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Be a Follower of Jesus

Be a follower… even when it is discouraging

Ask the congregation to get into pairs. Then ask one person to tell the story of why they are a follower of Jesus to the other. Stress that the story teller needs to persevere no matter what. The listener should try to be as rude as possible while the other person is speaking e.g. tapping their foot, looking away, interrupting etc. Then get the pair to swap roles.

Tell the congregation that we need to keep following Jesus even when we feel discouraged. Did they manage to finish their story and overcome their discouragement? Get the pairs to pray for each other to persevere when they feel discouraged.

 

Be a follower… and follow Jesus into the family.

Resources Needed:

  • Small pieces of paper/card
  • String/ Twine
  • Holepunch
  • Tree or branch secured in a pot
  • Fruit e.g. grapes

Ask the congregation to take a piece of paper and draw a self-portrait. They should then take the picture and make a hole in the top using the hole punch. Next, they should thread the string through it and tie a knot. Ask them to tie their self-portrait onto God’s family tree.

As a member of the family of God we are entitled to our inheritance. Get the congregation to then take a grape (or whatever fruit you have chosen) to symbolise the double portion of the gifts and fruit of the spirit that Jesus promised we would receive from God. Ask them to eat the fruit and think and pray about which parts of their inheritance they would like to receive today.

Fruit of the spirit:

Love,  Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control

Gifts of the spirit:

Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, tongues, discernment, prophecy, interpretation of tongues

 

Be a follower… even when we can’t see Him.

Resources Needed:

  • Blindfolds e.g. scarves
  • Wellies (optional)
  • Coat rail (optional)
  • Coloured Masking Tape
  • A Chair
The line challenge and the coat rail challenge

Ask your congregation to get into pairs. In the pair they must decide who will be the leader and who will be the follower. Ask the follower to put on a blindfold. The leader then must guide their blindfolded follower through the challenges of an obstacle course. A challenge that we used was directing the follower to a pair of wellies and asking them to put them on and then take them off again. A second challenge we created was taping across a coat rail and asking the follower to go through the coat rail whilst avoiding the tape. Another challenge was walking along a line taped on the floor. Other challenges you could do could be going under some netting, getting into a sack and moving across a room, using a hula hoop.

The wellies challenge

At the end of the obstacle course the leader should pray for the follower to follow Jesus even though it is difficult because they cannot see Him. Get the leader to pray that their follower can trust His voice and guidance in their life.

The prayer chair

We used these prayer stations with the passage 2 Kings 2:1-14- Elijah taken up to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot of fire. Elisha was the follower who followed despite discouragement, followed Elijah into the family of God and followed God even though he could not see Him.