Aim: To look at what the Gospel is and how we can best explain it.
Objectives: At the end of the session the group should:
- Be able to state the Gospel clearly.
Personally Speaking…
Writing this just after Christmas gives me a good chance to reflect on the Good News that is celebrated at this time of year. In today’s society it seems that Christmas is just another time to over indulge, spend more money than you have available and catch up with the relatives that you moved 200 miles to be away from. (I don’t have any relatives in this category…)
A stable in Israel some 2000 years ago seems to bear no relation to today’s Christmas activity. Santa Claus means more to most than Christ.
I became a Christian when I was seven after my Mum told me and my sister about Jesus. She told me that Jesus could forgive me for all the bad things that I had done (even seven year olds sin) and come into my heart and be my friend. I don’t think the Gospel can be explained much more simply than that. Since that time I have grown in my relationship with Jesus. I think I know him better than I did. I know how much he loves me, warts and all. Yet he is also changing me, challenging the way I think and the things I do.
Knowing Jesus means that you have to change, you can’t stay the same. Bad habits, thoughts and attitudes need to be examined and changed as Jesus points them out.
Santa only wants to know if you have been naughty or nice. Jesus gets alongside and helps you improve the nice and helps you get rid of the naughty. The Good News is that Jesus came into the world to seek the naughty. When he died on the cross he proclaimed to the world that he would take their naughtiness and exchange it for niceness and more. Santa’s presents don’t even come close.
Beforehand…
Before the session gather together Gospel tracts. (Good and Bad!). You will need enough for each group member to have at least one. Also needed is a large sheet of paper and marker pen for a ‘brainstorm’.
The Session:
Before you can tell others about your faith you have to know yourself what you believe. What is at the heart of what you believe? The word Gospel is an old English word that means ‘Good News’. What does it mean to the group here and now.
Warming Up – Attractive
Hand out the tracts to the groups members and ask them, in groups of three, to look through the tracts they have. (If you have ‘repeats’ ask the group to get together with people who have different tracts from them.)
Ask each group to pick out the main points that go to make up the ‘Good News’ in the tracts. Can they identify the common elements?
After 5-10 minutes get back together and use the large sheet to ‘brainstorm’ an outline for a Gospel message. Try and take contributions from everyone.
Over to you – The Three Minute Gospel
Give each of the group a pen and a copy of the handout headed ‘The Three Minute Gospel’. Ask them to write the gospel in their own words incorporating the things already discussed in Attractive. If they know any relevant scripture passages they could include them in their gospel – their gospel shouldn’t just be a list of bible verses though. There are some passages for them to look up if they want to.
When they have finished see if one or two of the braver group members would be willing to read out what they have written – they have no more than three minutes to say what they want to say. (If the offerings are then discussed make sure to go by the “if you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all” rule.)
Pulling It Together
This session has laid some groundwork to understanding the Gospel.
Hopefully the group now know the Gospel a bit better and are able to explain it’s major point’s clearly. This is just the start!
Central to the Gospel is the man Jesus. When we tell the Gospel to others we are also talking to men and women. Each person is an individual and God deals with each of us according to who we are. Therefore rattling off the contents of a tract or handy aid to remembering the Gospel is not necessarily going to have a good effect. When sharing the Gospel it is as important to listen to the person we are with as it is to talk. We need to fit in to the right part of their lives, at the right time and the right way.
We may only have a ‘walk on part’ in someone’s journey towards God. Put it can be a vital part.