Exploring our Gifts for Christian Ministry and Discipleship
Junior/Senior Unit 2
This unit is designed to help the youth:
Begin the unit by reading I Corinthians 12:4-7: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
You may also want to have the youth sing Hymn 304 "There are Many Gifts" from The Hymnal: A Worship Book.
Take note of the list of additional activities at the end of this unit for those occasions when you find yourself with minutes to fill at the end of a class or if you want to add a week to the unit.
Lesson One: Naming our Gifts
Read or have a youth read the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)
Ask: What are your talents?
I encourage students to write them down by giving them a sheet with the following questions and then have them paste the sheet into their journals. Here is a PDF of (My Gifts) questions ready to reproduce and handout.
My Gifts
Discussion: Begin by asking, "What are your curious but seemingly useless
talents?" Youth enjoy sharing these and it warms them up for sharing about
more important
gifts.
Have youth share in pairs. Then have the pairs share about what they have learned
about each other's gifts.If appropriate, have the youth demonstrate their quirky
talents.
Explain that sometimes our gifts are obvious because we like to do what we
are good at doing. Invite the youth to go around the circle and share the gifts
they have in this category.
Explain that sometimes our gifts are obvious because our school and community
value them and so they look for them.
Ask the youth to share the gifts that are affirmed or valued by their school
or
community. What gifts have you enjoyed sharing? What gifts are we called to share
that
we
are
not
always
comfortable
using?
Ask the following questions:
Does our Church or community have habits or values that make it difficult to share? For example, does the Mennonite tradition's emphasis upon humility make it awkward at times to put yourself forward? Do you feel a tension between giving to the community and the fear that people will think that you are a show off? What other things keep you from sharing your gifts or being comfortable with sharing your gifts?
Has anyone ever asked you to do something that you did not think you could do and then you were surprised at how well you could do it? If the group is silent, have them think about any skill that they resisted learning. For example, reading, swimming, playing a musical instrument or riding a bike. Was there anything that you resisted learning how to do that you now find yourself enjoying and possibly find yourself really good at doing? How do you feel about the people who push you when you succeed? What would your life be like if people did not encourage and even urge you to develop your gifts and use them? Would you be as active in your school, community or church?
Share the following with the group: Sometimes people resent the church for asking them to do things and pushing them into roles in which they are not really comfortable. When the church does this, the church is imitating God. When God called Moses to lead His people out of bondage in Egypt, do you know what Moses said? "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11), "Suppose they do not believe me or listen to me...?" (Exodus 4:1), and "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Exodus 4:10). If you read the entire story of Moses, it quickly becomes apparent that Moses is fooling himself or trying to fool God, for he finds his voice very quickly and give many passionate speeches. In fact, he even pleads to God on behalf of the Israelites on a number of occasions. The next time that you are called to do some role of leadership in the church, however large or small, remember that it is God calling you and simply reply, "Here I am."
Lesson Two: Hidden or Unrecognized Gifts
Warm up discussion: Go around the circle and ask the youth to name the strangest, most surprising or seemingly useless gift that they have every received. I suggest that if you have any gifts at home that fit into this category that you bring them to share. Ask the youth if they have ever received something that they didn't initially want but that proved to be very useful later.
Share this story or a similar one of your own: When I was a girl, I was a "tom boy" and did not want dolls or clothes or other such "girly" things. One year I received an "Easy Bake Oven" for Christmas. I remember that once my brothers tired of the miniature pool table and let me play with it, they assembled my oven and baked all the little boxes and bags of pre-mixed cookies and cakes. While I was not pleased with the oven, I was upset by the consumption of the baked goods, so my mother put together a small supply of flour and other items needed for the recipes in the accompanying recipe book, and stored them in a cupboard to which I had easy access. My desire to have cookies and cakes to eat soon grew into the joy of making the cookies and particularly the cakes. I became the cake baker in my family. Those who know me well, know that I produce very distinctive cakes in the shape of rodents and vermin. While my parents gave me gifts like the oven and dolls and clothes, God has given me a number of other gifts. Some of these I enjoyed and others have asked me to share. People like creative cakes. Other gifts were not apparent to me and have more gradually come to light as people have recognized and named them for me and asked me to share them. Some of these gifts are ones that I enjoy sharing, like the ability to teach, but some, like my administrative abilities, are ones that I would have preferred to ignore, but they are often needed.
Explain to the youth that sometimes we need others to help us recognize our gifts, because they are subtle and not the sorts of things for which people are scouting, like a strong pitching arm or a good baritone. Ask them if anyone has spotted a gift that they did not know they had? If they are silent, have them share in pairs any words of praise that they have received in school from a teacher or in your home from an adult friend that was unexpected because you had not thought that what you had done was special or good?
Sometimes we only discover gifts when extraordinary situations call us to use them. Here is an odd story of my own that might call one of your own to mind:
In about 1995, we received a call one evening from a 7 year old friend announcing that the family cat Sugar had died and asking if we would come for the funeral. When we arrived at his home, we were escorted around the side of the house to where Sugar lay dead where they had found it. Other than the fact that he was cold and stiff, there were no indications of what had killed him. Sugar seemed to have been hit by a car or had been poisoned. No one wanted to touch the dead cat to put him into the shoe box that they had prepared for burial. I had no such aversion. I have an odd gift: I do not get squeamish about seeing dead people or animals and have no qualms about touching them. They did provide me plastic bags to put over my hands, but to my dismay, when I picked up Sugar, rigor mortis had already set in, so I have to bend his legs to fit him into the box. As I exerted pressure, I felt the joints pop out of their sockets, but I did not hesitate or let on to the others what was happening to poor Sugar's insides. We buried the box under a back yard tree and spoke a few words in eulogy while another seven year old who was present sang a medley or "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prayer" and "Home on the Range."
Do any of us have stories of this sort? Again, if the group is silent, break them into pairs to share a story when they were with friends and something unpleasant had to be done and they found themselves able to do it, or a problem needed a solution and they found that they had one. Ask them if there was a time that they realized that they knew the solution and did not offer it because they doubted themselves and then regretted not acting later.
How do you feel if you have to offer a talent that others do not know you
have but is needed? Raise, once more, the problem of the tension between being
humble Mennonites (no Hochmut)
and putting ourselves out there and using our talents.
Explain that now is the time in life, late teens through twenties, to discover
and cultivate talents.The Mennonite way is to affirm each other’s gifts
and call each other to use them and to rejoice together in them.
Activity: Put the name of each member of the group on separate envelops [I used old offering envelops] and put them in a large container. Provide slips of colorful paper and pens.
Instructions to class:
When I did this, I was worried that the youth would have trouble coming up
with gifts. I was wrong. By the end of a ten minute period, most youth had
put slips in 10 envelops. In the following weeks, I had members of the pastoral
team and parents fill out gift slips for each youth and added them to the envelops.
At the end of
the unit, I presented each youth with his or her envelop. Some pasted their
slips of paper into their journals.
Session Three: Gifts of the Spirit
Review the various lists of gifts found in Paul's letters. See if the youth can name the gifts of the spirit and the fruits of the spirit.
Key passages (gifts and fruit): 1 Corinthians 12:1,:14-26; 13:1-4; Romans 8:13-14; 12:6-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 5:9, Matthew 7:15-22.
Gifts of the Spirit
Ask: "How many of these gifts do you think you may have?"
Explain that some people think that this is the exhaustive list, but many think that these are examples of spiritual gifts and that any skill that we have comes from God. What makes it a spiritual gift is if we use it for God's purpose, that is to build up the Church by making us more Christ-like and more hospitable. If we look at the fruits of the spirit, we can work backwards and name many more gifts that produce these fruits:
Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
If you have a good amount of time left in this session, you might ask the youth to name the abilities they have that produces these fruits. This may be a good question to work at in pairs or on paper. If you are running out of time, go to the next question.
Ask the youth: Do you know anybody who received a gift and brought it to school to impress people? Or anyone who received a gift and would let only a select few benefit from it? Perhaps this person, on occasion, has been you. What sorts of presents does our culture tell us are more valuable than others?
Paul repeatedly says that the greatest gift of all is one that we all receive, that is God's love and that we are to freely share this love with all, even our enemies.
Have the youth who are older siblings share their stories about welcoming a brother and sister into the family. What lessons did they have to learn about the limitlessness of love? Try to come prepared with your own stories.
One day, soon after my mother had returned home with me to the house where she lived with my father and 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old brothers, she went to check on me in my crib. When she looked in, she found a glass of water and a plate with a cold piece of toast leaning against my body. My one and a half year old brother wanted to help by feeding me.
Sometimes the adjustment to a new sibling is not easy. I recall visiting my brother and his wife soon after the birth of their second child. I found my 3 year old niece sitting in the dark stairwell singing a song the she had made up herself: "I want to throw my brother out the window, the second story window...."
Ask the youth to share any stories or discoveries they have made about how love grows the more you love.
When we treat gifts as something that brings us personal honor or prestige, we can often be jealous of other's gifts. Can you think of a time that you were jealous of another's abilities? Have each youth share one gift that they wish they had and have them name one person who has this gift and describe how they appreciate it when that person shares his or her gift. For example, I am tone deaf and usually lip sync difficult songs so as not to disturb the people around me, but I really enjoy listening to the voices around me when we sing in Church.
Lesson Four: Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
We have looked at how we recognize our gifts and how we are called to use them. The writers of the Gospels and the Letters of the New Testament identify mimesis or imitation as another important way of discovering our gifts and cultivating the fruits of the Spirit. Note the contradiction between how our society treats imitation and the importance of imitation in learning. Have the youth recall stories of how they would imitate an older brother or sister or a parent or friend. Have youth recall stories of their playing at being parents, teachers, garbage men etc.
Go around the circle and have each youth answer the question: Who are the people we admire in school, in your community and in our church who you seek to be like at this point in our lives?
Share with the class the role that pastors have played in your life/lives as models of faith and discipleship. Then do the following activity as a way for the youth to recognize how the pastors of your congregation serve as such models.
Activity: I prepared a large blank card for each member of the pastoral team. The youth worked in as many groups as there were pastors and named their gifts and decorated the cards. We rotated the cards around the table so that each group could add gifts to the list. Some youth finished decorating the cards. Later in the week, we delivered them to each pastor by placing it on their chairs while they were out of the office.
Tag-On Activities for Days You Finish Early or for an Additional Fifth Session:
Kenosis
Talk about kenosis (the emptying of self that Jesus models and that Paul describes in Philippians 2:6-11). When is the greatest gift the one of letting go of your power and status and being selfless? Who are the people serving our community whom we tend not to notice because they are selfless and do not seek our attention? Look at the story of the two midwives Shiprah and Puah and the other women in Exodus 1. Why is Pharaoh threatened by the baby boys? Why doesn't he worry about the women? Who are the unappreciated servants of our community? Do you know the names of the people who deliver your mail, take away your garbage, clean up after you in school and church? Encourage the youth to learn the name of one person in their community who serves them on a regular basis and to find a way to thank them?
By their Fruits You Shall Know Them
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves, you will know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:15-16). How do we know if we are treating our gifts in an appropriate way and that we are not simply on an ego trip if we develop them?
This might be a good journal questions rather than something to be shared with the group: Name one time when you knew that you were using a gift selfishly and what happened as a result?
You might prompt discussion by having the youth recount stories from films that they have seen about talented people whose ambitions led them in directions they eventually regret. The ones that I have seen recently include Mark Wahlberg's Rock Star (2001), The Stepford Wives, or Great Expectations. Have the youth describe the consequences of using gifts for the wrong purpose as a whole group.
What sorts of benefits come from using our gifts appropriately? Write the youth's list down on a white board or flip chart paper and then compare it against Paul's list.
The Fruit of God's Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
Did the youth tend to think about the benefits that other's gain from their
use of their gifts or did they think about how they themselves mature in the
spirit when they use their gifts wisely?