Equipment Needed: newspapers, large paper, pens, glue sticks, Pay It Forward DVD (or trailer from YouTube), bible study sheets (click to download)

Opening Game: Chinese Laundry – divide the group into two teams and shout out an item. The team must go and get that item. The first team to bring the item back gets a point.

Explain: Over the next few sessions we’ll be going on a journey as we explore the theme ‘we can save the world’ and Jesus’ command to ‘go into the world and make disciples of all nations’. Tonight we’re thinking about why (or perhaps if) our world needs saving.

Group Task: In smaller groups give the young people some large paper, glue sticks and newspapers. Invite them to find a creative way to cut out the newspapers, write words and picture things they think are wrong with the world on the paper.

Big Group: Bring the group back together and get feedback from the activity. What things do the group think are wrong with the world? Are they mostly people caused or natural? D the group disagree with other groups?

Video Clip: Pay It Forward – Trailer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pCtXRP1edo

Explain: In that film the boy comes up with the idea of doing 3 big things for 3 people and that each of them must then do 3 big things for 3 people with the ideal that people will spread good deeds. For his own first good deed he invites a homeless drug addict into his house.

Ask: If you had to do 3 big things for 3 people what sort of things would you do?

Bible Study: Split the group into smaller groups and get them to look at the bible studys (see extra sheet)

Group: Get the group to feedback from their discussions and their stories of Jesus helping people. What is the general feeling of the group about these examples? How did society react to what Jesus did?

Bible: Look at Mark 2:13-17. What does it mean? Who in our world is sick?

Explain: Jesus was expected to come as a great King and someone who would be a great ruler, which he was but not how people expected. Jesus spent his time with societies outcasts. Jesus knew that there were people in the world who needed help, people who needed healing, people who needed a friend, people who needed God.

On top of that God knew that we had a world that needed saving which is why he sent Jesus to start with.

Ask: In what ways does the world need saving? (From bad things, from people who aren’t very nice, from sin, from a broken relationship with God)

Explain: Ultimately God sent Jesus to save lives, perhaps not always in our earthly concept of life but to offer eternal life with Him. Life in all its fullness. Jesus came to mend a broken relationship with the Father. A relationship that can be broken by all the things we do that don’t fit God’s ideal for our lives and as we begin to explore this theme it’s important that we know that God wants a relationship with everyone, regardless of what they’ve done, what they look like or their personality and that’s where Jesus comes in.

Video/Response: Video: Lifehouse – Everything Skit – Explain to the young people prior to showing this video that it can help us think about some of the things that get between us and God and how Jesus wants to be in a relationship with us but that sin can get in the way.

Note: The video is quite powerful so you may wish to give young people a chance to talk about it after if they want.

Response: Invite the young people to reflect on the video. Invite them to write down on a post-it the name of someone they’d like to know God. After sticking these post-it notes together pray for these names, asking God to reveal himself to those people and help us show them Jesus through the way we live.