Lesson Helpers: Lost Sheep, Coin, Son (Luke 15) Lesson Opener
Last night I knew I was going to go pretty deep with the lesson and give our students some pretty big challenges. Because of this, I wanted to have a fun opener to the lesson that would get them quickly involved in the text. It worked like a charm.
Let me just say upfront: This is pretty dorky, but the students participated and knew where we were heading. Youth leaders can often get away with dorky ideas if you don’t try to pass them off as not being dorky or take yourself too seriously.
Before small group I went to the party store to pick up a bag of gold coins, a bag of plastic men (sons), and found some sheep. Before the students arrived, I hid them around the house. I made them pretty easy to find so that the search wouldn’t take long.
After our announcements, I opened the lesson by telling the students that I brought some props for the lesson, but had lost them. There was a lost sheep, lost coin and a lost son somewhere in the house. There were rewards for anybody who could find them and bring them back to me. When they returned, I gave them shiny plastic necklaces. Then I passed out kazoos and had students play For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow for the students who found what was lost.
After the song, which was horrible and awesome, I gave every student a gold coin and prepared them for what was coming next. I told them that we would be challenging them tonight in small groups in a couple of different ways:
1. To make life-long decisions that would keep them from becoming lost
2. To make a big effort to help friends who are lost get found
I asked them to keep the coins as a reminder of the challenge that night.
Next week one of our small group leaders is bringing Coney Dogs as a special treat for us. We’re challenging each of our students to bring somebody with them next week. This will be a great way for them to immediately act on the challenge to find somebody who is lost and help them get found. I had them think of names of people they would bring next week so they could leave that night with a specific mission to bring a specific person next week.
I know for sure one of the people brought will be an atheist, another will be a Buddhist. I’m so happy that we gave the challenge and even happier with how they responded. I’ll follow up with them this week through Facebook to reinforce the mission and encourage them along the way.
Related posts
Filed under: Lesson Helpers
