Fools For Christ

GOALS: To help YFC members understand and appreciate the YFC culture of Praise and Worship
To help YFC members develop their spiritual gifts

DYNAMICS:
1. Discern a speaker for this activity.
2. Coordinate with the music ministry what songs will be sung during the activity. This activity will be more effective with a music ministry that knows the dynamics of worship – can flow smoothly from one song to the next and can play while people are singing in tongues
3. The music ministry should be briefed thoroughly regarding the flow of worship. A music ministry / music ministry leader may also be “imported” from a more mature group if need be.
4. After the gathering song (and an optional energizer or game), a simple prayer will be used to open the meeting. (Worship will come after the talk).
5. After the talk and activity – which will be worship, the group divides into households to share their experience in the worship (refer to the talk outline).
6. The whole group gathers again for the closing summary and prayer by the speaker. (He should be encouraged to also include prayers for birthday celebrants / those with special concerns).
7. The group may be asked to sit down again for some announcements just before the final jubilant song.



SUGGESTED SCHEDULE

Gathering / Energizer 5 minutes
Opening Song and Prayer 5 minutes
Talk Proper 5 – 20 minutes
Activity / Worship 30 minutes
Sharing by households 30 to 40 minutes
Closing 10 minutes
TOTAL 120 minutes


TALK OUTLINE

I. THAT CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

A. Love makes people do crazy things

Falling in love is sometimes scary – if you’ve ever seen a person in love you’ll know what I mean. You might even laugh at how ridiculous some of these people are, shouting on mountain tops, writing long letters… facing mean face dads…. Spending 3 hours on the phone, giggling, purring, saying all sorts of sweet nothings.

But when it hits you, you find yourself doing worse stuff. You call her parents to organize a surprise birthday party, you travel great distances… you spend all your allowance for the fist time on a person other than yourself… You put on cologne in every possible place his or her nose might come close too… you offer to do even the things you dislike.

B. But it’s exactly these crazy things that honor the one you love

People become convinced that you really do love them when they find out you’re willing to do even the things you dislike for them

People you love are honored when they find out you’re willing to look like a fool to let them know you love them

The truth is, no matter how many people make fun of how foolish you look, when you’re in love, you feel better than anyone else in the whole world

When you are loved and when you love you “live”

II. THAT FOOL CALLED CHRIST

A. Like many people who have loved greatly, Christ was willing to be the fool

• It was foolish for Him to love people who hated him
• It was foolish for Jesus to love us – people, who only want to love themselves
• It was foolish for Jesus to die for us to show us what real love was

B. But jesus did not just love greatly, his is the greatest example of what love should be

• His foolish love conquered His death
• His foolish love conquered our death – see how alive you now feel that you have experienced His love.

III. FOOLS FOR CHRIST

A. It’s about time we love Jesus back even if it means we might look foolish to other – we must be willing to be fools for Christ

• Our Friends should somehow find out the we are YFC, even if they thing being YFC is foolish
• When we worship in YFC activities, we want others to hear us, we want God to see us willing to let others know that we love him

B. When we worship in YFC, we want Jesus to know that we love him too

• We try to understand what the songs mean so that we can sing them with conviction
• We want the people beside us to hear us singing these songs from our heart
• We raise our hands because we know our bodies want to show what we feel deep inside. Notice how you clap or jump when you see something great, maybe in a concert or basketball game… that’s because your body is as excited as you are. Well we want our bodies to worship God too so we sometimes raise our hands, dance, jump, spread our arms wide or clasp them in praise
• In between songs, we want to speak words of praise that remind us of how great God is (Give examples)
• We sing in the spirit as a “serenade” to God and speak words of love – offering our lives to Him as He has for us – in worship and adoration (Give examples)
• Lastly, we listen to His words of love in our hearts (prophetic words). Sometimes, when we begin to really recognize God’s voice in our hearts (especially when we see how they are confirmed when we begin to read His words in scripture) we realize that many of His messages are not just for us and so we share it to the whole group as “prophetic words” or even “visions”.

IV. ACTIVITY

As “Fools for Christ”, we want to grow in our being able o express our love to God as we praise him, offer our lives to Him and listen to His word in worship. That we will do today.

Note: We want YFC members to learn to appreciate worship, as such this activity will begin as a “step by step” way of leading them into worship.

1. Make sure you first explain what you want to happen and achieve through this activity.
2. First have the group sit down and close their eyes while you sing a slow worshipful and very familiar song (“Refiners Fire”, “As the Deer”). Ask them to imagine themselves physically in front of God singing this song.
3. After the song, get some volunteers to share what they imagined themselves to be doing as the song was being sung.
4. This time ask the participants who imagined themselves to be standing up to first stand up. Those who imagined themselves to be sitting down to remain seated or on the floor those kneeling to do so. Sing the song again and ask the participants to just follow what they imagine themselves to be doing as actions of worship still with eyes closed.
   
   Note: It would be good to proceed and sing in the spirit right after the song taking note of some that may instinctively follow.
   
5. After the song let the group know that this next time will be a complete worship. Encourage them to continue to express to the Lord their actions of praise whether it be hands upraised, clapping or however the Lord leads them to do. Encourage them to speak aloud their praises, to sing in the spirit and in tongues. Encourage them also to listen to what they feel is the Lord’s personal message for them. They will share whatever this is to their households
6. After the worship, and enough time for them to hear God’s word in their hearts, have the group divide into households to share their experience and “word from God”
7. After 30 minutes, gather the group for any last comments you may have and a closing prayer. Allow a moment in your closing prayer for people to personally respond to whatever word they received from the Lord.