NEED Download the PowerPoint available on Schoolswork.co.uk called ‘Questions for God Youthwork Magazine’.
Introduction
The Bible is full of people asking questions. Just a few include: ‘Where are you?’, ‘Who is my neighbour?’, ‘What is truth?’, ‘Who do you say that I am?’. We can think about what questions to ask God whether or not we believe God is real, or even if we have no idea about faith.
Choose two students who will play the yes/no game. Have a list of questions for one student to ask the other, e.g. Did you enjoy your breakfast this morning? Do you like school? Is this your favourite lesson? The aim of the game is for the person answering the questions not to use the words yes or no. If they do, they are out and someone else takes over. Play this for a few minutes.
Show the next slide showing the following quotes:
‘Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.’ — Voltaire (historian and philosopher)
‘The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions.’ — Claude Lévi-Strauss (anthropologist and ethnologist)
Ask the class why they think asking questions is a good skill.
Four areas
This lesson is based on a Schoolswork.co.uk resource called ‘Questions for God’ Artcards, and the set of cards is based upon four areas: Creation, World, Wonder and Knowing Me. We have put together a free PowerPoint including four of the cards which is available for you to use with this lesson guide. Each of the four areas has a quote from the Bible, an illustrated question from a young person and two questions for you to use in class discussion. Please use the following ideas in the way that best suits your group. It could be that breaking the four areas up and printing the questions and illustrations out and placing them in four places around the classroom works well.
Write your own questions
After exploring the four areas, get the students back into one group and ask them to write down some of their own questions for God. Encourage them to write at least one question for each of the four areas.
Then ask them to pick their favourite question and to choose a way of illustrating that question which relates to its meaning. They can plan what they want to create, and depending on the length of your lesson or resources available, they can bring in what they need to the next lesson and you can finish up next time and take pictures of their questions to go on the wall of the classroom.
Creation
QUOTE: ‘Everything was created through him; nothing, not one thing, came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by.’ John 1:3-4 (The Message)
QUESTION: God, who made you? (made out of play dough)
DISCUSSION: 1. Could God have been made by someone else or has God always existed? 2. What do you think God is like?
World
QUOTE: ‘If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears.’ 1 John 3:17 (The Message)
QUESTION: Why is there not enough food in the world? (made out of spaghetti letters)
DISCUSSION: 1. What do you think God might answer this question by saying? 2. Are there any charities you know that have been set up to help people who do not have enough food? What work do they do?
Wonder
QUOTE: ‘And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.’ John 14:13-14 (The Message)
QUESTION: Can you do anything I ask? (made out of sweets)
DISCUSSION: 1. How might prayer be like going to a sweet shop? How might it be different? 2. Have you ever prayed? What happened?
Knowing Me
QUOTE: ‘See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…’ Isaiah 49:16 (NIV)
QUESTION: Do you know my name? (written in the sand)
DISCUSSION: 1. In the Bible it says that God knows everyone’s names. What do you think? 2. How important is it to you that people know your name?
IMAGINE, the 2013 national conference for Christian schools work, is taking place in two venues this September. The perfect way to start the new academic year, we will be meeting in Buckinghamshire on 2nd September and Leeds on 6th September. Check out more details and book your place through www. imagineschoolswork.co.uk.
