Back to School Lesson – Fresh Start

Are your junior high students ready to go back to school?  Area they really ready? Use this FREE lesson to help middle schoolers understand how God created them to be “new creations”, and how he gives them a “fresh start”.

This lesson is actually week 1 of the Back to School Essentials series, which is a four week middle school series that uses common school metaphors to address back to school issues that students face. The full version includes series artwork, PowerPoint slides, and tons more. If you like this lesson, you will love the series. Learn More About the Back to School Essentials Series

Now, here is the lesson. Enjoy!

Topic: Paper (New Creation)

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:15-17, Galatians 3:27-28, Romans 12:3-5

Bottom line: Whether students are new to the building or returning for their last year in middle school, they should look at each year as a fresh start. In this lesson, we’ll look at being “new creations” and how God gives us a new start.

Supplies:

• Opening Game: Blank sheets of paper (one per student), two small trash cans
• Teach: Blank sheets of paper (one per student) to make paper airplanes
• Small Group: Blank sheets of paper (one per student), pens, pencils, markers, etc.

Stage/Environment Ideas

• Hang a giant “Start” banner like you might see at the beginning of a foot race (or see if you can get one from a local race after it is over)
• Have lots of white decorations around the room
• Have a video that loops with several different sunrise scenes
• Have fresh fruits & vegetables for snacks
• Plan a game or activity where every round you start fresh instead of being out for the whole game
• It would be very cool if it worked out that you could do a baptism to start the service or even play a video of some students who have recently been baptized

Apps

• Paper by 53, Paper by FiftyThree for iPad on the iTunes App Store, http://www.fiftythree.com/paper
• Penultimate with Evernote, Penultimate for iPad on the iTunes App Store, http://evernote.com/penultimate/

Opening Game: Snow Ball Fight

Materials: Blank sheets of paper (one per student), 2 small trash cans

Simply set out one sheet of paper on everyone’s chair (If you don’t use chairs, have a stack of paper on a table. Ask everyone to grab a sheet as they walk in.)

Divide the room into two teams (boys vs. girls, 7th vs. 8th grade, or random). Announce that each team will be competing in a snowball fight. When you say “Go,” each team will wad up their paper and throw it at someone on the other side. When a designated time is up (a countdown video or music video works great for this), the side with the least paper wins the game.

Then, set up two trash cans on each side of the room. Announce that for this round, the goal is to get as many paper snow balls in the opponent’s trash can as possible. Do the same thing with a timer or music video to determine how long it should go. You can count the paper balls or just visually declare one side a winner.

(To go along with the lesson, you could give out iTunes or App gift cards or email them a direct download for the Paper or Penultimate app.)

Teach

Welcome to a new year! I know, most of you are mourning the end of summer instead of being excited about the start of a new school year. But usually there is at least a little joy at getting to see friends again.

We’re excited you are here, and we’re excited about this new school year for our ministry! We are starting a new series today called Essentials. We’re going to be looking at a few items that are essential to a new year in middle school. We’re also going to see how each of these items is a symbol for something God teaches us through the Bible for our lives.

Let’s start very simply with a blank sheet of paper. No matter how digital school gets, there will always be a place for paper. Most of us are familiar with the lined version that has three holes punched to fit in binders. And most of us were pretty excited the day we got to move from wide-ruled to narrow or college-ruled. And whether it’s a loose page or the first page in a notebook, there is something exciting about a blank sheet of paper.

Think about it. It’s full of possibilities and potential. You might think I’m crazy, but really think about this. That sheet of paper could be anything from just notes in your math class to an amazing comic strip. It could be the start of a script for the next blockbuster movie or a page full of doodles when you were bored. I love a blank page!

And if we think digitally, do you know what one of the most popular apps for the iPad is?

Paper! (http://www.fiftythree.com/paper) It allows you to use a stylus and draw, sketch, paint and more on your iPad as if you had a real paper notebook.

Another highly popular app is called Penultimate (http://evernote.com/penultimate/). It’s a simple app, but syncs everything to the cloud. And “magically,” Penultimate scans and recognizes all your hand-written text or text in images so everything can be digitally searched.

How many of you are familiar with a little company called Pixar? They use a ton of paper to create storyboards and little pictures that represent individual scenes before they ever start animating. And they have a huge atrium at their headquarters in California where they are known for having epic paper airplane contests. Speaking of that, let’s have one now!

[Invite a few students up on stage to race to create and fly paper airplanes. Award prizes for best airplane and longest flight. You can pick up a cheap toy airplane kit from a dollar store to use as a prize. And after service, have paper out where students can do more paper airplane contests and races.]

One of the reasons that paper airplanes are so fun is that you create a brand new plane every time! And that’s what I love about new paper at the beginning of a school year: It’s new! You may or may not enjoy how you have to use the paper in school, but it’s new.

Let’s look in the Bible to see what it has to say about being new and making fresh starts. Open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5:17.

[Read or have a student read 2 Corinthians 5:17]

When you become a Christian, you become new! If you have chosen to follow Jesus, you have become a new person. It’s not that you physically change, but you are changed on the inside by God. In science terms, it’s like the change a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. In school terms, it’s like your chalk/dry-erase board has been wiped clean. It’s like you are a new sheet of paper. God gives you a fresh start!

If you have not chosen to follow Jesus, let me explain this to you. Before accepting Jesus as Lord, God looks at each of us and judges us based on how well we’ve obeyed Him. The only problem with that is he has two grades: pass or fail. Either we have obeyed him 100% or we haven’t. That’s not the grading scale any of us wants!

When we accept Jesus as Lord, we are confessing to God that we are not able to live perfectly—that we sin or disobey God. We accept His gift of grace, which means we’re forgiven! Jesus died on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins, so that we could be graded on a curve! (2 Corinthians 5:21) He allows us a new start as forgiven children of God! If you want to know more about this, any of the youth leaders would be happy to talk with you after service.

Let’s look back at the two verses that come before what we’ve just read, 2 Corinthians 5:15-16.

Verse 15 says we live for Christ. That means my life is no longer about me and what I can do to impress others. It’s about Jesus and what he’s already done for me! It means I live my life making decisions that will make Jesus happy.

Verse 16 describes how this overflows into our relationships with others. Paul says we stop evaluating people from a human point of view. We can be so quick to judge a person by how they appear, who their friends are, which school they go to, or even which team they are a fan of. Yet in this new life, we look at others through God’s eyes. It’s like someone who can’t see well puts on glasses for the first time, and suddenly everything is clearer!

When Paul talks about being “in Christ,” he’s using a phrase that appears over twenty-five times in his writing! It’s probably important! So let’s look at it a little closer.

Look up Galatians 3:27-28 (read or have a student read). Being “in Christ” refers to the connection we get with Jesus when we are baptized. Verse 28 also hints at the connection we have with others.

Look up Romans 12:3-5 (read or have a student read). This is simple science. We all know our bodies are made up of lots of different parts. But they all work together for us to have a healthy, functioning body. It’s the same way with the church. When you become a Christian, you become part of this group—this community—where we have a variety of different kinds of people with different skills, abilities, passions, experiences, personalities, etc. But when all of us work together, the church—also known as the “body of Christ”—is healthy and functioning the way God intended it to be.

So, let’s tie all this together. When you become a Christian, you live for Jesus and see others through God’s eyes. This leads to changes in your life. And we are constantly changing to become more like Jesus. So this year could be the start of some great, transforming changes in your life! Think about it.

This might be an exciting opportunity for you! Whether you have become a Christian or not, the start of a new school year allows you the opportunity to change things. Maybe last year didn’t go well for you. Maybe this is your first year in a middle school. Maybe your family has moved and you are at a totally new school and new community. Maybe you are going to school with the same friends you’ve gone with your whole life in a building you’ve already been in for a year or more. But it’s a new year.

What if you didn’t let old reputations and habits hold you back? What if you grabbed on to this idea of being new this school year and really run with it?

Maybe you failed a class or just didn’t do as well as you wanted to do. Determine to learn some new study skills to have a better academic year this year. Be humble enough to seek help. It could be from a teacher or guidance counselor. It could be from a parent or older sibling. It could be from a classmate who is very good in school. When we ask others for help, we are reminding ourselves how we need each other and showing those who help us how much they are valued through their unique talents and gifts!

Maybe everything in your life is about your success, your popularity, or your friends/likes on social media. What if you flipped that around and thought about how much attention you draw to Jesus? It could be as simple as inviting your friends to church, just like you would invite them to go to a game or movie with you. Or it could be as bold as starting a Bible study in your school or joining up with one that already takes place and inviting others.

Maybe you really hurt some friends last year. This year, find creative ways to help others. Look at others through God’s eyes instead of your own. If they become new friends or it heals old friendships, cool. If not, you’ll be a better person for helping others regardless of the results. And every time you look at someone through God’s eyes instead of your own, you make a significant change in your thoughts and actions that help you live more like Jesus.

We’re going to break into small groups. The biggest change that can take place is for you to follow Jesus and become a new person in Christ. However, beyond that, there are so many ways a new school year can mean a fresh start for you. Let’s take some time in small group to talk about what makes us excited about a new start or what we need to change from last year. Let’s pray for each other and all the challenges and opportunities that come with a new school year.

Small Group Discussion

Supplies: Blank sheet of paper (one for each student), pens, pencils, crayons, marker

Re-read 2 Corinthians 5:15-17 (or have a student read).

Then, guide a discussion with the following prompts:

• If you have become a Christian, what is different about your life now?
• Give some specific examples of how someone lives for themselves. Then give examples that show the change when they live for Jesus.
• Describe a way you have judged someone based on a first impression, especially if you ended up being very wrong. How do our thoughts about others change when we look at them with God’s eyes?
• What is the most creative thing you have ever done with a blank sheet of paper?
• What are you looking forward to leaving behind from last year?
• What are you excited about with a new school year?
• Do you have any goals for this school year? Academics? Athletics? Extra-curricular? Friendships?
• What can we be praying about for you? (Pray as a group or form pairs and have students pray for each other.)

Hand each student a blank sheet of paper. Tell them what they do with it is up to them. They can make it a paper airplane and challenge someone. They could wad it up and start a snowball fight. They could grab a pen and write a poem or a crayon and draw a masterpiece. Or, they can write “2 Corinthians 5:17” on it and put it somewhere in their room to remind themselves that in Jesus, they have a fresh start!

Like this lesson? Learn more about the Back to School Essential series