude. Of course, this is not a rigidly programmed process of salvation. While containing these three elements, the pattern may be different in each individual case. I've known people, for example, who begin by serving Christ, and only later do they come to discover their deep need of a Savior. The point is that these are the three irreducible elements in becoming a Christ-follower.
Wondering
Why was the jailer going to kill himself ?
What part has your “household” played in your own coming to faith in Christ?
How do the three things we must know to be saved operate in your life? How do you experience them?
Teaching
As you lead your kids in discovering the how of salvation, it’s important to reflect as much as possible on the spiritual condition of each one. Think about those who have been baptized, those who think of themselves as believers, and those who have serious questions or doubts about the faith.
You may be wondering about the usefulness of talking about the how of salvation with young people who have never expressed the need to be saved. Isn’t that putting the answer before the question? Whether or not the question of how is burning in their hearts, knowing the answer will serve them well as they mature and experience the ups and downs of life.
Steps
Materials
Dive magazines
A photograph of yourself, optional
Welcome your group. If you can, try to greet each person by name, introducing yourself to any who are new this week. Let them know you are glad to be with them again and that you’re looking forward to spending this time together.
Pass out the Dive magazines and ask everyone turn to pages 10-11 as you ask the opening question for this session. (Don’t be afraid to be a bit silly—have fun with this question!)
If you could try out any hairstyle just for one day, what would you choose? (Curly, straight, short, long, electric blue highlights, Mohawk, bald, etc.)
After everyone has had the chance to answer, transition into the focus of today’s session by describing the hairstyle you had when you came to know that you belong to God. If possible, bring a picture of yourself at that stage of life so your group can admire your slick sense of style, or laugh with you over your decades-old hairdo! Use the photo to briefly share how you discovered God’s love in a real and personal way. Maybe you’ve always known God’s love and presence in your life or maybe God used a specific event or person to draw you near. Tell what it was like for you to recognize your need for the forgiveness and belonging that Jesus offers.
Wrap up by referring to the quote from the Heidelberg Catechism found on page 11 of the magazine. “[Jesus] also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven.” Mention that this quote is from the longer version of Q&A 1 that your group talked about last week. The shorter version is found on page 8 of the magazine:
Q. What is your only comfort as a Christian?
A. That I, body and soul, in life and death, belong to Jesus Christ.
Close Step 1 by using this responsive reading found on page 9 of the magazine to pray together:
Leader: Powerful God, it’s great to know that every "body and soul" detail of our lives is in your care.
Group: Even the hairs on our head!
Everyone: Thank you for loving us from head to toe, inside and out. Amen!
Re
formed
formedBelief isn’t just an intellectual exercise; it’s a Spirit-initiated heart conviction that transforms the way we live! God is busy reclaiming and redeeming all of creation through Jesus Christ, and we get to be part of that as we show love to others and serve God with our lives.
Materials
Story symbols printable page
Either display the printable page of the story symbol from last week (prison bars with music notes coming through), or sketch it on your board or newsprint. As you draw, ask the group to recall why Paul and Silas were in prison and what gave them hope while they were there. Listen for their answers, and then draw or display the new symbol for this week’s story: broken prison bars.
Hand out Bibles and ask everyone to look up Acts 16:25-40. Choose a few volunteers to read it out loud as the rest of you follow along silently.
Materials
Character nametags printable page
Skit script printable page
Next, invite the group to dive into the action of the story by performing it together as a spontaneous melodrama.
A melodrama is a type of skit that uses exaggerated acting to emphasize the action and emotion in a story. It’s hard to imagine a more exciting story than a miraculous earthquake jailbreak that led to the salvation of a whole family!
Pull out your copy of the skit script (printable page) and assign everyone a part in the skit by passing out the character nametags (printable page) along with a piece of tape. Choose the most outgoing youth who enjoy the spotlight to play the main characters. Ask everyone to attach the tag the front of their shirt, where everyone can see it. Let the group know that the “characters” may also include important objects in the story:
- Paul
- Silas
- Jailer
- Prisoner (optional)
- Jailhouse (optional)
- Jailer’s family (optional)
- Earthquake (optional)
Clear a space in the room (or move to a larger room) so that everyone can stand and move around for this skit. Tell the young teens to listen for their cue and to act in ways that reflect the story as it is being read. Let them know that when their character has a line, they’ll need to listen for it and then repeat their line with intense emotion and expression. Encourage “Paul” and “Silas” to belt out a song with gusto when singing is mentioned, and the “Jailer” to wail dramatically and fall to the ground with fear—it won’t take long for your group to catch on!
You may want to practice by reading a few lines of the script and coaching your group. When everyone understands their role, read the story from the script slowly (but enthusiastically), emphasizing character’s names (in caps) and the action words (in bold). Some small prompts from you may be necessary as the story progresses. Have fun as you narrate this “spontaneous skit”—the group will follow your lead, so break a leg!
When you’re finished acting out the story, have everyone take their seats to talk about it together using some or all of these questions:
- Between the earthquake and the jailbreak, this was a stressful night for the jailer! I wonder what was going through his mind when he woke up and realized that the jailhouse was open.
- Has God ever caught your attention in a surprising, unexpected, or scary situation? What was going through your mind at the time? Did you discover anything new about God or yourself ?
- The jailer blurted out a big question, “What must I do to be saved?” What do you think he meant by that? What answer do you think he was hoping for?
- What questions do you wonder about God? What are you hoping to discover?
Be sure to affirm the questions that are offered, and include questions you wonder about as well.
- If you were Paul or Silas, what would you have said in response to the jailer’s question?
Materials
Dive magazines
Music, optional
Memory Challenge cards printable page, one per person
After the discussion, hand out pens or pencils and ask everyone to turn to pages 12-13 in their Dive magazines. Encourage one or two people to read the story summary at the top of page 12 that ends with the Q&A for today’s session.
Encourage the group to spend the next 5-8 minutes thinking individually about what this question means in their own lives by reading and filling out pages 12-13 in their magazines, writing their answers in the white space within each hand that appears on those pages.
Let everyone get up and spread out around the room, if they’d like. Assure them that no one else will read their answers, and they won’t have to share them with the group. Be sure to fill in your own answers too!
Consider playing some quiet music or turning the lights down to add to the reflective mood of this activity.
After about 5 minutes or when everyone seems to be finishing up, gather the group back together in a circle. Hold up a jar of whiteout and tell the group that you want them to experience the joy of forgiveness, which is part of salvation. Point out that salvation appears in the second part of today’s Q&A. Let them know that when we ask for forgiveness, God covers over our sins so that they can’t be seen or counted against us anymore. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can have a fresh new start! That’s grace!
Open your Bible to Isaiah 43:25 and read out loud how God describes forgiveness in this passage: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25).
Then silently open your own magazine to pages 12-13 and use the whiteout to cover over the words you’ve written in the fist next to the “Guilt” section, as the group watches. Pass the whiteout to the person next to you and encourage him or her to do the same, passing it along to the next person until everyone has had the chance to use it. Ask the group to consider this a sacred moment to spend in thought or prayer.
Consider saying this verse out loud (in full or in part) while each young person is blotting out the words on the paper. Include the person’s first name to personalize it. Or say it after everyone has had the chance to participate:
All of us fall short, all of us sin, all of us need to be made right with God. It’s Jesus who saves us from our sins. It’s Jesus who sets us free. [Name], receive God’s forgiveness. Receive God’s love. Receive God’s grace; it’s a free gift—with no strings attached (adapted from Romans 3:22-25a).
End this special time together by offering a heartfelt prayer of gratitude for the love, forgiveness, and salvation God offers us through Jesus Christ. Close the session by sharing this final thought from Scripture:
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:10-12).
Pass out the new Memory Challenge cards (from the printable page) as everyone heads out the door.
Easy Extras
Time
5-10 minutes
Materials
Dive magazines, one per person
If some of your group arrives early, or if you have a little extra time, have your group open their magazines to page 9 and fill out their profiles. Share a few highlights together before moving into Step 1.
Time
15-20 minutes
Materials
none
Option for Step 3: Living into the Story.
Instead of using the melodrama to help your group retell the story in Step 3, you could split into groups of two or three (or stay together as one group if you have three or fewer members) and ask each group to come up with three scenes that represent the experiences of one of the people in today’s story (maybe the jailer, Paul, Silas, another prisoner, or one of the jailer’s children). Encourage the groups to choose three moments that seem important and imitate the emotion and actions of that moment by freezing in a pose.
Give the groups about 5 minutes to work together before asking each pair or trio to retell the story through the three tableaus they’ve chosen. As each group shares, ask why they chose those moments in the story and what seems meaningful about them. Draw from some of the questions under Step 3 to help the groups think about ways they might relate to what the person in their scenes was experiencing.
Time
3-5 minutes
Materials
Memory Challenge cards printable page, one for each person
To incorporate the new Memory Challenge into today’s session, print copies of the card for each person. Introduce the Scripture passage after your group reads the story at the end of Step 2. Use one of the Memory Challenge ideas (from session 1, Easy Extra #6).
Time
15 minutes
Materials
board/newsprint
chalk/marker
other supplies depending the service project your group decides on
Option for Step 4: Living Out of the Story
This option will be helpful if you’re looking for an alternative for the whiteout portion of Step 4. Have your group reflect on guilt, grace, and gratitude in the Dive magazine just as it says in the beginning of Step 4, then use this step to help them express gratitude for the gift of salvation through Christ.
Brainstorm a way that your group can say thanks to God by showing love to others or caring for God’s creation. Tap into the passions of the youth in your group to plan a service project that everyone will get excited about. Use a board or newsprint to list everyone’s ideas, and then talk over the logistics of each (the drivers needed, schedules, adult supervision, supplies or expenses involved, and so on), until you find something that everyone agrees on.
Before you finalize the plans, be sure to review your church’s policies for child safety involving outings and events, and check in with the children’s ministry director, pastor, or a member of the church council to make sure you have permission to plan an offsite project. Then make the phone call to schedule the project for your group. Write a brief note describing what you’ll be doing, including relevant details like the time, date, location, what everyone needs to bring, leaders’ names, and contact information. Make copies and attach them to the slip your church uses for events that include children and youth. Pass out the notes and permission slips the following week and be clear about the date you’ll need permission slips returned.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Create care packages for relatives or church members who are away at college or in the military.
- Assign ingredients and get together to cook a meal for families staying at a local Ronald McDonald House. Or collect pop can tabs if a Ronald McDonald House near you offers that program. (Visit rmhc.org to find out more.)
- Help keep a local street or park clean by “adopting” it and collecting garbage together a few times throughout the year. Your town may even have a community program that offers grants for groups who participate in road cleanup projects.
- If your church is part of a denomination, visit the denomination’s website for other service project ideas.
Close the session with a heartfelt prayer of gratitude for the salvation that God offers each of you through Jesus Christ and the comfort of knowing that you belong to God. Pass out the new Memory Challenge cards (printable page) as everyone heads out the door.