MEETING AIM: Much has been said of young people’s lack of respect. But what is respect? Do young people lack respect? Should respect be earned or given? What does the Bible have to say about it? The aim of this meeting is to explore these issues in a positive way and to challenge young people to take this idea to a deeper level.

BACKGROUND READING: It would be a good idea to familiarise yourself with current public opinion regarding issues of respect. Take a look through the national papers, or search their websites.  

NOTES FOR ADAPTING: This session has been written with the assumption that it will be used with a group of generally respecting young people, and is not intended to be too preachy by telling young people that they do not show enough respect. If you think that the SETTING THE SCENE item will be misunderstood, then you could replace it with a brief introduction, just explaining the theme. You may also need to change the emphasis of other items too, but ensure that you are presenting the ideas as a challenge to all of us to live differently, not just as a moan at young people for not respecting their elders. 

As your young people arrive, or at the start of the meeting, make the following announcement: Tell your young people that you have become disappointed with the lack of respect within the group and that from now on things are going to change. Tell them that from now on, they are to refer to you by your full name, or as Sir or Madam. The lads, or rather, gentlemen are expected to open doors for the ladies and give up their chair or beanbag if necessary. Baseball caps, and hoodies are to be removed. Depending on your group, you may wish to carry this pretence throughout the evening, or you can tell your group now that you were only joking. Introduce the theme of the session, explaining that during this evening you are going to be looking at the issue of respect, asking what it is, what God has to say about it and what we should do about it. 

Respect is one of those things that is often talked about, but not easily defined. If you are going to be discussing respect, it would be useful to agree a definition at the beginning of the session. Before the session, decide how your group would best respond to this activity. It could be as straightforward as looking the word up in the dictionary, or you could be more creative with this – brainstorm your own definitions, write an acrostic with the letters R.E.S.P.E.C.T. or even create a collage with images portraying respect. At the end of this item, you will need to have a clear, agreed definition, which you can refer back to later in the session, so you may need to guide your young people in this. Once finished, you can put your definition up somewhere for everyone to see. 

Ask somebody in your group to look up 1 Corinthians 3:16, and read it to the group. Ask your group what ‘being a temple’ means, in terms of the way we look after ourselves. You may find it more appropriate to split your group into a group of lads and a group of lasses, before you discuss this in more detail. As a group, discuss how they look after their bodies, how they behave, how they dress etc and how this relates to the respect they show themselves. Some of your young people may have real issues about the whole issue of self-image and self-respect and it may take longer to discuss these issues. 

Before the session, prepare a set of cards featuring names of, or photos of people in society such as teachers, politicians, parents, youth leaders, sports stars, TV personalities etc. Ask your group to sort the cards into a line, from ‘respect a lot’ at one end to ‘do not respect’ at the other. Provide some blank cards for your young people to add more people of their own choice. Ask them to explain why they have put the people in that order. What is it about a person that makes you respect them, or means that they have lost your respect? Ask someone to look up 1 Peter 2:17.

KEY POINT: The world expects certain people to be treated with respect because of what the have done or the position they hold (teachers, war heroes, etc). But the Bible tells us we should respect people because of who they are; that is, all people as children created by God.

Ask your group to think of three words to describe their relationship with God, go around the group, asking each person to share their three words. List the words on a flip chart as you go along, tallying any duplicates, before identifying the three most common words. Remind your group that while God is our friend, we should also see Him as ‘Lord’ or ‘master.’ Ask them to recall the first three commandments, or look them up (Deuteronomy 5:7-16). Explain to your group that we need to remember to treat God with respect. Yes, we are able to have a friendship with God, but this is because of who He is, and not because we deserve it. 

Remind your group that recent headlines have focussed on the decline in respect, particularly of young people. You may want to show some examples of these headlines. Ask your group to think about the headlines that God would want to see: stories of people demonstrating respect for all people because of who they are, rather than the position they hold. Give each person a strip of paper to write their headline down, before displaying these somewhere everyone can see them. Remind your young people of your introduction and explain that respect is not calling somebody Sir or Madam, or taking off your cap, but that these are understood to be expressions of respect. Ask your group to look at the headlines on display and explore some of the expressions of respect they have identified, in their own imagined news stories. Ask your group to consider how realistic they think it is to really change the headlines. Remind them that change can start with a few individuals and that we are each able to make a difference by living it out in our own lives. 

As your session comes to an end, ask your young people to consider the way they live out 1 Peter 2:17, if necessary rereading it to your group. Ask them how different they would be if they did respect all people, and not because of their role or position. Ask them to consider for themselves what they need to do, to better follow this command and invite them to spend a few moments in silent prayer, making their own commitment as appropriate. Invite your young people to take their headlines to display somewhere at home to remind them of the commitment they have made.

 

 

 
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