Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Dr. Kara E. Powell is an educator, professor, youth minister, author, and speaker. She is the Executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute and a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary (see www.fulleryouthinstitute.org). Kara also serves as an Advisor to Youth Specialties and currently volunteers in student ministries at Lake Avenue church in Pasadena, CA.  She is the author of many books including Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids (with Chap Clark) and Deep Justice Journeys. Kara lives in Pasadena with her husband, Dave, and their children, Nathan, Krista, and Jessica.

Brad M. Griffin is the associate director of the Fuller Youth Institute, where he develops research-based training for youth workers and has co-authored Sticky Faith: Youth Worker Edition and Deep Justice Journeys. A native Kentuckian, Brad now lives in Pasadena with his wife, Missy, and their three children. After more than fifteen years in youth ministry, he now volunteers at his church.

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Sticky Faith Teen Curriculum

ZONDERVAN

Contents

Introduction.............................................................................71. What's the Real Gospel?...............................................................132. How Do I See Myself after Graduation?.................................................253. How Can I Have Genuine Conversations with People of Other Faiths?.....................354. How Can My Faith Shape My Life and Career?............................................475. How Can My Struggles Help My Faith Stick?.............................................576. How Can My Friends Help My Faith Stick?...............................................697. How Will I Respond to the Party Scene in College?.....................................778. How Can I Find a New Church?..........................................................899. How Can I Manage My Life after High School?...........................................9910. How Can I Experience God on a Regular Basis?.........................................109Notes....................................................................................121

Chapter One

The Big Idea:

The real gospel is centered on grace, not works.

You'll Need:

Copies of the 10 Things I Do to Live Like a Christian handout on page 20

Poster paper

Tape

Pens or pencils

Markers

A Red Bull drink (or another similarly highly caffeinated beverage)

Copies of the Ephesians 2:1-10 handout on page 21. Ahead of time, follow the guidelines on this handout so you can display your own version of the passage, complete with colorful markings and notes.

Colored pencils and/or highlighters

Copies of the When I Blow It handout on page 22

Bibles

More Worship and Prayer: Copies of the God's Face handout on page 23

Optional: If you decide to watch the video "What You Need to Know about Grace" on the DVD, be sure to figure out ahead of time how you'll show the video (laptop, projector, etc.) and set up accordingly. Alternatively you could send students a link to the video later to watch as a follow-up to the session.

NOW

* Start by saying: Recent research indicates that up to half of youth group seniors will drift from their faith in the first year after graduation. Does this surprise you?

* Explain as you distribute pencils and copies of the 10 Things I Do to Live Like a Christian handout: Today we're going to look at how your faith impacts your life currently. On this handout I want you to make a list of up to 10 things that you do to live like a Christian.

As students are making their lists, tape a sheet of poster paper and write at the top: "Things I Do to Live Like a Christian."

After students have finished, ask each to share two or three items from their lists. Write down what they share on the sheet of poster paper.

* Ask: What stands out to you about what we've listed?

NOTE: In a few minutes, you'll help students understand that making a list like this misses the heart of Christianity, which isn't about us "being good" but much more about God's goodness to us. A few of your more theologically astute seniors might point this out now, before you're ready to share that principle with the whole group. If they do, try to redirect them toward writing down or discussing what we're supposed to "do to live like a Christian" by saying something like, You're right that grace is important, but right now we're focusing on what we each do to live like a Christian.

* Ask: Is a list like this helpful to your faith or not?

* Continue: According to one study of 500 high school graduates, students who said "no" to alcohol and sex before high school graduation ended up saying "yes" after getting to college.

Raise a can of Red Bull (or another favorite energy drink, in which case you can shift the metaphor in the next paragraph) and ask: What are the highs and lows of energy drinks like this? Students will likely share that Red Bull makes them feel great at first but soon the caffeine and sugar wear off and they crash. Hard.

* Continue: Too many of us have bought into a Red Bull Gospel. It might help us make good decisions at first, but the Red Bull Gospel doesn't lead to Sticky Faith. It's not deep enough to help us say "no" and "yes" to the right things after we graduate.

NEW

* Explain: While Red Bull wasn't invented until recently, from Paul's letter to the Ephesians we see he was dealing with his own version of the Red Bull Gospel in the first century.

We'll read 10 verses of this letter together in a format that might be new to you.

Distribute copies of the Ephesians 2:1-10 handout to your students, making sure you read aloud the guidelines at the top of the handout. If you've worked through the passage ahead of time, show students your colorful version of Ephesians 2 as a model of what they might do themselves.

Give your students plenty of time to read, and reread, the passage, noting themes, opposing phrases, or questions the passage raises for them. After students are finished, lead them through the manuscript study with questions like:

What words or phrases does Paul repeat?

What words or phrases are opposites?

What are Paul's most important ideas?

What questions does this passage raise for you?

Feel free to interject the following into your discussion:

The "death" that Paul describes in Ephesians 2:1 doesn't refer only to physical death—the "death" that folks (apart from Jesus) experience after their lives end. It refers to a real death right now since the most vital part of a person—the spirit—is dead apart from Jesus.

Interestingly, Paul includes himself in the "all of us" who are disobedient and dead apart from Christ in Ephesians 2:3. Paul teaches in Romans 3:23 that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and he backs that up in this Ephesians passage by including himself in the category of people who need Jesus to rescue them from sin.

The "grace" that Paul describes in the passage is God's free gift to us—and applies both to our earthly and eternal lives—which God offers us through Christ.

The "works" in verse 9 refer to deeds or activities we do in a futile attempt to save ourselves (apart from God's grace); the "works" in verse 10 refer to the ways we obey God in our daily actions, as a sign of our gratitude for salvation.

The root word for created in verse 10 is "ktizo" (pronounced kuh-TIDZ-oh) and is only used in the Greek language when referring to God. What's special about the way God creates?

The word for handiwork in verse 10 is "poiema" (pronounced poe-AY-ma), which means "work of art" in Greek. What do you think it means to be God's work of art?

Sometimes it may seem as though Paul's writings are all about grace and the book of James is all about works. As we see from Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul's theology is grounded in grace, but then he encourages believers to serve out of gratitude for their salvation. If we assume Paul and James are teaching different messages, then we probably aren't reading them carefully...