Opening Activity: Acting out—Fight!
Stage a fight with one of your adult volunteers—prepare him ahead of time, of course.
Have the volunteer interrupt you and continue to talk while you’re talking. Ask him to stop talking several times. Then just lose it and start yelling, telling him to leave the room.
Your students will probably be simultaneously intrigued and uncomfortable with the conflict.
When you feel your point has been made, call the leader back in and explain it was fake.
Optional Opening Activity: Hula Hoop Pass
Get all your participants in a circle holding each other’s hands.
Get someone to ’unlock’ one of their hands from the circle, put a hula-hoop onto his/her hand, then reconnect with the circle.
The aim of this game is to get the hula-hoop around the circle and back to where it started without the group letting go of each other’s hands.
Can also be played with groups against each other and a stop watch; lots of fun!
Optional Opening Activity #2: Stuff’em!
Supplies: You’ll need one pair of oversized pantyhose for each team; blindfolds (optional); and a package of balloons for them to blow up.
Divide the group into teams of four kids each.
Give each team a pair of pantyhose, and explain that the team will have two minutes to place as many balloons as possible into the pantyhose.
Each balloon is to be inserted through the waist end of the pair of pantyhose without tearing them.
Declare the team with the most balloons inside the pantyhose the winner.
For added fun, blindfold a member of each team.
This person becomes the only one allowed to place balloons inside the pantyhose. Teammates provide assistance by handing him or her objects and offering words of encouragement.
Optional Video Clip Opener: Tension on the Tube Videotape a TV program involving conflict show it to your group. Most TV shows do, but if you have no idea what to tape, you could try taping a few daytime talk shows.
Let’s face it. We all get into conflict—sometimes even with people in this very room. How are we supposed to handle it?
Are we supposed to like everyone? Is it okay to hate people? Can we disagree without being disagreeable?
Or does everyone in your circle have to play by your rules only?
What happens when you decide to visit someone elses world? Experience their rules? Discover they differ greatly from those in your world? Do you label them as an “Odd planet and to stay away from it?
The Apostle Paul gives us some pretty astounding answers to these tough questions relating.
What is unity?
The word UNITY found in only two places in the New Testament: Ephesians 4:3 and 13.
The concept is found in many places such as: John 17:20-21, Jesus’ final prayer to the Father while on earth for his disciples and mankind and in 1 Corinthians 1:10, as Paul was trying instruct the churches on how to get along with eachother.
“I beg you brothers and sisters in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I beg that all of you agree with each other, so that there will be no divisions among you. I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.”
The believers in Corinth met at house churches, which were gatherings of 30 to 40 people who met in private homes.
As a result, different house churches tended to develop special allegiances to different leaders, for instance to Paul or Apollos or Peter.
Paul asks the rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 1:13, “Is Christ divided?” The answer, of course, is no.
The same thing holds true today. No school, gender, music style, race, ethnicity, clothing type, or free-time activity should divide us.
Unity chooses to believe that there is good in every person who is a Christ follower.
When someone wants to do “their own thing” because of either “selfishness”, “jealousy”, or “pride”, it upsets the balance of unity.
Different Christ followers are like spokes on a wheel with the hub being God. When one wobbles or is bent, it’s either straightened out to keep the balance, or removed to prevent harm.
So is the same with Christ Followers.
(Insert Personal illustration: Share a conflict you had when you were a teen. Describe in detail what you were thinking and feeling, as well as how it was resolved. If you don’t have a story from that time, tell about something more recent.)
There are lots of things keeping us from being united for Christ and being fellow workers:
- We compare what we have to what others have, and we get jealous.
- Or we sit around, watching others work.
Movie Clip Intro - REMEMBER THE TITANS
In Virginia high school football is king. It is a way of life, an institution revered and venerated, each game celebrated more lavishly than Christmas, each playoff distinguished more grandly than any national holiday.
And with such recognition, comes powerful emotions.
In Virginia in 1971 high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria.
But when the local school board was forced to integrate an all black school with an all white school, the very foundation of football’s great tradition was put to the test.
When Herman Boone (DENZEL WASHINGTON), a young black coach new to the community was hired as head coach of the T.C. Williams High Titans over Bill Yoast (WILL PATTON), a white man with several years seniority and a steadfast following, would the honor of the game win out over racism?
START: 25:50 Chapter 8 “Tired and Thirsty”
END: 30:37 Fellow player tells team captain: “Attitute reflects Leadership, captain.”
RULE NUMBER ONE For Unity
1. GET ON GROUND LEVEL
Get to know each member of the team.
Bond with something in common
Help each of the team members to know each other.
Treat everyone the same.
Show respect and tolerance.
Model what you want.
Attitude reflects leadership
Many want to be leaders, but only a few of you have the attitude of one.
START: 30:50 Chapter 10 “Lesson From The Dead”
END: 34:01 Coach tells team:: “…and maybe we’ll play this game like men.”
RULE NUMBER TWO For Unity
2. LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER
Community does not just happen. It is developed.
Teamwork along with discipline is learned.
Each person is necessary for the whole.
Work the team and model what you want.
If we don’t come together, we will be scattered or destroyed.
Respect eachothers rights
START: 1:39:00 Chapter 29 “Our Time”
END: Play until end of movie –about 5 ½ minutes
RULE NUMBER THREE For Unity
3. SETTLE FOR NOTHING LESS THAN VICTORY
And so we walk in unity, to be stronger,against the enemy, as a team of Christ Followers who want to make a difference in the world around us
The goal is about winning.
And winning is not about first place.
Winning is about the establishment of a level playing field for all players.
Winning is about achieving effective teamwork with eachother—which is true unity in spirit of Christ
Jesus Christ is the coach in your life to give you the national championship—all you need to do is to practice walking in LOVE, LIGHT, WISDOM bound all together with UNITY.
Follow these, and you can begin today, in Walking Tall for Christ
(Personal illustration—Right here, right now
Think about the last major way God worked in your youth ministry. Who was involved? How did he work through the diversity of gifts and people in your group? Share about that, specifying individual students and adult leaders who were involved and the impact that resulted from working together.)
Closing
Reflection—Saying sorry
Do you tend to spend time with people who are like you or unlike you?
What kinds of people are you most likely to judge or decide you dislike?
Would a new person feel more comfortable showing up at your school or your church?
Is it possible to be united with other believers, even if you don’t like them?
Think about someone in the group perhaps you have judged or plainly just decided that you don’t like--Give them time to repent in quiet prayer
Ask God to help you be united with other believers—even when they get a little annoying.
You may need to talk—with the person you have a problem with.
When you find that person, you should sincerely apologize for what you’ve done and ask the other person to forgive you.
Reflection—Getting To Know You
For others of you…how would our youth group be different if you decided to be united in Spirit, even though we’re different?
I want you to think about someone in the room whom you normally don’t talk to and spend time talking to and go to that person and say what God has put on your heart.
You might just be surprised at how much you enjoy getting to know each other.
Which do you need to do: Get Ground Level with someone? Get all the Warriors Working Together? Or Settle for Victory and don’t be flustered because of defeat?
If you rearrange one letter in the word “united” it spells the word “untied”
The only thing that moves is the letter “i”
