Last Sunday night I kicked off my youth group’s pre-trip training for the Online Missions Trip by talking about, “What is the Great Commission and how does it relate to me?” Greg Stier has a good outline for the talk in his book, “You’re Next: Leader’s Guide,” which I heavily borrowed from and tweaked for my own group. With his permission, I’m sharing my revised copy of his lesson with you guys.

It works as a perfect introduction to the Online Missions Trip. Or, even if you’re not participating in the Online Missions Trip, feel free to tweak it for a good discussion about the Great Commission, evangelism, and sharing Christ with unbelievers.

How to use it
The format of this lesson is structured for my high school large-group meeting. Due to our size, I start by telling kids to sit in groups of 3 or 4 around the room and designate one person to be the group leader. Each group leader gets a copy of the “Small Group Discussions” sheet and is expected to lead the discussion in their small group. The format then switches back and forth between me teaching for a couple minutes and them talking in their groups. If your group is small enough, you may just want to have the discussions as an entire group.

The music video I used
In this lesson I used the music video “Savin’ Me” by Nickelback. It’s a powerful message by a group of unbelievers saying, “Heaven’s gates won’t open up for me… say it if it’s worth saving me.” Although I’m not sure how legal it is, I downloaded an HD version of the music video here since iTunes won’t let put their copy on a DVD. Download at your own risk.

Download “What is the Great Commission?” youth Bible lesson

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There is no LIVE YM Talk on December 26 or January 2, but we are definitely looking forward to a great conversation on January 9. Dale Tadlock, a youth ministry veteran for over 20 years, will lead us in a discussion about achieving longevity in youth ministry. Info on the LIVE YM Talk page.

Posted on December 26, 2008