You will need: Tim Hughes & 29th Chapter – Saviour – YouTube Link / A download of the quotes – here, the Doubt Bible Studies – download here

Ice Breaker Ask young people to go around and say their name and if anyone has ever told them a story they didn’t believe…what was it?

Explain: Explain that tonight we’re going to be thinking about questioning our faith. Throughout the evening we’re going to have a box where you can write questions completely anonymously and we’ll look at them at the end

First I’d like us to split into small groups explore this idea of questioning faith (3 groups)

Feedback Get the groups to feedback on their experiences and discoveries

Passage Notes:

Psalm 22 – The Psalm Jesus cried out on the cross, 2/3’s of the Psalms are of lament…i.e. everything sucks…the writer is in a place of despair.

Matthew passages – Jesus tells a story and the disciples question what it means…why did Jesus tell stories rather than saying it like it is? to understand it you need to question. Explain how sometimes to really understand things you have to question them and maybe even ask experts

Mark passage – Jesus on the cross, crying out to God…quoting Psalm 22 which remarkably describes the situation He’s in…is he questioning?

Explain: Questioning our faith isn’t a bad thing because it gives us a chance to think things through and gives us a much clearer understanding…if we never question things it can be difficult to answer questions from others…it doesn’t have to be massive questions it might just be little things

Sometimes our questions lead to doubt…it might be asking God where He is…here are a couple of things people have said when they’ve questioned

Read Get volunteers to read the quotes

Ask What do you think of those quotes?

Explain In a minute we’re going to have a chance for you to ask questions so if you’ve written them down and popped them in the bag already that’s great…if not then we’re going to have a time to reflect and you can write some down during that time.

Music Saviour – Tim Hughes & 29th Chapter – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdFqSaz1xTI

Questions

Go through the bag and encourage the young people to answer each others questions

Explain Hopefully some of those answers have been useful but the best person to turn to alongside people who God puts in your lives like your leaders, ministers etc is God…the Psalms might be largely made up of pleas for help but they all come back to God and acknowledge that He is in control and all knowing…

If we turn over the sheets we read earlier we’ll see some other responses to questioning and doubt

Closing So if you have questions and doubts it doesn’t mean you don’t have enough faith but make sure you ask people about them and make sure you pray about them as well

Prayer to close

‘I believe in the sun when it isn’t shining, I believe in love even when I’m alone, I believe in God even when he is silent’ – Found in a basement in Koln where a Jewish believe is thought to have been hiding from the Gestapo