Youth Group Lesson on the Pressure of School Life

youth group lesson on school pressure

Youth Group Lesson on the Pressure of School Life

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Bible: Isaiah 40:28-31  Bottom Line: We need God, and God is all we need!

Use this free lesson to help jr high students deal with the pressures of school life. Enjoy!

OPENING ACTIVITY: EGG RACE

Supplies

  • One dozen eggs for each small group
  • Paper towels
  • Rain ponchos (or some other type of protection for students)
  • Optional – plastic sheeting laid out on the floor

Do the following activity in small groups or as one large group.

Optional: Lay out plastic sheeting on the floor to protect it from the eggs OR play outside on the grass. Instruct small groups to line up in a single file line at a designated start line. Place a chair or cone at the opposite side of the room about 15 to 20 feet away. Give each small group a carton of eggs.

On your signal, have the first team member place the egg under their chin, hold it under their chin, and then run to the opposite cone and back. Students must have each team member complete the race with the egg tucked under their chin.

If the egg cracks under their chin or falls to the floor and cracks, that team member must restart with a new egg. The first team to have all team members complete the race is declared the winner.

Alternative:For a cleaner version of this game, consider using hard-boiled eggs or plastic eggs filled with water. If you choose to use normal eggs, be sure to have plenty of paper towels on hand for cleanup.

The Point: You guys did a great job with the egg race! This game was just a fun way to introduce a very special guest who will help us in our lessons this month. He’s a world-renowned scientist, and he’s going to teach us some egg-cellent stuff! Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like you to give a big welcome to Professor Egghead!

DRAMA

This Drama is very creative and exciting for students, but if you believe Professor Egghead does not fit your environment then you could easily do this as just a scientist of sorts.

Supplies

  • Recruit a volunteer to be Professor Egghead
  • Recommended costume for Professor Egghead: lab coat, wig and/or “cone-head.”
  • For Professor Egghead’s experiment you will need: table salt, two containers, tablespoon, tap water and two raw eggs

[Professor Egghead is a quirky scientist that loves to do “egg-speriments” with eggs. Decorate as much as you can for the professor’s experiment. The Professor should wear a lab coat, mad scientist wig, or a “cone-head” mask like the one located here: http://www.halloweenexpress.com/cone-head-dome-cap-p-1618.html.]

How to do the experiment:

  • Fill the two containers with tap water.
  • Add about 6 tablespoons of salt in one container and stir it well with a tablespoon until the salt has completely dissolved in the water.
  • Place one egg in each of the containers and observe which one of the eggs float in the container and which one sinks.

Professor EggHead: Hello! My name is Professor Egghead, and I’m so “egg-cited” to be here! I have travelled all over the world looking for the unusual and peculiar parts of science. My research has led me to some amazing discoveries like why the chicken really crossed the road, why it smells good but don’t taste very good, and why worms don’t have faces!

But today…today is something really special! Today I am going to show you my amazing discovery about the floating egg! Here on my lab table, I have a regular egg and a beaker of water. What do you think will happen when I drop this egg into the water? Well, let’s find out!Oh, I’m so “egg-static” to see what will happen! (Drop egg into jar of regular water). It sank! Oh my “egg-ness!” I was not expecting that. It seems that this egg just didn’t have the strength to keep swimming, and so it “un-egg-spectedly” sank! That poor, poor egg! But here on my lab table, I also have a very special egg. This egg is an “egg-straordinary” egg.

Do you think this egg will float or sink? Well, let’s find out! (Drop 2nd egg into the jar of salt water) It floats! It floats! I just can’t “egg-splain” it! The first egg sank like a hippo in a kiddie pool, but this egg just keeps going, going, going! I must go immediately and record this “egg-squisite” discovery! I’ll be back next week with more “egg-tastic egg-speriments!” (Professor Egghead exits.)

TEACH

Supplies

  • Poster board or whiteboard
  • Index cards and pen

Thank you, Professor Egghead. That is one weird guy! But I think I understand how his experiment applies to today’s lesson. We’ll get to that in a moment. You all are starting back to school, and that means it’s time to get back to work. Do any of you ever feel tired or worn out by all the things that you have to do at school?

Find a partner and ask each other this question: What are some of the things that wear you out the most about school? I’ll give you a few minutes to answer that. Ready, set, go! Let’s hear some of the things that you and your partner came up with. (Write the things students share on a white board or poster board. Leave it displayed throughout the lesson.)

Going back to school includes a lot of pressures for you guys. First, there’s the schedule. You have to wake up early and spend the whole day at school. When you finally get home, you’ve got tons of homework that might take you hours to finish! You have a lot of pressure to get good grades and complete all your work. If you have a bad day and do poorly on a quiz, it can really weigh you down and wear you out.

There’s also the pressure that you face from relationships with teachers and friends. All of those people put expectations on you that can drag you down. It probably won’t take long and some of you will just feel tired and worn out from going back to school.

What a bummer, right? The Bible talks about these times when we feel so tired and weary. When we get worn out from these pressures, the Bible says we need to hope in the Lord. Open your Bibles to Isaiah 40. Let’s read verses 28-31 together. Read Isaiah 40:28:31

It feels good to know that God has created everything, controls everything, and he cares for everything. He’s always working, but he never gets tired or worn out. In fact, He has enough strength to give it away to us! These verses tell us that if we hope in the Lord, He will renew our strength.

What do you think it means to “hope in the Lord?” Those are all great answers. “Hope in the Lord” means we realize that we can’t make it on our own. It means that we need God and God is all we need. Just like the verses say, everyone gets tired and grows weary. When all the pressures of school and homework weigh you down, you’re going to feel worn out.

You may even feel like giving up and quitting.In those moments, we can get strength from knowing that we have a relationship with a God who created everything and never gets tired!

In Professor Egghead’s experiment, the first egg just sank to the bottom of the jar. That’s kind of like how we feel when we get tired. We just give up and we sink under all the pressure!

However, the second egg didn’t sink. When it was put in the water, it was able to float. When we trust in God to renew our strength, He can renew our strength and help us to stay afloat—even in the midst of the toughest pressures. The Bible says that those who hope in the Lord will “soar on wings like eagles.”

Have you ever seen an eagle fly? I’m going to show you a clip of an eagle flying in just a moment. While the clip is playing, I want you to observe the eagle and then we’ll share what each of us noticed about their flight.

Play video clip(s) of an eagle in flight. These YouTube clips are a great length and example. You may or may not want to mute the volume of the videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4OSfFWk0u8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bGvXOw2ywI&list=HL1372384398

What were some of the things that you observed as you watched the eagle fly? (Have several students stand and share the observations they made about the eagles’ flight.)

The flight of an eagle is amazing. It’s practically effortless! The eagle takes a few large flaps of its wings, and then it just glides gracefully through the air. When you think about other birds, how do they fly? They often flap their wing rapidly. And they must keep it up to stay in the air. But the large wing span on the eagle allows it to rest even while it’s soaring through the sky! When we depend on God to help us in our weakness, it’s His strength that He gives us. We soar effortlessly like eagles because God’s power is lifting us up!

On our own, we’re a lot like a humming bird. We are flapping our wings and wearing ourselves out. We need something to lean on, something to help us renew our strength. That something is God! As you go through this school year, sooner or later you will get tired and worn out. When you have those feelings, let it be your sign to hope in the Lord.

When you have mountains of homework, work hard to get it done and ask God to give you the strengthyou need. When you are yawning in that boring math class, take that as a sign that you need to ask God to renew your strength!

We’re going to wrap up this morning by taking a moment to write a prayer. I want each of you to write a prayer to ask God to renew your strength. Tell him that you’re putting your hope in Him and ask him to give you the strength you need. Each of you has a card to write your prayer.

Take a few minutes to write that prayer, and then we’ll go to small groups to talk more about how God can renew our strength when we are tired and weary.

Give students a few minutes to write a prayer to God. You might want to create an example prayer and put it on screen for the students to follow. When students are finished, lead them in prayer and divide into small groups.

SMALL GROUP

Discuss the following questions as a small group:

  • What are some of the pressures that you face related to schoolwork and grades?
  • How do you typically handle those pressures? Does your method work?
  • What are some ways that you can express hope in the Lord?
  • Why does Isaiah say that God does “not grow tired or weary? Why is that important to us in our weariness?
  • How do you think God renews our strength? Describe the way you believe that happens.

Activity: Backpack Tag

Supplies

Give each student a pre-cut circle (at least 3”). On one side of the circle, have students write, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” On the other side of the circle, have students copy the prayer that they wrote during the Teach time. Use the hole punch to create a hole and thread the string through the hole. Explain to students that this backpack tag can be tied on their bags to be a reminder to “hope in the Lord” when they face pressures at school.

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back to school bundleBack to School Bundle

If you liked this lesson, be sure to check out our new Back to School Bundle, which includes two back to school series for junior high ministry.

In fact, this free lesson is lesson 2 of one of those series – Under Pressure.

Under Pressure is 4-week series equipping junior high students to handle the pressures put on them at school, home, activities (sports, music, etc.) and church.

The other series in the Back to School Bundle is The Power of Influence, which is a 4-week series helping junior high students explore the meaning and power of influence. Students will discover who & what influences them and be challenged to positively influence others.

Learn More About the Back to School Bundle