MEETING AIM: To explore the theme of winning and losing. To look at how Jesus was seen by some as a ‘loser’ and yet through him we are all winners. To show the different views God has about what it means to ‘win’.  

BACKGROUND PREPARATION: You will need to get hold of the right movie clips and have something to play them from. You will also need materials for the games – smarties, balloons, string and scissors. Leave some time to prepare the games before the young people arrive. You will need Bibles, pens and paper. Make sure you have a short testimony prepared and spend some time praying for the session with your team.

Games (15 mins)

Use either or both of the following as an ice-breaker:

• Smartie Scramble. Split the group into teams and sit everyone around tables. Spread out a packet of smarties across the table as evenly as possible. Then select a volunteer from each table to leave the room. While the volunteers are outside the room, ask the rest of the team to select one individual Smartie. Not by colour but just one individual Smartie. When the volunteers return to the room they may start eating the smarties. When they pick up the Smartie that has been selected by the group, the rest of the group may eat the rest of the smarties.
• Balloon Stamp. Give every young person a blown up balloon and a piece of string. Get them to tie the balloon to their shoe. On your mark everyone must try and burst each others balloon by stamping on it. When someone’s balloon is burst they are out. The person with their balloon intact wins.

Team talk (10 mins)

Split the group into smaller groups of between three and five, and discuss the following questions:

• How did it feel to win? Why does winning feel good?
• How did it feel to lose? Why does losing feel bad?
• Which game would you have preferred to win and why?

Movie clips and discussion (10 mins)

At this point play a clip of someone winning something. Most of the following are available on YouTube so pick the one most relevant to your group:

1)     Leona Lewis winning X factor

2)     Johnny Wilkinson’s drop kick and winning the Rugby World Cup

3)     The first ever £250,000 win on Deal or No Deal.

If you haven’t got access to the internet find a suitable movie clip e.g. The Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith (scene 28,1:44.05 - 1:48.56). This is near the conclusion of the film where he finds out he has got his dream job. You may need to explain the context of the scene for it to have its full effect.

Get the young people talking about times in their lives when they have lost and won, exploring their emotions surrounding those situations and sharing their memories.

Bible bit (15 mins)

John 1:44 – 46, Mark 6:1 – 6, Matthew 27: 27 – 44.

Get a different young person to read each of the following passages out:  John 1:44 – 46, Mark 6:1 – 6, Matthew 27: 27 – 44, and discuss the following questions:

• Do you think Jesus felt like a loser or a winner in these situations?
• What do you think the people thought of Jesus while these things were happening?
• What do you think God thought of Jesus while these things were happening?

KEY POINT: Explain that people must have thought Jesus was a loser. He came from Nazareth, a small town with a small population. People thought that Jesus was their messiah, that he was going to save them from the Romans and when he was beaten and crucified, they must have thought he had lost that fight and that they could no longer be saved as a people. Try to draw out that although people thought Jesus was a loser, God knew that he was about to be victorious and still loved him the same throughout. God’s definition of what it means to win is different to people and culture’s definition.

Testimony (5 mins)

Talk about a time in your life where a bad situation has been turned around for good. Or where losing something helped you to win something else in the future. Or simply a time when you have learnt from a mistake.

Definitions (10 mins)

Split the young people into two groups, asking one to come up with their own definitions for winning and losing and the other to come up with God’s definitions for winning and losing. Do they differ? Why?

Final Thought (10 mins)

Read Romans 8:28 – 38 (The Message version if you can.) Ask each young person to read out a verse each, to symbolise that everyone has a part in this. You may want to end the meeting by praying for situations the young people feel they are ‘losing’ in, or by writing out some of Romans 8:28 – 38 and encouraging the young people to stick the bits of paper on their bedroom doors. You could also all read out the passage again together, as a closing prayer.

KEY POINT: Highlight verse 31, ‘With God on our side like this, how can we lose?’ Remind the young people that when we put our faith in Jesus, we cannot lose! Nothing can separate them from the love of God, and from the victory we share with Christ because of the cross. They are all winners!

Notes for adapting

For younger groups…You may want to leave more time for the bible study and use less passages. You could play another game later on in the session instead of coming up with the definitions, or provide dictionaries and a computer with internet to make it easier.

For older groups…The games can be changed to a quiz you could write or just by playing ‘Bop pit’ or another board game.

For unchurched young people… Leave more time at the end to explain what putting faith in Jesus means and how they can do this. You could come up with what you think God’s definition for winning and losing is.

For churched young people… Look more in depth at the passages, go into more detail about explaining the significance of a prophet not being welcome in his hometown and the cultural views about Nazareth.

Jo Dolby is Skate Outreach Manager for Bath Youth for Christ, UK