Respond to the Word

Respond

Timed listening (YP 10 mins)

An exercise in ‘zoning in’ in order to listen well

• Play ’Just a minute‘ – ask the young people to take it in turns to talk about a subject – without hesitating, repeating themselves or going off the subject. If they do, the other young people can ’buzz in‘ and the player has to stop. Do it quickly; get everyone to have a go (subjects can be general, such as church, football, my XBox, and so on).
• When everyone is done, instil a minute of quiet. In this time, just pray together (you can lead it, or invite a young person to): In the week to come we pray we will not be so focused on what we are doing or have to get done that we miss God trying to speak to us – if we need to, let us pray that we let God interrupt our lives so we can draw closer to him.

Play

Dominoes (C+YP 15 mins)

Follow the lead

You will need: sets of dominoes, perhaps one for every six children. You could use picture dominoes with younger children.

• Divide the group into groups of six, or all play together.
• Explain the rules of dominoes. Divide the pieces out between the groups. People take turns to put down a domino – it has to have the same number as the last one shown by the previous player. Play is started by the person holding double six.
• People take turns adding pieces, as long as they have a number that follows on from one at the end of the line of pieces. Double numbers can change direction.
• Link this to the idea of following a direction, but then having to change.
• This game may be very familiar to older people in your congregation, so you might invite some to come and play with the group.

Walk

What’s the story? (C 10 mins)

Walk through the story of Paul’s experience

• Take your group for a walk around your space. Talk about the journey Paul was on. Who was Paul? Where was he going? What was he going to do there?
• Talk about what it was like on his journey. How did he feel as he made his way along the road towards Damascus?
• Suddenly bring the group to a stop. If possible, get another leader to do this so that it is unexpected for the children. Talk about Paul’s encounter with Jesus. Ask them how they think Paul felt now. How would they feel?
• Finish your journey by walking to ‘the house in Straight Street’, and talk about how Paul’s encounter with Jesus changed him from the man in verse 1, who was breathing threats against Jesus’ followers, to the man in verse 20, who is proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues.

Imagine

Power cut (C+YP 10 mins)

Think about how it feels to be disempowered

You will need: pens and paper.

• Ask people to make a list of everything they do in a day. This should start from getting up. Prompt them with things such as having toast, listening to the radio, playing on the computer.
• Once they have written the lists, invite them to work in groups to cross out all the things they do that rely on electricity. What is left?
• How does it feel to think that they will have no power?
• When Paul went blind he had no power. How do you think that made Paul feel?
• In what ways can we, or others, be disempowered? How might we react?

Compare

Before and after (C+YP 10 mins)

Think about the change meeting Jesus made in Paul’s life

You will need: Bibles; pens and paper; copies of the Paul cartoon, one per person.

• Using the Bibles, get the youngsters to find and read Acts 9.1-2, and then Acts 9.17-20.
• Talk about the difference between Paul before his experience on the road, and afterwards. What made that change in Paul?
• Get the youngsters to draw ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures of Paul on either side of their cartoon copy of him (using the template), writing or drawing around him the characteristics that describe him.

Pray

Keep walking (C+YP 15 mins)

Ask for God’s help to keep going

You will need: coloured paper, pens and scissors.

• Give each person a piece of paper to stand on and draw round their foot. Cut out the footprints, and lay them in a line on the floor, as if they are walking along the road.
• Talk about how Paul got up after his encounter with Jesus and kept walking along the road, even though he needed help to do it. Sometimes in our lives things happen that make it seem difficult to keep going. Sometimes we feel disempowered the way Paul did. But if we ask Jesus to help, we too can keep walking along the road.
• Pray together, asking Jesus to help us when we feel we can’t keep going.

Next week Please invite your group to bring something with them that is precious to them, something they would be happy to show and tell.