Tony Akers - Groove: Dilemmas Leader Guide

GROOVE: DILEMMAS

Groove is published by Youth Ministry Partners and Abingdon Press, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P.O. Box 280988, Nashville, TN 37228-0988. Copyright 2015 Youth Ministry Partners and Abingdon Press.

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Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are from the Common English Bible. Copyright 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. ( CommonEnglishBible.com )

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com . The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Groove Team

Neil M. Alexander: Publisher

Marjorie M. Pon: Editor, Church School Publications

Jack Radcliffe: Managing Editor

Jason Sansbury: Editor

Sheila K. Hewitt: Production Editing Supervisor

Pam Shepherd: Production Editor

Keely Moore: Design Manager

Kellie Green: Designer

Tony Akers: Writer

Kevin Crawford: Devotional Writer

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Every day, youth are called to navigate a world full of challenging choicesfrom the simple choices about everyday life to the much more serious ethical dilemmas that can make being a teenager such a complicated experience. So how do we help them as they seek to make choices that are consistent with their character and their faith?

Groove: Dilemmas is a four-week Bible study designed to help the teens in your ministry understand how to make inspired, smart choices that reflect both who they are and who they are striving to become. What does it mean to be a person with established morals and ethics? How does the commandment to love others affect our lives in a tangible way? How do we live into the values that we claim as followers of Jesus? And what happens when we make choices that have consequences that greatly affect our lives and the lives of those around us?

Dilemmas isnt designed to give simple answers to complicated questions. The studys sessions and the daily devotions of the Groove: Dilemmas Student Journal will challenge the youth to be deliberate, thoughtful, and faithful as they work through the choices that they have to make.

Thank you for using Groove: Dilemmas and for challenging teens to live faithful, thoughtful lives as they seek to follow Jesus!

The Groove curriculum was designed to help you lead a great gathering of teens, providing enough material for you, as the youth leader, to choose the pieces that work well for your group and that guide the teens into discussion, helping to integrate their faith into their daily lives. The format is designed to teach and engage as well as to prompt teens to wrestle with and ask hard questions. To that end, below are some explanations about the format, layout, and ways to best use the resource.

As the teens arrive for each session, first impressions say everything about how you are prepared to welcome them. In addition to creating a warm, teen-friendly environment, most lessons will include an activity to engage teens directly and move their mindset toward the more organized structure of the lesson. Because teens occasionally arrive late, this activity is intentionally designed so that a teen may arrive during or after it without being lost or behind during the remaining session time.

As you and your group transition from the active or welcoming part of Gather Up, you want to prime the pump of your teens hearts and minds. This usually happens in an activity that helps them to focus on the subject of the lesson. The activity is meant to be short and to engage and set up what comes next.

This section is the direct teaching time of the lesson. Included is the teaching outline, which correlates with the student journal activities, as well as some background and additional information to help teach a concise lesson. You will notice that the Look Up section rarely ever finishes a lesson or puts a bow on it, so to speak. The teaching builds to a place where the teens participate in what comes next: discussion.

Teens will engage and share in this section. If your group is large, you may choose to divide the teens into small groups or teams during this activity and then come back together afterward. If your group is small, you may choose to shift from guiding the lesson yourself to allowing teens to guide and shape it. Included are small-group questions, reflections, and exercises to deepen the learning for and with the teens.

This section concludes your group meeting. It is intentionally designed to include an activity, a thought, or a prayer that will move teens from a group discussion to personal consideration for their daily lives.

This section challenges teens to think about how the truths of this lesson apply in their lives for the next days and weeks to come.

The Groove Student Journal has a singular purpose: to provide an easy-to-use tool for your teens and to help them reflect deeply and process what they are learning and how they are growing both during youth gatherings and beyond.

The journal for each week includes fill-in-the-blank activities and questions for the Talk Up and Wrap Up portions of the lesson. In addition, there are discussion prompts for small groups.

While what happens in your youth gatherings is incredibly valuable, most spiritual formation in teenagers takes place outside of your youth gathering. It is in the classroom, with friends, at practice, walking to class, with family, when making decisions, or in the quiet moments alone where deep consideration of faith commitments occurs.

Connecting what is taught and learned at youth group with the rest of life is easier said than done. Every situation mentioned above provides an opportunity to choose to follow Christ. The Groove Student Journal includes twenty devotions (five per lesson) to help your teens continue their faith formation beyond youth group and make the most of their opportunities.

Scripture provides guidelines for knowing right and wrong.

Scripture References: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 119:9; Matthew 7:12

Therefore, you should treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you. (Matthew 7:12)