Leader Guide

Objective
Students will discover the priorities of convictions, believing in faith, and letting their beliefs be driven by love for God and others.

Warm Up
Divide your students into groups of 3 to 5. Have them turn to the Believe It Or Not section of their Student Guide.

Give each group about five minutes to complete the exercise and then come back together.

Allow each group to share some of the items on their list.

• What are the ingredients of something hard to believe?
• (i.e., It is in a far-off country where we have never been)
• How do we learn to believe something is believable?
• What would be significant about believing something is true?

Transition
In the present culture, there seems to be an all-or-nothing approach to boundaries and beliefs.

On one side are those who resist having any beliefs influenced by the world’s way of thinking and those who respond by making everything a hard and fast rule with few exceptions.

The Video
Direct your students to the I Believe section of their Student Guide. As the video plays, have them write down any phrases that stand out to them.

Play the music video for “I Believe” by Phil Wickham.

• What phrases stood out to you?
• What were some of the vocabulary words that seemed confusing?
• What is significant about the word “one” in these belief statements?
• As those who follow Jesus why is it vital for us to declare the beliefs that we have?
• The word “conviction” is defined as a firmly held belief.
• If we were to name only five of the most essential convictions we should have as followers of Christ, what would they be?

Transition
This song reminds us of the importance of having convictions in our journey with Christ and each other. These beliefs are meant to be lived and shared.

We turn now to a Biblical passage where Jesus has just brought tough and challenging teaching. Many of his followers left. He turns to the twelve and asks them what they will do. Let’s go to those words and discover what they say to us.

Bible Study
Have your students turn to the section, We Believe, in their Student Guide. Provide a summary of the context as found in John 6:22-59.

Read John 6:60-69

• What are some of the reasons people quit following Jesus?
• What was surprising to you about the word “disciples” as found in verse 60? (There were other disciples following Jesus beyond the twelve we most hear about.)
• Why would some people follow Jesus yet not believe?
• Why does He turn to the twelve and ask if they want to leave?
• Why was it important for Peter to say what he said?
• Why is it vital for us, as a church, to say what we believe?
• Why is it more critical to know, say, and live what we believe?

Wrap Up
We have discovered the importance of knowing what we believe, declaring it, and living it all in the context of our love for God, others, and ourselves. We will close this time by creating a “map” to serve us in better knowing, saying, and living what we believe.

Direct your students to the Belief Map section of their Student Guide. Give them a few moments to complete this. Have your youth briefly share their map.

Close by praying for each person.

Playlist
This song is featured on “The Linc: Conviction” Spotify playlist – which is the perfect way to remind your students what you’ve taught them in this session. To share it with them, click the live link on the web version of this study.