Leader Guide

Theme
God’s Love

Objective
Students will rediscover the definition of God’s love as a relentless, pursuing, and unconditional love.

Warm Up
Direct your group to the All Kinds of Love section of the Student Guide. Allow about ten minutes for this activity. When everyone is finished or almost finished, ask the students to come back together. Give each group a short amount of time to present their results. You could list their results on a whiteboard or paper in the form of a poll to see which types of “love” appeared most often. After these reports, followup with these questions:
• Why does the word “love” get used in so many ways?
• What impact does this have when we try to communicate genuine love to someone else?

Transition
Say something like, “The word ‘love’ is used to describe so many different relationships, which makes knowing the true definition of love difficult. In today’s lesson we will rediscover the definition of God’s love for us as relentless, pursuing, and unconditional.”

The Video
You can introduce the video by going to the band’s website and learning a little more about the group. Show the video as your group works through the Scenes exercise. When the video has ended, have your group share their findings and discuss how the scenes might be related to the message of the song.

Transition
Say something like, “Life has its highs and lows. In some moments, both good and bad, we may feel close to God or far away from Him. In this song we are reminded that God’s love ‘will surely come find us.’ Let’s take a few moments to discover what God’s Word says about His love.”

Bible Study
Have two volunteers read all of Romans 5:1-11 aloud to the rest of the group. Give the students about 10 minutes to individually complete the Love Defined assignment. When they are finished working, have your youth share their findings. Follow with these questions:
• How is the “love” defined in these verses different from most of the “love” the world has to offer?
• Why is “hope” important in a love relationship?
• What is significant about the timing of when God demonstrated His love to us?
• What is comforting about this passage of Scripture?

Wrap Up
Say something like, “God’s love pursued us even before we knew it or were ready to receive it. We can freely choose to love or not love God. We can freely choose to receive love or not receive love from God.” Allow everybody in the group the opportunity to share one way they could demonstrate God’s love to someone else who might not understand or know it yet. Close the time together by praying for one another to follow through on these actions.