Search the siteAn Heroic MinistryIntroducing Pastor Steven from Rwanda:
Pastor Steven Turikunkiko has set up a community in Rwanda for victims of the genocide. 160 widows & teenagers & 80 younger children live with him; farming, sharing their lives and caring for those dying from AIDS. The community subsists on less than $1 per person per day. At enormous personal sacrifice, Pastor Steven and his wife have also adopted 20 orphans - who live with them and their 2 other children. For more information on Steven and this incredible community of hope, click here
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Judging others
MEETING AIM: To acknowledge that we all judge others but that God does not want us to - our judgements may be a stumbling block for others in life. This meeting will help us to prayerfully reflect on our own failings in this area and try to take the message of the passage seriously. BACKGROUND PREPARATION: Get a variety of brand-name chocolate bars and ‘cheap' shops-owned ones (enough for one per person) and freeze, melt and refrigerate the brand name ones before the session. Find a TV talent show ‘unsuccessful auditions' clip. Prepare a power point of images and use the song: ‘Iris' by The Goo Goo Dolls (from the film City of Angels). The Message paraphrase; paper, pens and post-it notes. Brand or bargain? (5 mins) As your group arrive offer round a bowl of chocolate bars. This should be the mixed selection of ‘cheap' shop's-own bars and brand bars (such as Cadbury's). Ensure that all the brand bars have been pre-prepared in a variety of the following ways: some to be frozen, some to be melted on the radiator, some to melted, refrigerated, melted again and in the fridge again. Remember the ‘cheap' bars should be left as normal. Take note of which bars are taken first and which are often pushed aside or only chosen as a last resort. Use this as an introduction to today's theme by explaining that we all sometimes judge the quality of something by the packaging. Some of the chocolates looked more appealing but the reality was different. Today we are looking at the subject of ‘judging others'. Judgement game (10 mins) Everyone write down something about yourself that no-one else would know - it could be a strange talent, an embarrassing moment, a confession etc. Leave these anonymous and gather all the tales into a pot - read them out randomly and guess whose is who. Explain that we associate certain behaviours with particular people - this is only natural but we need to be aware of the judgements we make and try not to judge a book by it's cover. The judge has spoken (10 mins) Show a clip from a TV talent show such as X Factor that shows various auditions that weren't successful. The judge may have a point about whether they performed well but often the judge may also say things that others don't think is fair. Some of the people auditioning will be craving acceptance from particular judges and their approval is what will help them continue (or not) in their career! Use this clip to introduce a debate about when judging is fair, when it is playing God with people's lives or making blanket assumptions, criticisms and unhelpful, hypocritical comments. Who am I? (20 mins) Prepare a power point presentation with various images of people (e.g. A policeman, a nurse, someone in a graduation ceremony, a footballer, a young mum, someone wheel-chair bound, fireman, vicar, a teacher, a young person, someone on the streets etc.) - after each picture post the question: ‘who am I?' Give out paper and pens and for each picture that comes up get them to jot down what they think about the people based from the photos and how they would answer their question ‘who am I?' They should also decide whether that person is a Christian or not. (If you can't prepare a power point, then this could be done by holding cards up with pictures on). Show the images again but this time display some writing which tells some more about who they are and what they are going through (e.g. I am going through a divorce, I am an athlete, I am an orphan etc.) Play an appropriate song in the background such as: ‘Iris' by The Goo Goo Dolls (from the film City of Angels). Spend some time sharing what they felt and thought when they saw the different images. What things influenced their opinions? How much can we know about a person by what we see? Can we know if someone is a Christian just by looking at them? Relate the topic to the young people's world - who do they presume things about? Who do they judge? Who have they chosen to alienate or dislike without even knowing them? Who do they look down upon? Why is this? Do they ever feel judged? Do they feel looked down upon? KEY POINT: We all judge others and make assumptions about others based on our little experience of the world! Things are not always as they seem and people are not always as we think they seem. If we judge a book by it's cover we may miss out on that books contents. Bible study (10-15 mins) Read together Romans 14. It may be a good idea to use a paraphrase such as The Message as this translates this passage especially well.
Explain that the Bible speaks quite strongly about judging others when it is really God's job to judge. God does not want us to have a vindictive spirit that continually seeks to uncover faults of others whilst we overlook our own sins. Take a look at these passages and discuss their application:
Response: Who I am... (10 mins) In verse 12 it says that we will each give our own account of ourselves to God - we are not responsible for telling God about this person or that person, or making sure God knows the terrible sins they have committed! The only person we are to give an account of is ourselves. Often we can be so busy judging others that we ignore or pass over our own failings and weaknesses. We need to recognise our own flaws and sins and give these things to God in the hope that he can help us! John 8 vs.1-11 tells us of the story of the woman caught in adultery - this story can remind us again of how we can judge - yet who are we to judge? If we were to imagine our life like that TV talent show earlier (such as X Factor) with God as the judge - what would he say? What would we say? Play the song ‘Change' (Man in the Mirror) by Michael Jackson and challenge the young people to think about what ‘planks' they have in their eyes that they need to remove before they can help their neighbour remove the speck from theirs. Ask them to write these things down in short prayers to God on post-it notes and stick these to a large mirror.
Suzi Stock is a JNC qualified youth worker in the UK, a freelance writer, tutor to trainee youth workers and a registered Childminder.
Notes for adapting For younger groups... Play a clip from the Disney film Dumbo where the elephant is laughed at and ridiculed for his large ears, but later rises above these jeers literally by flying! For older groups... Play a clip from the film Step Up where trouble with the law results in Tyler doing community service at Maryland School of Arts - he goes with pre-conceived ideas about the people who attend the school and Nora (a student at the school - later to dance with Tyler) has judgements about the type of person that Tyler is. Despite their differences they learn to know and share each other's passion for dance. Their love of dance unites them - the other differences now do not matter so much. (Christians need to remember that our love for God should also unite us, not cause us to judge each other harshly or create petty arguments / disagreements.) For un-churched young people... Relate the session more generally to judging anyone. For churched young people... Emphasise the importance of not judging other Christians and remembering that we all worship one God - regardless of denomination or any other differences we may have! |
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