better together

This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide

Week 1: The First Church

1. LEADER PREPARATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
Its exciting to look back at the stories of the first followers of Jesus. The first church was marked by these Christ-followers deep, authentic relationships with one another. People in their culture noticed the way they cared for one another. A lot has changed in our world since then, but Gods desire for his church remains the same. God wants us to be deeply and authentically connected to other followers of Jesus. This lesson will help your students discover how the local church is essential for achieving that goal.

LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. WHAT: The earliest followers of Jesus experienced deep, meaningful relationships and actively cared for one another. 2. WHY: Teenagers need the power of Christ-centered friendships in their lives. 3. HOW: Students will examine what it takes to build deep, meaningful friendships and how they can actively care for others in need.

PRIMARY SCRIPTURE
Acts 2:42-47

SECONDARY SCRIPTURES
Ecclesiastes 3:4 and Romans 12:15-16

TEACHING PREP
The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, youll definitely want to refer to it as you lead your lesson.

Read Acts 2:42-47. Without trying to oversimplify the early church, one thing that stands out is the deep relationships among the people. These earliest Christians serve as a model for us in

the 21st century because of their compassion, their love, their unity, and their commitment to impact their culture. God created the church to be a place where we can develop deep, authentic friendships. Those kinds of relationships should lead us to genuinely care for othersand care and concern should lead to action. This passage from Acts 2 reveals how the earliest followers of Jesus built solid friendships and put their concern into action. They studied the apostles teachings. They shared meals. They prayed. God used them to perform miracles. They met together, shared possessions, and sold things so they could help the needy. And in the midst of all this, their ranks swelled. In fact, we could say that BECAUSE of this, their ranks swelled! People were drawn to this group of men and women who demonstrated their faith through their actions. Encourage your students to see these verses as a model for what God desires. We can pursue and develop deep, authentic friendships, and we can care for one another. Gods plan for the church hasnt changed.

THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]

Text Message Questions
Weve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.

What do your friends think when they hear the word church? Lets talk about it tonight at small group. Are you tired of settling for shallow friendships? Learn more about deep, authentic friendships at small group tonight!

Parent Email
Weve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and customize the email to fit your ministry needs.

Dear parents, This week our small groups launched a three-week series called Better Together. Our big theme is that we as followers of Christ need the local church as a place to grow together and fulfill Gods plans and purposes for our lives. God created the church to be a place where we can develop deep, authentic friendships. Those kinds of relationships should lead us to genuinely care for othersand care and concern should lead to action. This week, our students examined Acts 2:42-47, which reveals how the earliest followers of Jesus built solid friendships and put their concern into action. These Christians studied the apostles teachings. They shared meals. They prayed. God used them to perform miracles. They met together, shared possessions, and sold things so they could help the needy. We encouraged our teenagers to see these verses as a model for what God desires. We can pursue and develop deep, authentic friendships, and we can care for one another. Gods plan for the church hasnt changed. Here are some questions you might want to use as you talk with your teenager about this weeks lesson: What does it take to build deep, authentic friendships? How does that happen? What would it look like at our church if everyone took caring to the next levelif we bumped up the concern we displayed for one another? What does it mean to be an authentic friend? Why is authenticity important in friendships?

I pray that you and your family have a great week!

better together 2. LEsson guide

GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional]

Week 1: The First Church

Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then ASK:

What do your friends think about when they hear the word church? Why? Why do you attend churchor small group? What do you think are some of the things God wants the church to do? In other words, why does the church exist?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: People sometimes get confused when we use the word church because they arent sure what we mean. Are we talking about a building? Are we talking about this one church, or all churches in the world? Are we talking about the people who attend services here? In a way, the answer is yes to all of those questions! The church isnt just a buildingthe church includes all people in the world who are followers of Jesus. If youre a Christian, youre part of the church! For the next few weeks, were going to talk about what the church is all aboutwhy it exists, who is included, and how it becomes strongest.
If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and youd like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at ideas@simplyyouthministry.com.

TEACHING POINTS
The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) We can build deep, authentic friendships, and (2) We can learn how to care for other people. Remember: All throughout these lessons, its up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main pointskeep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your audience.

Read Acts 2:42-47 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: This passage is a great illustration of what God has called the churchthose of us who follow Jesusto do. We see that one of the purposes for the local church is to help us develop deep, authentic friendships. We also see that part of loving Jesus is having a genuine concern for other Christ-followers.

1. We can build deep, authentic friendships

ASK: How do you know when two people have a solid friendship? Whats the evidence you might see? What does it take to build deep, authentic friendships? How does that happen? These verses from Acts 2 describe the activities of some of the first Christians. What do you find most amazing or surprising, and why? What are some ways this description is similar to what our church does? What are some differences? Do you think there was any connection between the friendships among the early Christ-followers and all the people who were becoming Christians? Explain.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: God wants the church to be a place where we all can build deep, authentic friendships. We werent created to follow Jesus alone; we need one another to do this the way God intended.

2. We can learn how to care for other people

ASK: What examples do you find in this passage from Acts 2 of Christ-followers caring for one another? What examples have you seen in our church of people caring for one another? Can you care about other people without that concern leading to some kind of action? Why or why not?

What would it look like at our church if we took caring to the next levelif we bumped up the concern we displayed for one another?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Its always easier to just attend a church service instead of fully experiencing life with other followers of Christ, but God wants us to genuinely care for others. This really only happens when we spend time together. When your life becomes connected to the lives of other people in our small group, youth ministry, and church, you learn who they really are, you discover what God is doing in their lives, and you develop a genuine concern. You want them to succeed. You want them to grow as followers of Jesus. You find yourself caringand looking for ways to display it.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional]

ASK: What distractions and challenges do you face when trying to build deep, authentic friendshipsat church specifically and in life generally? What does it mean to be an authentic friend? Why is authenticity important in friendships?

What is life like with just fake or shallow friendships? How does life change once we experience deep, authentic friendships? Read Ecclesiastes 3:4 and Romans 12:15-16. How do our friendships become deeper and more authentic when we cry together and laugh together? Think about your friendships, especially your friendships with other followers of Jesus. How do you find support and encouragement through these friendships? How are these friendships helping you as a follower of Jesus?

APPLICATION
Ask your students to find a partner for these questions. ASK: How can other people encourage you to grow spiritually? How can you encourage others?

Who in our youth ministry or church is hurting or has a need? What is one way we could care for that person? What steps can we take to build deeper, more authentic friendships? Do you have any needs right now? How can I pray for youor how can I help meet that need?

SUMMARY
End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time.

FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]

Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need (Acts 2:44-45).