Serving Like Jesus 6 Small Group Sessions on Ministry

Serving in Jesus, Student Edition: Six Sessions on Ministry Copyright © 2006 by Doug Fields and Brett Eastman Youth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fields, Doug, 1962- Serving like Jesus : 6 small group sessions on ministry / Doug Fields and Brett Eastman. p. cm. -- (Experiencing Christ together, student edition) ISBN-10: 0-310-26647-5 (pbk.) ISBN-13: 978-0-310-26647-1 (pbk.) 1. Church work--Biblical teaching. 2. Lay ministry--Biblical teaching. 3. Service (Theology)--Biblical teaching. 4. Church work--Study and teaching. 5. Lay ministry--Study and teaching. 6. Service (Theology)-- Study and teaching. I. Eastman, Brett, 1959- II. Title. BV4400.F54 2006 268'.433--dc22 2005024175 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version (North American Edition). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means- electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of publication. Please contact Youth Specialties via e-mail (YS@YouthSpecialties.com) to report URLs that are no longer operational and replacement URLs if available. Creative Team: Dave Urbanski, Holly Sharp, Mark Novelli, Joanne Heim, Janie Wilkerson Cover Design: Mattson Creative Printed in the United States of America Session 1 Candice noticed that her youth pastor and his wife hung around the sanctuary for a long time after church every Sunday. They stayed to make sure they had plenty of time to talk to students and to clean the youth room. When Candice asked them what time they finally got home after church, she was surprised at the answer: After 5 p.m.! Candice was fl oored-youth group ended at noon. She knew they stayed longer because they loved her and her fellow students, but she thought others should share some of the burden to clean up so her youth pastor and family could get home earlier. She came up with the idea of recruiting a team of students to help clean the youth room while others were hanging out and talking. But Candice found her leadership task a difficult one. Most of the students had great excuses, saying there were other things they needed to do. So Candice cleaned the youth room by herself for the first month-until two other girls volunteered to help out. For a few months the three of them cleaned and organized the room. The thankful response from the youth pastor and his family kept them encouraged. After several months of consistent cleaning, a few more students began to participate in this new clean-up ministry. Candice was thrilled that others finally saw the need and responded by jumping in and serving. Now everyone gets home a lot earlier. Serving is often anything but glamorous. No one loves picking up trash, stacking chairs, or putting things away. It's easy to view service jobs as beneath us-but they're not. In this session you'll see that no act of service is beneath you if you've acquired the servant heart of Jesus. Goal: To share about your life and listenFields, Doug is the author of 'Serving Like Jesus 6 Small Group Sessions on Ministry', published 2006 under ISBN 9780310266471 and ISBN 0310266475.