Scripture: Matthew 18:1-4, Mark 9:33-35, Luke 9:46-48 and 17:7-10
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God does not want us to seek to be the most powerful in His Kingdom.
- Students will learn it is our responsibility to obey and serve God.
- Students will learn even if we serve God faithfully, we should be humble and grateful for our blessings – especially salvation.
- Students will learn how to write and share a convincing argument.
Guiding Question: Why does God want us to focus on doing the right thing?
Materials: Paper, pencils
Procedure: Review the story of the Apostles Argue from the scriptures above. Emphasize that God is not concerned about being powerful. He is concerned about us trying to do the right and best thing for His Kingdom. Tell students that people who have power do not always care to do the right thing but God asks us to obey and serve Him first. Remind the students that serving God is about putting Him and others above ourselves. Many people in the world around us will try to convince us to do or say things that are ungodly. We need to know what is right and speak with others about what is right and why they should be a Christian.
Introduce the activity. Teach the students how to craft a convincing argument. Explain that convincing arguments are used to try and persuade someone to do something or think a certain way. The argument tends to be on something they are passionate about. Have them write their argument and then give a two minute talk trying to convince others to agree with them on a topic. After everyone has shared, have students talk about what aspects of different arguments were most persuasive and why.
Additional Questions: How can students convince others to do something or think a certain way about something?
Supplemental Activity: Have students create and share persuasive advertisements about a subject they are passionate about.